Page 12 of Arranged Bratva Virgin

“We aren’t going there tonight. We are going to a safe house.” His reply is short and blunt. The anger is steaming off him like a thick cloud. I can feel it around him, as though I would feel static if I reached out to touch him now.

I kind of want to do that, just for reassurance that I am not alone and that I am still alive. He isn’t someone I would ever consider seeking comfort from, but right now there is literally no one else around.

I lift my hand, tentatively, and it hovers in the air. Then I quickly put it back down into my lap before he notices what I wanted to do.

The rest of the way I stay quiet, watching out of the window through the shattered spiderweb of glass, trying to focus on the darkness and nothing else.

I just want to get off the road. I am still terrified.

Finally, Stefano turns down a side road and pulls up outside a large house. He dials a code into his cellphone and the gate opens.

Lights come on at the front of the house and we park in the driveway while the gate slides closed behind us.

“Let’s get inside,” he says gruffly.

It takes me a while to pull my dress out of the car so that I can climb out, and Stefano stands there with his hand held out towards me to help me.

Reluctantly, I take it to steady myself beneath the layers of my wedding dress.

Then he stands there staring at the damage to his car.

He is muttering beneath his breath.

I shake my head. “It’s just a car,” I mumble.

He shoots me a glare. I quickly turn away from him and hurry towards the front door.

I don’t know how he can just stand outside in the open after what happened.

He follows behind me, then leans over me to pull the front door open.

I step inside and breathe a sigh of relief when the door closes behind us.

It’s good to be off the road, even though this is not where I imagined I would spend my first night away from home.

The safe house is modern and comfortable. I gather my wedding dress in my hands, lifting it up so that I can walk more easily.

Chapter 5 - Stefano

Staring at the shredded side of my Mercedes, I can feel my anger growing darker.

The car is a complete write-off. Bullets have ripped apart the outer layers and smashed against almost all of the windows. The spiderwebs of broken glass are still solid but useless.

Thank fuck for the bulletproof panels; otherwise, neither of us would have come out of that alive. I feel a low growl building in my chest and rumbling from my mouth. I am beyond furious. The fucking audacity of those assholes.

I know exactly who the fuck it was. And I plan to hunt him down and do as I promised on that phone call we had the other day. It looks as though he is taking his anonymous threats to the next level, and tonight he actually came dangerously close to achieving exactly what he promised to do to me—to erase me from this city. But he also put my wife in danger, and that has a whole other level of implications that he is now going to have to face.

Movement pulls my eyes away from my car and towards Darya as she stomps towards the front door. The low-cut back of her wedding dress shows off her delicate spine as she walks away from me. My eyes trace over her skin with heated desire. At least I know one way to get rid of this frustration I am feeling after being shot at.

I can see she is upset, too. Of course she would be. Any normal human would be shaken by that experience. She looks as pale as a ghost, and her entire body is tense with worry. I can’t blame her. This is not the first night that I envisioned having with her, either.

Those assholes attacked us on our wedding night.

Technically, I could call one of her brothers right now, and they would have that car hunted down by morning and shredded. But she is my wife now, and I want to show her that I am capable of taking care of her without running to her family for help every time something goes wrong. She needs to learn to rely on me for everything. The more she needs me, the more she will have to keep me around.

I will not ask for help with this. I will solve this myself instead of relying on the Dubrovs.

I head to the entrance and lean over her to push the front door open. In doing so, I catch the scent of her perfume. She has this enticing warmth about her that comforts me. She sparks intense passion in me, an obsession that drives me crazy, but also, she has this way of flooding me with an unexpected warmth. I want to breathe her in.

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