Page 53 of Knocked-Up Bratva Prisoner

I grin again.

Date night. With the most beautiful girl in the world.

My girl.

I think it will be a long time before Clara views these as date nights, but I’m hopeful. Outside the food market, I purchase a beautiful bunch of bright yellow sunflowers and carry everything back to the car. It’s time to head back to Clara. Home.

I never thought of that place as home, but now that Clara is here it is starting to feel that way.

How do I make her want to stay?

Is that ever going to be possible?

I have a lot of making up to do to get her on my side—to get her to fully trust me.

When I arrive at home, just before I unlock the door to head inside, I have this knot in my stomach. It’s fear—fear that she won’t be here. That she might have found a way to get out and escape.

The same fear haunts my thoughts constantly, telling me that she is only pretending to enjoy my company—just biding her time, waiting for the exact right moment to get away.

I push the door open, my arms filled with the shopping I’ve done in town. The box containing her gifts is just outside the door where I placed it.

“Clara?” I call out into the house, then pause to listen.

“Coming,” her voice drifts down from upstairs, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I unload the groceries in the kitchen then fetch the box from outside.

When Clara comes skipping down the stairs in a pale blue dress, light-footed and looking happy, I am standing at the bottom of the stairs holding the flowers and her gift.

“You look gorgeous,” I say, giving myself a moment to take in how beautiful she looks.

“What’s this?” She tilts her head and narrows her eyes towards me as though skeptical, but the grin on her face is one of curiosity.

I hold the flowers towards her.

“This is for you.”

“Why?” she asks, taking them from my hands with a nervous giggle.

Her cheeks flush a rosy shade of pink and a gorgeous smile plays across her lips.

“And this,” I say, gesturing to the box under my other arm.

“That? What in the world—"

Her eyes are now glittering with curiosity and I know I have caught her attention.

“Come, you can open it in the living room.” I carry the box through to the sofa and put it on the coffee table for her. She giggles again, excited as she follows me.

I take the sunflowers from her hands, but she quickly stops me before I walk away to put them in water. She grabs my wrist and pulls the flowers back towards her, dipping her nose into them she breathes in. “They're so beautiful,” she smiles.

“Wait for me before you open it. I’ll be back in a second.”

She takes a seat on the sofa and I glance over my shoulder at her as I walk out of the living room. She is doing a little hip wiggle, an excited dance. Her face is beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. I had no idea that a gift would mean this much to her.

Hurrying back to the living room, I sit next to her.

“You can open it now.”

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