Page 48 of The Bratva's Forbidden Pregnancy

He wailed at the top of his voice, and his body reacted with a violent quake. Blood gushed out like water from a fountain, and soon, his head fell weightlessly on his chest. He was out like a light.

Sergei placed two fingers on the man’s neck, searching for his pulse. He looked at me. “He’s still alive.”

“I didn’t want him dead,” I replied. “He’ll live the rest of his life in that condition; that way, he’ll never rape anyone ever again.”

“I can’t think of a punishment worse than that,” Sergei said.

I wiped my palms with a white handkerchief. “When he wakes up, send him on his way. Let him tell his people what I did to him, and if they’re stupid enough to come seeking revenge, then hell will freeze over.”

I walked away.

Outside the building, my car was waiting for me; I got into the backseat and exhaled softly. I withdrew my phone from my pocket and stared at the text that I’d sent Sienna. Still no response. I locked the screen and tossed it aside, my fingers rubbing my eyes.

I was desperate to hear from her, and now I realized how she must have felt when I hadn’t reached out after our first night together.

So that’s how it feels.

It sucked.

To honor my friendship with Paul, I had been rude to Sienna, cold and distant. And now, I feared I might have pushed her away for good.

The incident at the club made me realize just how deeply I cared for her, just how much she meant to me, and after that sex, it was as if my eyes had opened. There was no point holding back on my feelings now; I’d tried, but I couldn’t; instead, I ended up making things worse.

I could still smell her perfume, could still feel the taste of her tongue in my mouth. I replayed the sex over and over again, and the thought of it made me hard. She was all I could think about; staying away at this point was going to be next to impossible.

But she wasn’t replying to any of my texts.

Did she hate me that much? Did that mean that I’d lost her for good?

I sighed heavily and smoothed my hair back, hoping that I hadn’t screwed this up.

Chapter 15 – Sienna

“My God, you’re beautiful,” a random guy I’d never seen before said to me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe—not in a creepy way or anything. He simply had admiration plastered on his face.

I smiled. “Thank you.”

He nodded and walked past us, me and my parents.

“That’s the fourth guy in, what, two minutes?” Dad asked, beaming with pride, a hand tucked in the pocket of his black pants.

Mom glanced at her golden watch. “Hmm. A minute and twenty seconds, to be exact.” She smiled at me.

I chuckled, my cheeks turning red. “Come on, it’s not like I’m the most beautiful woman here today.”

“Nonsense,” Mom said, her heels clicking against the marble floor as we headed toward the silver doors. “Did you not look in the mirror? You’re amazing, sweetheart. Isn’t that right, honey?” she asked her husband, whose elbow her hand was locked in.

“Absolutely,” he replied, smiling at me.

I didn’t know what it was exactly about me that seemed to draw much attention, but I liked it. The dress I had on wasn’t in any way alluring or sexy. This was a charity event, and I was wearing a long red dress—a pretty one, though.

We walked into the grand ballroom, filled with the who’s who of high society, all gathered for this prestigious charity gala. The air was filled with soft strains from a live orchestra, and the atmosphere was alive with refined conversations between elegantly dressed men and women.

Dad’s tux made him look twenty years younger, and so did Mom’s golden gown adorned with tiny pearls that shimmered under the chandeliers.

A couple of tuxedo-clad gentlemen and bejeweled women approached us with warm grins.

“Paul and Natalie Summers,” one of them, an old man with gray hair and a white trimmed beard, said to my parents. “It’s so lovely to see you again. It’s been ages.”

---