Page 47 of Used By the Bratva

Tears well up in my eyes, the pregnancy hormones making me more emotional than ever. “You murdered my family. Why should I believe, you would take care of your own?”

He comes around the table, kneels beside me, and takes my hands tenderly despite the anger blazing in his eyes. “I would never let anything happen to our baby. Never.”

“You can’t promise that. I've read the stories about your family. I know what you’re capable of. It would put the baby in danger.”

Understanding dawns on his face. “So that’s why you snuck out. You found out what I do for a living and figured running away was better than talking about it.”

“What else was I supposed to do? The internet said you kill people for a living. I had no desire to spend the rest of the night with a man who is a suspected killer in the eyes of the law!”

“And now you know the truth.”

“I don’t know if anything you’ve ever told me is true.”

His hands squeeze around mine tighter. “I’ve told you the truth. I own businesses.”

“To fund illegal activities.”

“Yes.” He lets go of my hands and stands up. “What else would you have me say, Natalie? Do you want the truth, or don’t you?”

“I want the truth.”

“So, there you have it.” He pulls a cigarette out of his pocket before looking down at my stomach and puts it away again. “I’m a bad person. You know that, but part of you craves the security that it brings. Part of you likes knowing that I would do anything to protect you. You love knowing that I would kill a man for you because you’re carrying my child ... and because you are mine.”

When he puts it like that, there's something appealing about a man who would do anything for me, even if it's just because I’m carrying his child.

“Will you only take care of me while I’m pregnant? Will you let me go afterward?”

“So, you can leave with the baby? What part of ‘you are mine’ don’t you understand?” He scoffs and shakes his head, tucking his hands in his pockets. “You ... and now this baby are mine!”

I stay quiet as I try to sort out the jumble in my brain and string my words together.

Leon may make my body sing, and my heart flutter, but there's that little voice in the back of my head that always reminds me of who he is, what he's done, and what he's capable of.

He leans closer to me. “You’ve tried to get away from me a few times now, Natalie and I’m getting tired of it. This baby will bind us together for the rest of our lives.”

“We could learn how to co-parent. Set up a custody plan.” I say casually.

His wicked grin sends a shiver through my body and straight to my pussy.

“No, solnyshko. There will be no fucking custody plan.” He pulls out his cell phone and runs his thumbs over the screen before tucking it away again. “No man in my family has had children without being married. I’m not going to be the one to break tradition.”

I snort a laugh and push my breakfast aside as my stomach turns again. “You can’t possibly think we should get married.”

“I don’t think we should.” He takes my jaw in his hand and leans down to ghost a kiss over my lips. “I know we’re going to get married. I like the idea of you spending the rest of your life with me. I like it even better that you bear my name. And I like the fact that you are the mother of my child.”

“Leon, this is crazy. Your family, your brother–you said they would kill me?”

“They may not like it, or you, but they will respect me and my decision. That’s what we stand for.”

His expression is unreadable, but for a split second, I can sense his uneasiness.

As he strides out of the room, I don’t think he’s serious. He can’t be. But when Rosalie enters the room with a solemn face, I know he is.

Leon intends to bind us together through marriage for the rest of our lives, and if I’m honest, I don’t find the idea as bad as I thought.

Growing up as an orphan, I always dreamed of motherhood, of having my own little family one day and a loving husband by my side.

Leon is a man capable of many things, but … love?

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