Page 74 of Baby for the Bratva

“I am,” I say, shrinking back a bit. “I’m in the doorway. That counts.”

Yuri shakes his head, pushing Dima aside when he arrives. “Get out of my way,” he growls.

Dima stumbles back but doesn’t say anything. His expression remains cold and uncaring.

Yuri is obviously angry, but I’m not sure why. Something must not have gone his way, because it can’t possibly be about me idling in the hallway. That would be a gross overreaction.

I step back into the room as Yuri comes in. His face is red, but he still smiles at me as he closes the door.

“Is everything alright?” I ask, my voice almost too soft for him to hear.

He takes a sharp breath in, letting it out slowly as he slips his hand around my waist. “Everything is fine. We have a plan, and we’re sticking to it.”

“What plan?”

“Marriage,” he replies, cocking his head to the side. “Or have you already begun to reconsider?”

“No, no, I just wasn’t sure. You were gone for a while…”

“And you’d like to know what’s going on. That’s understandable,” he says, planting a kiss on my forehead. “So, I will tell you. I have good news and not so good news.”

I lean back as far as I’m able to with his arm around me, getting a good look at his face. “That sounds complicated.”

“Not so much.”

“Then tell me the good news first. I need something positive,” I say.

A smile flickers across his face. He probably thinks I’m cute or something, but he doesn’t realize how not knowing anything about what he’s been doing all day is eating me up inside. I have bad experiences with men, especially ones I fall in love with.

“Chekhov is alive,” Yuri says, snapping me out of my anxious state instantly.

I lean back even further, watching his expression for some sign that he’s joking. It’d be a sick joke to make, but I wouldn’t put it past him. I wouldn’t put anything past him at this point. I simply don’t know him well enough to say what he’s going to do next.

“He’s recovering at the local hospital, and he’s feeling better after some rest. He was floating around in the ocean on a broken shipping pallet not too far from shore.”

“Wow,” is the only thing I’m able to say in response. I’m already starting to feel guilty about what we did with Clara now that we know Chekhov is still alive. It’s still an eye for an eye, but somehow, it’s not quite the same anymore.

“He’ll be staying in Jamaica while we move to the next port, but he’ll take a flight and meet us there. You’ll be seeing him around again,” Yuri explains.

“That’s great,” I say, still suffering from a touch of disbelief. “And the… bad news?”

He shrugs, the joy immediately draining down his face like welted wax. “The bounty isn’t going anywhere. I was finally able to arrange a phone call with the person behind it, and it wasn’t who I expected at all.”

“Not the police?” I ask, knowing I probably sound painfully ignorant.

“Nope, but he ran it by the authorities there before he got the go-ahead to offer such a large amount of money. The real culprit is a wealthy businessman whose son overdosed on what he believes to be cocaine from my supply. The trouble is that it was probably laced with fentanyl, which means it’s not at all my fault, but he wasn’t about to hear that type of reasoning.”

“Shit,” I mutter, unsure what else to say.

“Yes, so he wasn’t so willing to let go of the bounty. I told him he wasn’t going to have much luck getting to me once I gained residency in the United States, and he’d probably get in more trouble than it’s worth continuing this little game, but he wasn’t willing to accept my cash offer to call the chase off so soon.”

“Not ten million?” I ask with a laugh.

“Not even twenty, and to be honest, I’m not sure I would’ve given it to him, anyway. It sounded like he blamed me for his son’s death, and that means he’s probably never going to give up on this bounty, U.S. residency or not,” Yuri says, shaking his head. He doesn’t seem terribly disturbed by this realization, though.

I put my hand on his arm, squeezing the thick muscle beneath his sweaty t-shirt. He’s so solid, so strong and capable, but this could really get to him, eventually. If this guy isn’t willing to stop even after Yuri and I are married, then Yuri is always going to have to live like someone is out to get him. He’ll never have a proper night’s sleep again!

“You don’t seem worried,” I say, unable to hide the annoyance in my voice.

---