Page 25 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride

With a sigh, I pushed myself away from the couch and went out the same way, walking through the back door.

It didn't take long for me to find Lara sitting on one of the chairs by the pool, knees tucked against her chest. She was looking ahead, watching the water ripple under the late-afternoon sun.

Given how tense her shoulders looked, I could tell she was still hot about it, and I made the mental note to not push her any further. Silently, I told myself to be good. To try and win her over, not make her hate me even more than she already did.

Without a word, I made my way over to the lounge chair next to hers and sat down. It felt somewhat awkward at first, but I let us remain like that for a time. Silence settled between us, and while I half expected her to get up and leave again, she didn't.

Through that quiet moment, I considered what I wanted to say, and how I might try to defuse the situation.

Eventually, I glanced over at her, finding her still wearing a flat, neutral expression as she continued to look straight ahead.

"I don't expect you to accept this so easily, you know," I began, tone light and as gentle as I could make it. "I know you're not used to…any of this."

"You try to remind me about it every chance you get," she murmured, mostly reluctantly.

I sighed and nodded to myself. "Perhaps it's too soon to be making jokes about this. I didn't mean to upset you."

Lara sat there quietly as she seemed to take in my words. I noticed the faintest look of acceptance on her face, but she didn't bother to voice it. Instead, she continued to watch the water.

"We may not know each other well at all, but I don't want us to be completely closed off from each other," I began, hopingshe could sense the earnestness in my tone. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you thinking about?"

She waited a moment before pulling in a breath, still not looking at me. "I'm wondering how you can be so nonchalant and unaffected by all of this when you've done this to me, and how my family might be in danger because of you."

I wanted to pick her brain to get a gauge on how she was feeling, and while I asked, I didn't entirely love the implication that I was somehow a massive threat to her brothers. While I did have the upper hand by marrying Lara, they still had numbers and wealth far greater than my own. If they found me and wanted to squash me for what I'd done, they easily could.

It was almost like she forgot who her family was. But then again, she didn't have much of anything to do with her family's business. She was surely aware of their influence, but I doubted she knew just how far that could go.

I sighed and absently stroked my chin.

"It's not my plan to threaten them…in fact, they are not my enemies."

Finally, Lara glanced over at me, brows lightly knit together in confusion. "They're not?"

I shook my head. "No, they aren't. They've never done anything to me, personally."

"Then why do all of this?"

"My motives don't involve anyone getting hurt or dying, but in this line of work, I can't guarantee it won't get bloody eventually. Even if I don't want it to be." I looked over at her for a moment before I continued, "I also can't guarantee how your brothers will handle all of this, regardless of my motives. If they retaliate, then there's no telling what might become of it."

Taking in her perturbed expression, I knew it did little to soothe her. Still, I was feeling determined to redeem myself at least a little more in her eyes.

"Your family isn't known for showing much mercy, and perhaps I don't deserve it, but I certainly hope they'll decide to make an exception for me," I murmured, well aware that things could go very wrong at any given moment. "You might think I'm a monster, and you probably wouldn't like all of my reasons for getting us married, but I can say they aren't all that bad."

Lara only let go of an unamused sound at that without adding any other thoughts to it.

She wasn't exactly as receptive as I had hoped, but it was better than her storming off again. At the very least, I had her attention, and that was enough for now.

Sitting there through another bout of silence, aware that I couldn't expect too much from her, I remembered something I needed to pass along.

Taking a gentle breath, I stood, deciding I had already said enough, and paused next to her, glancing down. Even while she was angry and upset with me, I still thought she was gorgeous. She made it look so effortless, and it drove me crazy.

"There's an event happening with some other families in the city soon. it won't be anything too strenuous, but I'd like to debut you as my wife that night," I began, voice still gentle and unassuming. "I hope you can be open to the idea."

As I stood there, waiting for some kind of response, I was met with an undecided sound as Lara looked straight ahead again, refusing to acknowledge me too much. Even if the thought irked me somewhat, I swallowed it down and didn't make a big deal of it.

I couldn't push her, and I knew that. I had to give her some space and allow her the chance to wrap her head around everything.

Aware that I likely wouldn't get much more from her, I nodded to myself, then continued into the house again.

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