Page 31 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

What looked like hurt scurried through his features, but he quickly hardened his face again. “Why are you moping around when everything is being taken care of for you? Don’t think I wasn’t alerted when the family account was accessed—I know the girls took you out today. You have no reason to be upset.”

“No reason?” I asked with a scoff, offended by the implication. “I have reasons that are significant enough to me. I was looking forward to university, but since you pulled me away, I lost that too. My dad sold me like livestock, and now I have no autonomy.”

“I already told you I’m not your prison guard,” Yaro snapped, eyes sharp with annoyance. “I don’t have time to sit around and dote on your whims. I have work to do, and if I fuck that up, you suffer too.”

Heat rushed through me at that, but it didn’t change how I felt about it. “But I never asked for this! I have nothing to do and nothing to put energy into.”

Yaro shook his head and ran a hand over his mouth. “You have nothing, huh? That’s a joke.”

There was more I wanted to say, but his reaction was enough to silence me. I didn’t see a point in arguing when he wouldn’t hear me out, to begin with.

“I’m not interested in this right now,” he muttered, turning his back to me. “I’ve had a long day.”

Yaro went to the kitchen and sat on one of the stools by the island. With his phone out, he scrolled until he found something that interested him.

Awkwardly, I sat back down on the couch and looked aimlessly at the puzzle in front of me.

“I’m ordering Chinese food,” he mumbled eventually. “You can eat it or go hungry.”

That pit in my stomach told me I didn’t need food at all as I fought back tears. Instead, I didn’t even want to be in the room with him.

Standing from the couch, I left the living room without another glance and made my way to the guest bedroom. I hoped it was enough of a sign that I didn’t want him in the same bed as me.

My cheeks burned as I went, embarrassed for ever hoping we had a chance to become something more than the marriage license binding us together.

I wasn’t so sure it was possible.

Chapter 12 - Yaro

The other side of the bed was empty when I woke up, and I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised to see it. Even if a small part of me hoped Grace would find her way into the master bedroom after having the chance to get over what happened.

But I was in the big bed all alone, and I felt her absence.

Regardless of where we stood, that loss of body heat and comfort, even at a distance, was easy to miss.

Grace likely stayed in the spare bedroom all night, and that was a shame. But if it stopped us from bickering, then I didn’t mind.

Even if I wanted to pretend like I had been right to speak to her the way I did, I couldn’t. That regret pulsed within me, and it weighed on my conscience more than I wanted it to.

Completely uprooting her life and beginning something new wasn’t an easy adjustment for her, and I knew that well enough. I didn’t need to add to that stress. No matter how she wanted to perceive me, I wasn’t prepared to be the worst part of her life.

That sounded miserable, and I had too much pride to let her believe I was a monster.

As Grace said before, her choice had been taken away from her, and it was all my doing. First, it was her father, and then it was me. I didn’t want to find myself grouped in with men like Dominic.

With a sigh, I reached for my phone and pulled up my contacts. Before long, I had a few messages sent out.

It was my duty as her husband, regardless of our arrangement, to keep her happy. I didn’t want her moping around the place forever.

After getting dressed in relaxed slacks and a lightweight button-up, undone partway down, I reached for a pair of sunglasses and rested them on the last button mid-chest.

Making my way to the spare bedroom, I rapped my knuckles against the door. “Grace?”

I heard a mumble of protest from her inside, and I cracked the door open enough for her to hear me clearly.

“Get up and get ready. We’re going out for the day,” I instructed her, peering in just enough to see the lump she formed beneath the blankets in the mostly dark room.

“What?” She asked, voice still laced with sleep. She shuffled into a sitting position and rubbed at her eyes. “What are we doing?”

---