Page 74 of Arranged Bratva Virgin

Maxim turns towards me. “Stefano, get my sister out of here. Take her home.”

I glance at Darya, whose face is flushed with worry.

“Yeah. Sure,” I huff, feeling too angry to even worry about what the fuck should or is going to happen now.

I turn away from Marco without another word and march out the door. As I walk past Darya, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her with me.

I am shocked, though, because the moment my body comes into contact with hers, I feel calmer. It is the strangest thing, because in the past, nothing would have been able to calm me down that quickly and efficiently—but she just seems to do that to me, without even saying a word.

“Come on, baby girl,” I whisper to her.

I lead her to the car and make sure she is safely inside before I go over to my own door.

I want to yell at her and ask her what the hell she was thinking, putting herself in danger like that, but I am doing my best to hold myself back from doing that.

I pull out of the parking lot without saying a word.

I hate the fact that Maxim knows what is going on.

We head on to the road and start driving towards home. She keeps glancing over at me, but I don’t look back, because I’m still feeling so heated and angry, maybe betrayed because she told her brother. At least the blind rage is gone, thanks to her. It’s just an underlying fire simmering beneath the surface now.

“Stef,” she says softly, reaching out as though she wants to touch my arm, but then pulling her hand back when she sees my expression.

“What, Darya?” I snap angrily.

“I had to tell Maxim. I wasn’t going to, but he caught me trying to take Paval’s car so that I could come after you.”

“You shouldn’t have done either of those things, Darya. You should have just stayed at your brother's until I got back.”

“Not a chance. That isn’t fair. You just left without saying anything. I was really worried. Besides, what was I supposed to tell them when you just rushed out of there?”

“I had it handled. What did you have to worry about?”

“You, you idiot. I was worried about you. And when we got there, you looked like you wanted to kill Marco.”

“I did want to kill him.”

She sighs softly.

“I don’t get why you had to tell your brother, though. I specifically asked you not to involve them. I told you I don’t want to be indebted to them.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, Stef. You are family now. And family helps each other out without keeping a list of who owes what. No one thinks you are indebted, and no one think you owe them anything.” She sounds angry with me.

“Why the hell are you angry? You are the one who broke my trust.”

“I did no such thing. At the time, with the little information you left me with by storming out of the house like that, I did whatever I had to do to make sure you were safe.”

She folds her arms across her chest in a huff. Her mouth is tight, and her eyes are narrowed. She looks furious.

I roll my eyes.

She glares at me. “And, just so you know, I would do exactly the same thing again. So maybe next time don’t just leave like that.”

I clench my jaw and stare straight ahead, watching the lines of the road flash past in rhythmic monotony.

We remain silent for the rest of the drive home, and as soon as we park the car, Darya climbs out and storms inside. She is pissed off.

I can’t deal with that right now, even though it bothers me and adds to my stress to see her that way. I need a moment to get my head together.

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