Page 14 of Stolen By the Bratva

He nodded, irritated that I’d questioned him.

“Am I a spy or a bride?”

“You are my daughter, my eldest child, and you are mine to order however I see fit. Even if you’re married.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, unsure what was going on. “That’s not true, though. My husband will be the boss of me.”

His only reaction was a smirk. If I wasn’t mistaken, he’d almost rolled his eyes too.

How can he not agree? I couldn’t make sense of this odd conversation. Husbands were to be the bosses of their wives. Their rulers. As soon as Andrey and I vowed to be a couple, he’d own me. He’d control me.

Why would he think he’d be the exception? To still order me around after I left his home?

“Have I made myself clear?”

I nodded but stopped halfway. “Report to you about what?” My suspicions deepened. A firm sense of confusion clouded my mind as I tried to understand. I couldn’t see how he planned to override my husband’s wishes, but more than that, what information was he seeking to obtain from me?

“You will know,” he responded vaguely.

I will? He never confided in me anything, and I felt like I was not only a pawn in a game I didn’t know the rules for, but also a sacrifice. Marrying Andrey was already a lousy circumstance to find myself in, but now I couldn’t shake the hunch that I was about to be married off to an enemy, not a potential future ally. Were the Valkovs to be trusted? Would I be a player in a twisted, covert mission, sneaking into their family?

I didn’t want to marry an enemy or an ally. If I could choose, I’d opt to marry someone out of love, out of fondness. Hell, I’d settle for a pairing based on desire. What I’d heard of Andrey and what I’d seen in pictures didn’t suggest lust or love. His reputation as a hard, brutal man preceded him. Even Rosamund felt sorry for my fate.

But I bet she’d think differently if the Valkov men were all like Alek. I tuned out my father’s repeated lecture about being obedient, no matter what. He’d told me the same thing over the years, and it was far better to retreat in my mind while I pretended to listen.

He droned on and on, but all I could think about was him. Alek. Still to this minute, as I was being prepared to marry another man, I felt the lingering flicker of attraction he’d ignited in me. How he’d argued with me, daring me to fight back. The way he’d looked me over with that ravenous, deep bronze gaze of his. In the span of seconds, that massive man had overwhelmed my senses and fired my libido like never before.

“Do you understand?” my father barked once more, jarring me from my thoughts about the Valkov who’d challenged me at the S.T.L. office.

I nodded, even though I had no clue what he’d said.

“Go.” He flicked his hand at me, and I didn’t wait for a more elaborate dismissal.

Since it was the evening before my wedding, I knew he’d excused me to my room. Going anywhere else was out of the question—and it wasn’t like I had the freedom to go anywhere as I pleased. Just here at the house or the offices. And tomorrow, Andrey’s home.

He was there, striding down the hallway. Almost as though my thoughts had summoned him, he appeared, his lewd gaze on me.

“Come in, come in,” my father said behind me, welcoming Pavel and Andrey Valkov into his office.

My father seldom carried business at home, but seeing as Pavel would be my in-law, maybe that changed things.

“In a minute.” Andrey continued on, passing my father’s office as Pavel entered and closed the door.

I dipped my chin in a hasty nod of acknowledgement, intimidated with the possessive look in his eyes.

You don’t own me. Yet.

“Running off?” he taunted, hurrying to chase me down the hall.

I kept my pace even. I’d be damned if I showed him fear, but I wished I’d already reached my room before he’d shown up for their chat.

“You can’t.” He caught up to me, grabbing my arm and shoving me toward a shadowed turn of the hallway. “Tomorrow, you’ll be mine to fuck as I please.”

Both my hands were captured in one of his, and with his free hand, he groped at me, ripping my blouse to squeeze my breast hard, then sliding his hand lower to yank up my skirt.

He’d reached me so suddenly, it all flew by as a blur. As he dipped his hand between my legs, ripping my panties, he raked his greedy gaze over me.

It chilled me. His attention felt nothing like the sensual, naughty caress of Alek’s eyes on me earlier.

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