Page 26 of Knocked Up by the Bratva

The room goes silent, everything slowing down as my finger squeezes the trigger. The gunshot is deafening in the confined space, the recoil barely registering in my hand as Russel drops to the floor like a sack of bricks, blood seeping out from the fresh wound in his chest.

For a second, there’s nothing but stunned silence.

Jennifer lets out a strangled cry, the sound of it twisting in my gut. I turn to look at her, and the expression on her face is one I’ve seen before, many times—horror, disgust. This time, it stings.

Her eyes are wide, terrified, and she takes a shaky step back, her entire body trembling. “You’re a monster,” she whispers, her voice breaking. Her words hit me harder than the recoil of the gun. She’s not the first person to call me that, but hearing it from her… it cuts deeper than I expect.

I let out a slow breath, keeping my gaze on her. “Maybe I am,” I say, my voice steady, though I can feel the tension tightening in my chest. “That doesn’t change anything.”

Jennifer shakes her head, backing away farther as if she can’t stand to be near me. “It changes everything. I thought you were—” Her voice cracks, and she swallows hard. “I don’t know what I thought, but not this. Not… murder.”

I take a step closer, watching as she flinches but doesn’t run. “This is who I am,” I say, my voice firm. “You need to accept that. You need to understand the world you’ve stepped into.”

“I didn’t choose this world!” she snaps, her eyes burning with a mix of fear and anger. “I didn’t chooseyou!”

I step closer still, closing the gap between us until I’m towering over her. “You may not have chosen me, Jennifer,” I say, my voice dropping lower, more intense. “You belong to me now. There’s no going back.”

Her breathing is shallow, her eyes wide as they lock on to mine. I can see the confusion, the fear, the anger swirling behind her gaze, but there’s something else there too. Something she won’t admit to herself.

“You think you can just own people?” she says, her voice trembling.

I tilt my head, studying her. “In my world, yes. That’s exactly how it works.”

Jennifer’s hands tremble at her sides, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s overwhelmed, struggling to process everything that’s happened—the violence, the blood, the man lying dead on the floor. Her chest rises and falls quickly as if she’s trying to catch her breath but can’t.

“I don’t belong to you,” she whispers, though there’s a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

I lean in, my hand reaching out to grip her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “You do now,” I murmur, my thumb brushing along her jawline. “You need to understand that sooner rather than later.”

Jennifer jerks her head back, wrenching herself out of my grasp. “This isn’t how normal people live, Timur! You can’t just… kill someone and expect everything to be okay!”

I shrug. “You think this is new to me? I’ve been doing this a long time, Jennifer. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m anything like those ‘normal people’ you know.”

Tears well in her eyes, but she blinks them away, her hands curling into fists. “I don’t want to be part of this,” she whispers. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”

I watch her for a long moment, my chest tightening in a way that’s unfamiliar, uncomfortable. “You didn’t ask for it,” I say quietly. “But it’s your reality now.”

The words hang between us, heavy and suffocating. I can see the battle in her eyes, the war she’s waging with herself, trying to figure out how to navigate this twisted situation she’s found herself in. She hates me, I know that. There’s something else—something she can’t deny, even if she wants to.

Jennifer’s face turns pale as she stares down at Russel’s lifeless body, a pool of blood spreading beneath him. Her breathing is ragged, shallow, and I can tell she’s barely holding it together. When her wide, terrified eyes flicker to me, I can see the nausea building in them. She’s going to be sick.

Without another word, she turns on her heel and bolts from the room, her heels clicking against the floor as she rushes out, one hand pressed to her mouth. I watch her go, my jaw clenched, and let out a low sigh.

“Oleg,” I bark, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I don’t need to say much more. He knows what to do.

“I’ll handle it, Boss,” he replies immediately. The mess Russel made won’t be a problem much longer.

For a moment, I stand there, staring down at Russel’s body, feeling nothing. It’s just another loose end tied up. He deserved this. I’m not thinking about him anymore. My mind is entirely on Jennifer.

She knows now. She’s seen who I really am, what I’m capable of. And I have no choice but to make sure she doesn’t run. I can’t let her out of my sight, not now that she’s seen the darkest side of me.

I leave Russel behind, following the path Jennifer took. My footsteps are quick but measured, my eyes scanning the hallways until I spot her by the building’s exit, leaning against the wall, her hand gripping her stomach like she’s trying to keep everything inside. Her whole body is trembling, and when she finally looks up at me, there’s a mixture of fear and anger in her eyes.

I step closer, slowly, but with purpose, my expression unreadable. “You can’t just walk away from this, Jennifer.”

She flinches at my words, her gaze darting from my face to the ground as if she’s trying to figure out a way to escape. There’s no way out. Not for her.

“I… I didn’t sign up for this,” she chokes out, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know who you are, what you are, but I want nothing to do with it. You… you killed him.”

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