Page 48 of Knocked-Up Bratva Prisoner

She disappears again and I stare at the empty doorway she just walked through.

What in the world is going through her mind right now?

When the lasagna is hot, I carry it through to the dining room and call out to Anya and Oleg, “You guys can come and sit down.”

Once everyone is settled and has some food on their plate, my brother and sister turn their attention on Clara. They are clearly done trying to convince me to let her leave, so now they are starting to interrogate her.

“Look, Clara, we are obviously worried about the security of the alliance. We don’t want to start an all-out war with your uncle over this. What do you think he will do when—uh, if—he finds out what happened?” Oleg asks.

“If my uncle were to find out—I mean, obviously, he would be really angry. He has quite a temper.”

“How do we avoid that?”

“Um—"

“Who else is out there looking for you?”

“What do you mean?” She tilts her head towards Anya.

“Well, maybe an angry finance? A boyfriend? Some guy who has had his eye on you and now notices that you aren’t around?" Anya shrugs.

“I think—"

I feel myself losing all of the patience that I thought I had nicely in place.

“What the fuck kind of questions are those?” I snap, hating the idea of Clara having some other guy interested in her or paying her any kind of attention. She is mine. I don’t give a fuck if some other guy is looking for her—he can burn in hell for all I care. Why is Anya asking such stupid questions?

“We need to know who else to watch for. Obviously,” Oleg snaps at me.

“There is no one else to watch for,” I snarl back at him, my fists clenched on the table.

“Oh please, how can you say that? You don’t know for sure. You don’t know if she was dating someone, or if someone was asking her out—"

“No one—no one was asking her out. And if they were, it’s over now.” I stand up, pressing my knuckles into the dining room table.

“Oh sit down, Alexei, take a breath.” Anya rolls her eyes.

“Do you think you can just walk into my house and start causing shit here? This is my house, my rules. What I say goes.”

"Yes, yes, you’re the boss,” Anya giggles, grating at my nerves even more.

“Don’t start with me, Anya,” I snap.

“Will you two grow up?” Oleg huffs loudly.

“Or what?” Anya and I both say at the same time.

Chapter 13 - Clara

It is a horribly tense dinner, with Alexi and his siblings getting more and more heated. They are both angry at him for risking the alliance with my uncle by kidnapping me, and he’s defending himself with fire.

No matter how many times they ask him why he took me, he doesn’t seem to have an answer—or if he does have an answer, he is definitely not sharing it with any of us.

Why the hell did he take me, then? At first, I thought his whole family was in on it. But in the meantime, they've had no idea, and he’s in trouble for acting on his own. I’m so confused about this whole thing.

His temper is getting worse and worse and I feel my own nervousness start to increase. I am fidgeting and almost drawing into myself, wanting to be away from all of this increasing loudness and tension.

I hate it when people get angry.

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