Page 23 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

“Fine,” she said, heading toward me.

With a bright idea brewing that I hoped would get her to smile, I held out my arm to keep her from passing me. “How about we try to map it?” I asked. “Take a little hike?”

“Really?” she squeaked, pure excitement and joy washing over her face.

It only made me realize how drawn she’d been looking the last few days, and I felt like shit for assuming the worst when she only wanted a change of pace.

“Why not? Do you think the foreman will mind his best worker leaving for a few hours?”

She smirked. “You’re not actually bothered by me helping out, are you?”

I raised my hands in a gesture of peace. “I only want a nice walk, not a battle.”

Her eyes softened, and she nodded. “Me too; a nice walk sounds divine.”

“Divine?” I teased.

“Hey, look around.” Olivia turned in a circle, pointing at the vibrant green ferns, the low-hanging branches covered in vines, yucca flowers peeking over their spikes. “This beats the back of the Hollywood sign at Griffith Park any day of the week.”

That it did, and the company wasn’t so bad, either. Since she was wearing the sturdy sneakers that came with the clothes I’d ordered her and I hadn’t been leaving the property, so was dressed casually myself, we headed off onto the sparse trail without first going back to the house.

Water bottles, or maybe a few other supplies in case we needed to hack our way past a dead end or scare off the local wildlife, crossed my mind, but I was so entranced by the happiness Olivia was exuding that I didn’t dare risk something going wrong if we left this enchanted space.

She was in great shape, hopping over obstacles like a nimble hare, staying two or three steps ahead of me, or lagging behind to take in a plant she’d never seen or another lizard.

“I never knew you were such a nature lover,” I called up to her as she ducked under a low branch. I was utterly charmed by it, but then again, there wasn’t much she could do I didn’t find adorable.

Except I soon noticed she was deftly taking in every twist and turn, every offshoot of the trail, as if she were committing it to memory. Disappointment flooded me. I thought we were having a good time, but here she was plotting out her escape.

As if she was a prisoner.

With my heart sinking lower, I continued to follow, hoping I was wrong. My gut screamed at me to catch up to her and drag her back to the safety of the house, especially as she got further ahead.

“Olivia,” I called. Several ground birds a few yards off the trail startled at the sound of my voice and flapped away into the jungle, and I couldn’t hear her reply. “Olivia,” I called again, harsher now.

We were much higher up now, the terrain getting rougher and the trail dwindling away to a narrow path that a deer could barely fit through. Branches scraped my sides as I hurried after her to warn her to come back before she was out of my sight and lost in the dense growth. I had been an avid hiker at onetime, and I knew how dangerous it could be to leave a trail in an unfamiliar area.

LIke we’d already established, this wasn’t a well-worn city park where a random stranger passed every five minutes and buildings were in view at all times to keep you oriented. By now she was completely out of my sight, and when I stopped for a second, I couldn’t hear her footfalls, either.

Panic hit me. Anything could happen if she left the trail, and there wasn’t much trail left to leave.

Calling her name again, I barreled ahead, ignoring the rough branches and thorny vines tearing at my skin. Finally, I caught a glimpse of her bright pink t-shirt through all the brown and green and breathed a sigh of relief.

Too soon, because when she turned and saw me, she made a break for it, disappearing into the jungle completely.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered, taking off after her, shoving down the panic that made my heart jump into my throat.

Hurtling over a low wall of dense shrubs, I gasped as I grabbed onto a nearby sapling to stop my momentum. On the other side, there was about three feet of rocky ground, and then there was nothing at all. Just open space and clear blue sky. My feet scrabbled in the rocks, and I flung myself flat on the dirt, hauling ass to the edge and throwing the top half of my body over. Bad idea? Maybe, but there wasn’t a single thought in my head that didn’t involve saving Olivia.

She clung to an outcropping of tree roots, nothing but a sheer drop of at least thirty feet below her. She tried to dig her feet into the rock, unsettling some of the loose soil the roots had clinging to them.

“Stop,” I ordered, snaking my hand down to clamp over her wrist.

Her eyes were huge with terror as I hauled her up a few inches, beginning to slip forward myself.

“No, no, no,” she whimpered as I began to go over with her.

“Not going to fucking happen,” I grunted, digging in my feet and my knees and using every last bit of strength I had to drag her over the lip of the cliff.

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