Page 38 of The Bratva King's Kidnapped Bride

I was glad to have the excuse so Katie wouldn’t worry, but it was just one more lie to add to the growing pile I had been telling her. My brothers knew me well enough to see how much I hated it and tried to give me advice, urging me to tell her once and for all.

Ah, that would be nice. If only it wouldn’t destroy this newfound happiness that being married to her had given me. The idea that she would forgive my lies and accept the fact I ran a massive criminal organization was on par with wishing on birthday candles.

I would keep her safe from my enemies at all costs, but she still felt so betrayed by her father’s criminal acts that she might be repulsed by me. She certainly would be. She’d run as fast and as far as she could. And because she was mine, I’d retrieve her, and then she’d despise me.

The fact I’d let the lies go on this long was unforgivable. There was nothing but to keep going—at least until this particular problem with the Armenians was settled.

And then what about the next problem, and the next? Could I continue this ruse for the rest of our lives together? Make my family lie for me for the rest of their days?

Our guys arrived to clean up the aftermath of the grisly fight and discreetly take our prisoners away. After giving them instructions, I raced toward the elevator with my brothers at my heels. As soon as I pushed the down button, I couldn’t wait another moment. Thinking about losing Katie made me need to hear her voice. To know that she was okay, and still mine.

I put it on speaker, not caring that my brothers overheard. Perhaps I wanted them to see what I risked losing.

“Where are you?” I asked gruffly to cover my raw needs.

“Oh, Aleks, I’m out shopping,” she said. Her sunny voice made the pain in my face and hands slip away, along with the stress of the fight. “And I just came across this place that trains people to learn new skills after they’ve been laid off. It’s a great setup. I wondered if I could supply a weekly lunch for everybody involved.”

I nodded smugly to my brothers as her goodness radiated from my phone. She was the perfect antidote to the ugliness of days like today.

“You can absolutely do that,” I told her, bursting with pride. “I’ll make sure you get all the extra help you need.”

I was grinning like an idiot when I ended the call, and the elevator doors spit us out into the lobby. As we hurriedly turned down a hallway to exit out a back door so no one would be alarmed at our appearance, I heard Lev cough out something that sounded like “whipped.”

“You wish you had someone like Katie,” I said. “Then we’ll see how you act.”

He frowned, seeming to honestly think it over. “Maybe,” he conceded. “One day. A long time from now.”

Ivan laughed. “You’re not exactly young,” he said. “Maybe that day should come sooner than later. But pick someone who’s cool with what you do.”

“That’s hilarious. You are talking about someone else being too old to still be single,” Lev bit back.

Ivan kept laughing, unfazed. “Hey, I’m still in my thirties.”

I waved at them and headed to my own car as they continued to bicker good-naturedly. As much as I wanted to break some more laws and get home quickly, I stuck to the speed limit, the lies I had to tell Katie gnawing at me.

When I opened the front door, there was no hope of sneaking away and putting ice on my wounds myself because she hurried from the kitchen to greet me. I took in every inch of her, from her adorable ruffled apron to the big red hot mitt on one hand. My face ached from the effort of smiling back at her, but the fact she was in such a rush to see me that she forgot to take it off, almost broke me.

Her smile slid away as she skidded to a stop in front of me. She shook off the mitt and gently touched the edge of the cut over my eye. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “What happened? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

She dragged me toward the stairs and into our bathroom, pulling out the first aid kit from below the sink. Her emerald eyes sparkled with worried tears, exactly what I didn’t want.

“I’m fine,” I said smoothly, even managing a chuckle. “I finally joined Lev’s gym and took a bare-knuckle sparring lesson. Made the mistake of telling the pro not to take it easy on me.”

She stepped back, bandages and a tube of ointment in her hands as she plopped them at her sides. “You did this on purpose? For fun?”

“It wasn’t that much fun,” I admitted, the only bit of truth in my words.

She shook her head. “But you’re probably going to go back, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” I said, pulling her hands around my neck. “It’s a good workout, and I have to regain my honor, you know.”

She relented and leaned against me, carefully kissing my split lip. “Men,” she sighed. “I’ll never understand.”

“It’s better if you don’t try,” I told her, another truth. “And by the way, my mouth barely hurts at all…”

She kissed me more deeply, and soon enough, I wasn’t thinking about the pain in my face, or the worse pain of my lies, anymore.

Chapter 21 - Katie

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