Page 18 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

The moment he came in through the front door, I froze up. It was like seeing a ghost.

At first, he took me in and seemed touched to see me prepared for a wedding. Tears gathered in his eyes, and I started to tear up for a moment too.

It felt like a trick. But I quickly remembered it wasn’t the warm and fuzzy meeting it seemed like. Instead of a loving father handing his daughter off to the man of her dreams, he was there to hand me over like a prized animal. I was compensation—tradeable goods.

The purple and sickly yellow bruises around his face reminded me of that.

Immediately, I flushed with anger and sadness all over again.

“Grace—”

“No,” I snapped, cutting him off before he could start on some sappy spiel. “We aren’t doing this.”

He almost looked hurt and confused. “Doing what?”

“We are not going to pretend like you didn’t do this to me.”

When he realized how angry I really was, he hesitated and pulled in a deep, shaky breath. “I know this isn’t what either of us planned.”

“Speak for yourself. You knew this would happen—you orchestrated it! Why? Why would you choose to use me to pay them back for what you did?” I asked, finally letting the burning question come to light.

He shook his head slowly as if mauling over those decisions for himself. “I had no other choice, Grace. It wasn’t what I wanted for you.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“You have to believe me.”

“No, I don’t,” I returned sharply, so angry that my skin felt hot all over. “You ruined everything. Every last thing I had going for myself. My school, my future career, and everything else I wanted. You ruined it without thinking twice about it, all because of your pathetic habits.”

“Grace—”

Pointing a finger at him, I wanted him to feel my pain. To know I meant every last word of it. Even if we never had the best father-daughter relationship, he betrayed me. I would never get that time back again.

“You let your selfishness get in the way of my life just like you did when I was younger. You will never stop taking and taking from me!”

“Grace!” He shouted at me as his face flared red. Remembering himself, he breathed in again and looked at me squarely. “I’ve heard enough of this, and you will pull yourself together. No matter what you think of me, what’s done is done. After I was informed that Yaro did follow through with it, I was offered an invitation to the wedding and to walk you down the aisle. I signed the agreement to keep things legally binding, and I did it to save myself and help you too.”

In pure disbelief, I recoiled and tried to pull back from him.

He put up a calming hand as if I were a stray animal threatening to bolt. “Whether you want to accept it or not, one day you will see that I did this for you. Let the Levov think he’s pulled a fast one on me, but this is your ideal outcome, Grace.”

There was no way for me to know if he was being sincere, or if he just wanted to make himself feel better. Either way, I couldn’t accept it.

He put his arm out for me. “I know you aren’t my biggest fan right now, but it’s only proper for me to walk you down the aisle.”

I wanted to deny him and run off, but Yaro’s voice was in my head before I could try anything, citing the whole building was not only run by his people but completely monitored.

Any attempt would likely put me in a worse situation, and I was too exhausted from the stress to expend that energy.

I didn’t want to know what the Levovs were capable of yet.

Glancing between him and his waiting arm, a final rush of conviction moved through me.

“Before I go with you, I need to know one thing. I need to hear it directly from you.”

While he looked tired of the discussion, Dad sighed. “What is it?”

“What was your business really?”

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