Page 45 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

No arguments came, and he never once looked away as I stared in horror at what I’d just learned. That maybe, just maybe, what he’d told me was real. What we had was real.

I couldn’t speak because of the risk of crying, and there was no way in hell I was going to cry. Standing on wobbly legs, I made it to the bathroom and locked myself in. Why didn’t I laugh at him and tell him he was full of shit? There was no way he’d give up his family, his empire, just because I asked. Or, would he?

He’d really do that over just letting me go and risk my safety because some psycho had a thing for me? Or was this his way of telling me I was free to make my own choice? Because that might have changed everything.

After an interminable time to calm down, I burst out of the bathroom to question him more. The suite was empty. He was already gone, and a guard at the door refused to answer any questions or even let me into the hall.

Nothing had changed. Words were just words, after all.

Chapter 29 - Max

What the fuck did I just do? Based on Brooke’s look of shock, it seemed like I said I’d give up everything and live in a tiny apartment with her. Yep, cut off my family and friends, give up everything I worked for—oh. Oh, shit. That was exactly what I expected of her, wasn’t it? By keeping her safe, I’d made her give up everything important to her. She’d screamed that at me a dozen times, but it had never sunk in until now.

And I’d always considered myself pretty smart, but it turned out I was a bit of a dumbass. Once I figured it out, it was easy to answer. I wouldn’t be giving up everything, because she was my everything. If it meant she could finally feel the same way about me as I did for her and we could have our happily ever after, giving up my place in the Bratva didn’t mean much.

I waited as long as I could while she got herself together. She could show me every facet of herself when she thought she was in control, but I’d only ever seen her cry once. That was something she hated to do, and I hated having to pretend I didn’t know about it. The best thing to do was give her space, but I had agreed to do some stuff for Lev while he and Jenna were on their final vacation together before their baby was born, and had to leave her in there to sort things out on her own.

Some of Lev’s guys met me and we discussed the current problem that had sent me up here in the first place. It wasn’t too big of a deal, just setting some of our longtime enemies straight. Everyone seemed to think they could act up because word must have leaked that Lev was out of town for the moment. No one ever considered that we were all the same, and our reach was long. Just as Lev would have been down in San Diego in a heartbeat if there was trouble for me, I was on a plane up to him at the drop of the hat. That’s what we did.

And I was about to give all of that up.

My confidence couldn’t be shaken. All I had to do was give a little, take care of the Luca situation, and things would all work out. It had been a rare instance of vulnerability when I confessed my feelings to her on the plane, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about feeling so stripped bare. Now, I was positive it was going to be our saving grace because the way I felt was strong enough to get us through anything.

Unless she didn’t feel the same.

Fuck that. I wasn’t going to think about that.

After we took care of the first problem, we went around talking to some of the small businesses that Lev oversaw and asked if they’d been having any trouble with any new Italian organizations.

“Well, you already know about the Bianchis,” an old man who ran a bar in the seedier part of town told me. He’d insisted we try out the new vodka that had just arrived, flavored with blackberries like his grandmother used to make. “But they know better than to mess with us.”

I nodded. There had always been a small faction that kept to themselves, and I was relieved to hear that nothing new had cropped up. As on top of things, as Luca was, he would want to keep all his bases covered and keep some eyes on this neck of the woods, as well as San Diego and LA.

“Great,” I said, relaxing a bit. “Be sure to keep Lev informed if anyone new starts hassling you.”

Perhaps the people down south were just a coincidence and nothing to do with Luca’s distant family getting called in to help him out with his obsession.

Speaking of obsession, it had only been about four hours since I left Brooke, but I was dying to see my wife and talk some more. It was terrifying but also nice to get my feelings out and let her see the truth. This morning she had opened up to me a little bit, too, probing to see how far I was willing to go to make her happy. If we could keep this line of communication up, we could come to an understanding that we could both be satisfied with.

To the disappointment of Lev’s crew, I cut the day short early, eager to get back to what was really important in my life. I only had the driver stop for one quick errand, to buy Brooke some flowers. It was cringy as hell to show up with roses in my hand, but that was the mood I was in, wanting only to sweep her off her feet. Maybe we wouldn’t talk right away…

When I got back to the hotel suite, it was empty, with no sign of Brooke or her guard. I called down to the restaurant and the bar, but they hadn’t seen her since the night before when we’d had a somewhat awkward and silent dinner. She hadn’t made any reservations or shown up in the spa, either, but I wasn’t worried yet.

I’d given Pavel, her main guard, instructions to take her shopping if she got antsy, so called him up after exhausting my other options. There was no answer, which was the first heavy stone of worry dropping into my stomach. I walked around the suite, looking things over more carefully now, as I continuously pressed the call button on Pavel’s contact number, continuing to get no answer.

It was just when I was cursing myself for not giving Brooke that phone she’d been begging for, when I saw the smudge on the doorframe.

It was small, but something easily recognizable. Blood.

My heart slammed against my ribs, in full freak out mode as I hurried to call Lev’s crew for backup. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way in hell I was losing my wife just as she was truly about to be mine.

Chapter 30 - Brooke

I gave the new, strange guard a filthy glare and slammed myself back into the suite, as if it was my choice, not his crossed arms and stony stare that had me retreating. Nothing had changed at all, except for the pain inside me. It felt like the worst betrayal, as if an old friend had been lying to me my whole life. What did I expect? Where was the rage I’d grown used to and kept held tight around me like a comforting blanket?

It returned swiftly when I started combing the suite and found the desk phone’s receiver missing. It wasn’t in any drawer or under either of the beds or couch. Max probably carried the damn thing down with him or locked it in a hidden wall safe. It wasn’t worth my energy to look for that, because I wouldn’t know how to unlock it anyway. I felt like picking up the useless bottom half of the phone and hoisting it over the side of that balcony. That might get someone’s attention, but then what?

Instead of throwing anything, I flopped onto one of the comfortable chairs on the balcony and pulled my sweater tighter in the crisp morning air. I’d gotten used to the balmy heat of a Southern California summer in a hurry and almost forgot how nippy it could get up here. But the view of the bay was stunning, and I let the constant movement of the traffic going back and forth across the bridge in the distance lull me out of my violent urges.

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