Page 84 of Forced Bratva Bride

We kneel down next to him. Stefano turns Max over onto his back.

“Ow,” Max groans, clutching his shoulder. Blood is oozing from the wound and seeping through his shirt. “Fuck, that hurts,” he complains, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

His eyes are unfocused and foggy. He leans his head forward for a moment, but then suddenly bolts upright.

“Chiara,” he shouts.

“I’m here,” I say, laughing with relief. “I’m right here.”

“Oh my fuck.” He grabs me and pulls me into his lap. I cry out in pain, but I hardly care—I just want to be with him. “Fuck, sorry,” he whispers but doesn’t let me go.

Tears stream down my cheeks as I lean my face against his. “I thought you were dead,” I whisper.

“I thought I lost you,” he replies. “Are you okay? Shit, we need to get you to the doctor.”

“Come on, guys. We need to get you both to the doctor,” Stefano says, gently pulling me out of Max’s arms and guiding me to my feet before turning to help Max up.

“You took a bullet for me,” he says, sounding confused, his brows knotted together and his mouth pulled tight. “You saved my life.”

“Yeah, don’t expect me to do it again though, it really fucking hurts.” Maxim wraps his uninjured arm around me. “Chiara, are you okay? You look pale.”

“Well, I’m in a whole lot of pain, but my heart is so happy I don’t even care about it,” I giggle, lightheadedly swaying a little.

Chapter 27 - Maxim

This morning we are lying outside in the sunshine on the daybed next to the pool.

Stefano walks over with a huge bunch of flowers.

“Hi guys, how are you feeling today?”

“Like we got shot a few days ago.” I throw him a dark look, pulling my mouth to the side. I can’t believe he shot Chiara. He could have killed her. I'm really pissed off about it, but she doesn’t seem bothered at all.

“Here, these are for you.” He sits on the edge of the daybed and hands her a massive bouquet of flowers. “I just wanted to come by and say that I am so, so, so sorry that I shot you.” His eyes are ridden with guilt, and he can barely look at her.

“Stefano, it’s totally fine. Honestly. I mean, it hurts, but it’s really fine. I'm not mad at you at all. We are all here, the danger is gone—things are actually really good.” She throws me a glance and one of her beautifully cheeky grins.

“Still though, I feel terrible about it,” Stefano mumbles.

“You should,” I say, with heated annoyance.

Stefano’s eyes grow wide when he looks at me. I frown.

“Oh, stop it, Max. You know I’m fine.”

“Max, I also wanted to say I how grateful I am—for what you did for me. No one has ever done anything like that for me.”

“You mean getting shot?”

“You saved my life,” Stefano says softly.

“Well, let’s see if I regret it or not.”

Chiara rolls her eyes.

“I think everything worked out the way it was meant to. We're here, healthy, happy, and life is really great. Perhaps we needed all that violence to finally get along?”

My jaw muscles tense. “He’s lucky I don’t get vengeance against him for shooting my wife.”

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