Page 55 of Captured By the Bratva

She furrowed her brow, staring at me with sadness and rubbing the top of my hand.

“But it’s not working. Steven doesn’t care that I’m here. He just wants to know where Ivan is. I’mnotserving any purpose as bait of any kind.”

“No, that can’t be true.”

I sighed. “It is. Ivan captured me to hope that Steven would want to get me away from here. He clearly knows I’m with Ivan somewhere already, and it’s not prompting him to reveal himself.”

“It will all work out.”

I swallowed hard, hating the idea that struck me. “But if I have no purpose here, Ivan will just… let me go.”

“No.” Margie shook her head firmly. “I don’t see that happening. I can’t begin to claim I know how these brothers work, how they operate. They are always looking at the best angles to solving a problem, keeping on top of threats and potential issues. I am certain this… mission against Steven is more complicated than you or I can realize, but I do not think you are correct about Ivan dismissing you.”

It’d become my biggest fear. Risking more honestly, I blinked back tears. “I don’t want to. I don’t want him to dismiss me anymore. I want him to see me, to want me to stay and…”

Emily knocked over her bowl from the high chair tray, and it jarred me from spilling my heart out to her. I already felt so raw from Steven’s call. This confusion about what was happening didn’t help. As I hurried to clean up the mess, Margie used a damp kitchen towel to wipe at her messy face, soothing her with soft words.

At the sink, she draped her arm around me and sighed.

“It will all work out as it should, Becca. I believe that.”

I looked at her, hopeful yet skeptical. “You believe that Ivan would want to keep a woman like me?”

Her smile was slow but sure. “Yes.”

From the bottom of my heart, I hoped so. I truly, earnestly wished that Ivan could show me mutual affection. If he stayed here long enough to just talk to me, to give me a chance to let him know that I was developing feelings for him, I’d lay my heart out to him and hope for the best.

“He would be a fool not to want you forever,” Margie added.

“I’m so different.” I shook my head. “Never mind the fact that my father is the enemy he wants to kill and my baby is the child ofanotherof his enemies, I’m not like Ivan at all.”

She crossed her arms. “How so?”

Embarrassment crept up my spine. “Well, he’s at those sex clubs and used to, uh, stuff, and I’m pretty sheltered in that department.”

“Bah.” She dismissed me with a wave. “You can learn to compromise. He can teach you what he likes.”

Oh, God.I felt so silly talking about this with her. She’d come to resemble a motherly figure, and it was strange chatting about sex with her.

“You’re hardly the first person to be initiated into the Bratva. I was. Mila was. Amy was. Countless others have been brought into the Valkov Family for so many reasons. They are good men.” She nodded, turning to the dishes in the sink. “They are lovable men, capable of loving the right women, too.”

That’s just it. How can I be the right woman for him?

“They fight hard. They work hard. And they love hard. From what I’ve seen, you are more than enough of a woman to make Ivan Valkov proud.”

I smiled as I turned to Emily, praying this housekeeper angel was right.

And I looked forward to the first chance I might have to prove it to Ivan.

21

IVAN

Alek wanted another meeting about the potential issue of the drugs. Yusef came too, reporting a bunch of nothing. Murphy was not budging. He wasn’t showing up anywhere.

“No one can care about him that much to hide him this well,” Dmitri said.

I nodded. “It’s making me wonder what he’s working on.”

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