Page 14 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride

Alex leaned back against the countertop again, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m sure all of this must be hard to grasp, but I assure you, I want you to be comfortable enough. At the very least, I can get you what you need.”

Taking him in again, I couldn’t help the strange concoction of feelings that moved within me. The offer seemed suspiciously kind, along with him taking it upon himself to make me breakfast.

I hated feeling paranoid, but at that moment, I couldn’t help it. I needed to be guarded. He was still a stranger, after all, even if he was stupidly attractive.

If anyone were to eventually get me out of there, I had to keep myself alive in the meantime. I didn’t know what he was capable of, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

“Can you blame me for not being all that comfortable right now?”

He let go of an amused sound and shook his head after considering it. “No, I suppose I can’t blame you. But that’s why I’d like to make it a bit easier if I can.”

Once again, it was strangely considerate of him, and I couldn’t deny how it started to feel a bit more reassuring. At the very least, my defenses were relaxing slightly.

A beat of silence lingered between us as I nodded and tried to navigate my uncertain thoughts. Eventually, I let go of a breath. “What do you want with me?”

Alex met my gaze at that, and the slightest grin pulled on his lips. “You’re very important to what I have planned, Lara…do you really want to know?”

While I didn’t like the implication of that, I blew out another breath and nodded anyway. “I do.”

“Alright then,” he began, standing from his slouched position as he put his hands against the island, gaze never leaving me. “Before the weekend is over, we’re going to be married.”

His words reverberated in my mind as I tried to digest them, completely halted in my tracks. At first, I thought I misheard him, but the longer I looked at him, the more I realized just how serious he was.

My words came out weaker than I intended, hardly able to form them. “…What?”

Alex wore a reassuring grin, as if that would help me in the slightest. “That’s right. You heard me. You’re important, and for you to be as useful as possible for me, we have to be married.”

I blinked back at him, head still reeling. “Why?”

He exhaled as he continued, “You see, Lara, my family is a lot like yours. We run a similar business, and we more recently moved from Canada to take advantage of the opportunities here. That being said, even with our previous success, breaking into the space can be incredibly difficult. Beyond that, being recognized as a strong, notorious family is even harder. Which is where you come in.”

At that moment, I couldn’t focus on anything but what that meant for me—how he intended to force me to marry himdespite being perfect strangers. He bought me from the auction just to marry me due to my name.

“What…to connect you with my family?”

Crossing his arms over his chest then, he nodded. “Something like that.”

Feeling refusal rising within me, I shook my head in disbelief. “You…you’re misunderstanding how my family works. If you want an alliance, forcing us to get married isn’t how you should go about it.”

“No? How do you think I should go about it, then?”

Swallowing hard against the building, dread within me, I tried to keep myself calm. “Approach them about it. Surely, they have other alliances and deals. Just…talk to them about it. You don’t have to go through with this.”

But he only sighed then and shook his head. “You make it sound so simple…but I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. They’d never accept something like that—especially not now.”

The thought of being married to a man I didn’t know against my will only made the panic grow within my gut. Worse than that, I was trapped in his house, and he most definitely had the means to keep me here.

“Please don’t do this…”

While I saw the faintest flicker of sympathy in his eyes, Alex shook his head. He wasn’t convinced. “Sorry, Lara. This has to be done.”

More than ever before, I wanted nothing more than to run, to flee as fast as I physically could. But at that moment, my legs felt like they were full of lead.

Chapter 8 - Alexander

I had heard stories about mafia weddings before, and I had been to a few myself in the past, but I never thought I’d have one of my own. I never exactly planned for it, but given the circumstances and what needed to be done to ensure my plan continued to move seamlessly, I wasn’t going to complain. It didn’t matter whether it was big or small—all sacrifices amounted to something when it came to my family and our business.

Regardless of that fact, and of how willing I was to do my part, there was no mistaking the uncharacteristic anxiety in my chest as the day arrived.

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