Page 60 of The Bratva's Forbidden Pregnancy

I watched his teeth grit and his hands ball into fists, but he was still quiet, boiling with rage. Next thing, I saw his fist flying toward my face from across the table, and I could so easily dodge the advance or deflect it, but I didn’t. His knuckles landed on my cheek, turning my head to the other side.

It hurt. But I deserved it.

“Fuck you,” he said, rising to his feet.

Here we go.

I wiped the back of my thumb over my lower lip and noticed it was bleeding. He got me good. But I didn’t punch back; I couldn’t. His reaction was to be expected.

“I told you to stay away, Vlad—I fucking begged you in the name of our friendship to leave her the fuck alone!” His voice rose on the last statement. “How could you do this? What the fuck were you thinking?” He placed both hands on his waist, pacing back and forth. “You fucked up, Vlad, and I didn’t think that you, of all people, would do something as stupid as this, knowing full well what’s at stake.”

He said the words in an angry rush, and his tone was laced with resentment, accentuating the glaring disappointment in his gaze.

I was silent, absorbing all the words that cut deeper than an enemy blade.

“Do you know the implication of what you’ve done?” He faced me. “Do you know how messed up this is? Fuck!” He tipped his head toward the ceiling. “I fucking trusted you, Vlad. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did anyway. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, thinking that you knew how wrong it was to have anything to do with Sienna.”

I finally managed to speak, and the only thing I said was, “I’ll marry her, Paul.”

He snickered in disbelief. “Do you think I’m mad because you got her pregnant out of wedlock?” Paul scoffed. “Vlad, this is Sienna we’re talking about, and you know why this is so complicated, or have you forgotten what you did twenty one years ago?”

I frowned at his reminder, as the feelings I’d buried up for a long time all came rushing back to the surface.

He could tell that I was upset, but he didn’t care because he was equally upset himself.

However, even in my present state, I couldn’t deny the fact that this was more complicated than I had initially thought.

Paul had every right to be mad because now, there was a ticking time bomb, and it would go off very soon.

Chapter 19 – Sienna

I’m so fucked up, I thought to myself, laying on the bed, eyes fixed on the spinning fan hanging off the ceiling.

My mind was a myriad of thoughts, all overlapping like a tidal wave and crippling my ability to think straight.

What’s the plan? What are you going to do now? a voice spoke in my head.

There’s nothing to do. You have to come clean with Mom and Dad, period, my voice of reason said with finality. Mom is already asking questions, and you see the way she looks at you lately. She’s a woman, and she knows this kind of stuff.

True. Mom had had her eyes on me recently; she’d been watching my every move, asking questions that hinted at her suspicion. And although I always brushed off the subject, saying that I was fine, I could tell that she didn’t buy anything I said.

These days, I’d been avoiding her because her gaze each time she saw me was starting to make me feel so uncomfortable. She would always look at me as though she was trying to figure me out. And sometimes, she’d ask if there was something—anything at all—that I wanted to share with her. On several occasions, I was tempted to come clean and just let her in on what was going on, but I couldn’t.

It's not that simple, I thought.

But it was that simple sleeping with Vlad, wasn’t it?

Okay, time out, the other voice chipped in. You’re not helping here. Can’t you see she’s torn between everything?

I can see that, and that’s why I’m proposing that we get this over and done with. Sia, you’re kicking the can down the road. Your silence is only a temporary reprieve.

“Argh!” I buried my face in my pillow, banging on the bed in frustration.

This isn’t gonna help. Get off your ass and do what needs to be done. That’s the only way you can find peace.

You make it sound so easy, but you know it’s not, the other voice said.

It is, actually. It’s very easy. Sia, all you have to do is damn everything and take full responsibility for your actions. You’re a grown woman. What’s the worst thing that can happen?

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