Page 23 of The Bratva King's Pregnant Bride

To anyone else, it was merely a breath of a reply, but it hit me more violently than a loaded freight train. It caused me to release her and recoil. I kept my gaze locked with hers, and I could see no deceit in her. Not even a glimmer.

She wouldn’t begrudgingly weave false tales.

Tears welled up in her eyes as I asked, “Were you planning on keeping this from me?”

My words were pronounced with harsh precision, like a series of darts hitting a bullseye.

There was an unmistakable fear in her eyes, but immediately, she replaced it with a fiery determination. “I’m going to take care of it,” she said. “You don’t have to involve yourself, Dominik. You don’t have to worry about the child.”

I could barely believe my ears. Not involve myself? A world where I could casually accept such a situation would be an encroachment on my sanity. How could someone like her be willing to take responsibility for something that should belong to me? Why would she do such a thing?

I recalled everything I’d gathered about her. About how her father had an affair. Of how she found out without him knowing, and how it killed her that her father kept it from them for so long. That he’d kept it from her mother, who he claimed to love. Why he would keep something so important from her, and slowly ruin her life. Getting access to her therapist’s files had been nothing of a hardship for me.

If these were her feelings, why did she think it was okay for her to keep something so important from me, the father of her child? This was a baby, a new life. Life that possessed my blood.

I gave Maya a cynical smile, looked to the floor, then met her eyes. “Listen,” I said sternly, “the child in you is my blood. The child in you will bear my name. You, Maya, will bear my name. I don’t care what you say. This is an absolute decree—any room for negotiation has been closed.”

“But—” Maya protested, but I raised my hand, thinking that would be the end of it.

Maya, however, had other ideas. “You can’t just make decisions for me, Dominik!” Her voice simmered with anger.

I observed her, rage burning and simmering inside me like a wildfire yearning to break loose. I put steel in my gaze as I answered, “You can’t make this decision all by yourself, either. Not where it concerns my bloodline.’

That was when I noticed it; the glint of tears, pooling at the corners of her eyes. Maya. The sight made my heart pound even harder, and my mouth curved into a smile that made her eyes widen.

“You know, Maya, seeing you cry like this makes me want to…” I closed my eyes then, cutting the words off, wrestling with my excitement. When I opened my eyes, grim determination steeled my voice.

“I would let you be for now—just for now—but know this: You have one week.” I paused, letting the weight of my words sink into her being. “You have one week to accept reality. Then, you’re under my command. You will move to my house, and you’ll be under my protection—and, little mouse, if you think you’ve a fucking say in this, you’re going to have to think again. You’re mine, you’re carrying my baby, and I don’t let my things roam around like feral strays.”

“You can’t do this, Dominik,” Maya said, her eyes shaking inside their sockets. “I have a life. I have dreams. I gave goals. I have—”

“I don’t care what you have, or what you think you want. If you don’t comply, your loved ones will be in danger. You’ll be putting the lives of your precious Jenna and your mother—all the way in Michigan—in danger.”

It was cruel, using her friend and mother to make her comply, but I was a cruel motherfucker, and I had no qualms about using them to get her in my grip. I wouldn’t have any issues hurting them, and I made sure she saw that truth in my eyes.

With a dead, cold voice, I said, “You obviously know of me. I am a very… capable person. Capable of much, indeed. You really don’t want to test the wicked side of me. All you have to do is listen to me and be a good little mouse.”

“Are you threatening me?” Maya whispered.

I shook my head, allowing a small smirk to escape. “No. It’s a promise—and I always keep my promises.”

Maya’s throat worked as she swallowed, her lips trembling, but she said nothing.

“As for the baby, don’t even think of getting rid of it,” I growled.

Girl or boy, that child would be my heir. My heir was going to inherit everything I owned; I would be responsible for raising it, caring for it, loving it, feeding it, taking it out for its first steps.

Basically, its future was in my hand, and just as I took care of all that was within my control, so I would take care of this.

Chapter 9 - Maya

My amaryllis sat by the window, drooping. The last blossom had faded, joining several others to hang limply from its stalk, but I hadn’t removed it; I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d bothered to water it. I just hadn’t been in the mood to care about anything, not with the reality of a little human growing inside my body.

It wouldn’t bloom again.

What was I going to do? My head was stuffed full of thoughts stacked upon each other, unprocessed and unattended—just like my amaryllis.

Somehow, my body had managed to find a way to conceive, despite my precautions. I couldn’t treat it like a miracle; it felt like a curse. I simply had to get over what I was currently experiencing and deal with it objectively.

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