Page 103 of Knocked-Up Bratva Prisoner

Clara steps towards him and wraps her arms around his neck. “I won’t ever cut you out of my life, Uncle Giorgio. You don’t have to worry about that. I just need to go live my own life now. That’s all.”

Giorgio nods and clears his throat a little too loudly, trying to hide his emotion.

“Alright,” he says curtly. “If that is everything, then I had better be getting back to my guests.”

He waits to see if anyone else has anything to say, but we’ve said what we needed to.

Giorgio leaves. My brothers follow him out, one by one, until Clara and I are alone in the sunroom.

She breathes a heavy sigh of relief.

“I’m exhausted,” she says, pressing her hands against her eyes. “I, um, I guess I should go to my room and rest a bit.”

She turns away from me and walks out of the sunroom.

What the hell?

I walk briskly to catch up with her, not understanding her coldness.

I follow her into her room and close the door behind us.

“Clara, are you okay?” I ask, thinking that maybe she is just so tired that she can’t deal with anything else.

“I’m fine,” she answers, short and clipped.

“What’s going on? Don’t you think we should talk a little?”

“There is nothing to talk about, Alexei. You’ve made yourself clear.”

She sits on the edge of her bed looking miserable.

“How have I made myself clear?” I ask, confused.

“You confirmed you will be involved in terms of whatever your responsibility is towards the baby and nothing more. I appreciate that. I understand, too. It’s okay that you don’t have feelings for me. We can work out a way to co-parent and—"

I start laughing. It’s more relief than anything else, because now I know why she is upset.

“What’s so funny?” she says, looking hurt.

“Clara, I was only trying to settle any concerns your uncle might have had about financial repressibility and other such things—"

“Yes, I get it."

“No, you don’t. That conversation was forthatmoment. The conversation I want to have with you is very different."

She looks right at me. Her eyes narrow to thin slits as she stares at me, looking nervous to ask what I mean.

“Clara…" I sit down on the bed next to her and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her up against my side. “I am so excited to have a baby with you. In fact, I can’t think of anything in this world that I want more. I am completely and totally and madly in love with you.”

The grin on my face is massive. It feels so incredible to admit that to her. Finally.

She shifts, turning to face me. “Youlove me? Are you teasing me? Are you serious? Are you…" She bursts into tears and leans into my chest, hiding her face.

I chuckle and wrap both arms around her.

Kissing the top of her head, I tell her again, “I am so in love with you. I have been for a while already. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I’ve been going crazy without you. I don’t even think my life is worth living if I can’t live it with you. You are everything to me, and the thought of starting a family with you—Clara, you are my dream come true.”

She leans back and looks up at me. Her face is stained with tears and her eyes are glittering. “I love you, Alexei. I thought—I thought you were bored with me or—"

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