Page 56 of Plus-Sized Bratva Prisoner

She marches ahead of me in a rage and pulls the passenger door open. Climbing inside, she slams the door so hard the car shakes. Shit. She really is furious. I touch my lip, bruised and stinging. A little blood stains my fingertips, but overall, that’s just about the only thing that seems to be hurting—and then only place I seem to be bleeding. I definitely did a better job than the other guy.

I climb into the driver’s seat.

She shoots me a glare that suggests she trying to burn holes into my body with her anger.

I shake my head and sigh as I start the engine.

“Tia, he had his hands on you. I get it that you owe the asshole money, but that doesnotgive him the right to touch you.”

“You don’t get it, through—clearly, you have no fucking clue. Do you know who that man works for? He’s dangerous. The family he is collecting for is powerful. He will kill you,or me. And now you’ve punched the living daylights out of him and probably left him with a broken nose. Do you think he’s just going to ignore that, let it slide, walk away? He’s going to comeafter you.” She is fighting tears and genuine fear. I hate that he made her feel afraid. I hate that he still has the power to make her feel afraid.

My jaw clenches and unclenches in frustration. Can’t she see I was only trying to help her?

“Yefim, why couldn’t you just mind your own business for once, why did you have to interfere?” She folds her arms protectively across her chest and turns her face away from me. I see disappointment flash in her eyes just before she looks away, and that hits me harder than any of the punches that asshole threw at me.

My own anger and defensiveness gets the better of me, and I snap at her, “Because I want toprotectyou fromeverything. I will go crazy if you are ever in danger. I will doanythingto keep you safe.”

She blinks, then blinks again, her face turned back towards me. Tia is stunned into silence by my outburst. I shouldn’t have shouted at her.

I take a heavy breath. “Tia, I just want you to be safe.”

She reaches out and, to my surprise, she rests her hand on my leg.

I wrap my own hand over hers, looking down at her long, delicate fingers.

“Tia, please just let me pay them off. Let me get rid of the debt so that they are out of your life.”

She smiles softly, a gentle warmth in her expression that sinks right into my core.

“I can handle this, Yefim. Ihavebeen handling it, and I need you to trust me enough to continue to handle it.”

“But he was hurting you.”

“Not really. He was just trying to scare me. I’m not scared, though. I’m paying them off. I’m so close to being done. Please trust me. If we start pushing them like this, though—then we will have something to worry about.”

The jaw muscles tense as I try to pull myself together. I have to give her that freedom or I will lose her. If I don’t let her look out for herself in the ways she wants to, she will walk away from me.

I shake my head. “Fine,” I say with heavy reluctance. “But Tia, I am trusting you to also call me if it ever becomes too much to handle. I want to help. When you are ready, if you need it, all you have to do is talk to me, okay?”

“Okay,” she nods, biting her lip.

Chapter 17 - Tia

Our night at the vineyards is so special to me that I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve played it over and over in my mind, and there is absolutely no denying at this point how I feel about Yefim. I haven’t actually told him yet. I don’t know how to do that without putting my heart on the line. I guess when it comes to love that’s what you have to do. But I’m too scared.

I’ll just wait a little longer—I want to see what he does. I want to know how he feels before I take that risk and tell him how I feel.

I know we connected so well that night. I felt so safe in his arms. So close to him. I just don’t know yet if he felt the same way.

I think he did. I think he does.

But then, at work on Tuesday morning that stupid personal assistant of his brother's is back in our office to help with another project. And again, she is all over Yefim.

Last time it hurt me. Seeing her fall over him like that made me question myself and how attractive I actually was to him. This time, not so much. This time all it’s doing is pissing me off.

She’s interfering with my man. She’s in my territory and she is disrespecting me.

I can hear her laughter from my desk, and I can picture her leaning over and running her hand down Yefim’s back as she gushes over him.

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