Page 18 of The Bratva's Prisoner Bride

I pulled in a breath, pinned to my place.

"That's Dom...get well acquainted with him. He'll be your security detail. Rather, keeping you securely in your place."

Something about those words struck a chord within me. Like that final piece of my patience snapped.

I turned around, eyes wide as I shouted at him, "You can't do this to me—you can't!"

Before I knew it, I lunged forward, wanting nothing more than to show him I wasn't worth the time and effort.

My momentum stopped the moment Ivan nodded subtly, and a strong arm curled around my waist. Frozen in place, I squirmed, trying to slip out of Dom's grasp.

But of course, he was much bigger and stronger than me. Instead, he hauled me over like I was nothing more than a sack of flour, reminiscent of what Ivan had done.

Growling my anger, letting it all out, I fought and thrashed regardless of how fruitless of an attempt it was.

Ivan said nothing while I made a scene, shouting and kicking while I was carried inside like a petulant child.

Regardless of how I resisted it, Dom seemed completely unbothered while he moved me up the stairs, down the hall, and straight towards the bedroom.

Another flicker of panic and dread ripped through me at the idea. Even if I didn't want to be near Ivan, I didn't want to belocked in there, either. Not when I didn't know how long I'd be stuck for.

But Dom easily crossed the room, dropped me onto the bed, then turned around and headed for the door again.

My heart raced through my fury and fear while I gathered myself, watching as he went to leave.

"Wait..." I heaved out, getting to my feet again. I hurried after him. "Please, help me—"

Not even stopping to spare me a glance, Dom pulled the door closed behind him, locking me in again.

As that brutal realization hit me, I stopped right at the door, leaning my forearms against it while I pulled in shaky breaths.

"No..." I murmured, sniffling while the emotions got the better of me. Those frustrated tears burned my eyes, and I screamed, banging my fists against the door, "No!"

Everything was hazy while I saw only red, hitting the door over and over until my arms hurt and my throat went raw.

I didn't care if I looked or sounded crazy.

Ivan was keeping me just to marry me...all to teach me some kind of lesson. He was forcing me into a life-altering decision without even a crumb of my consent.

I went from being controlled by my brother to the man who wanted nothing more than to make me hurt every day, and that thought was crushing.

I couldn't remember how or when I stopped yelling and banging on the door, but the pounding headache raged behind my eyes and in my temples while I crawled over to the bed.

Everything ached. I was completely worn out from head to toe, and even laying out on the soft mattress didn't help right away.

But one way or another, my chaos quieted down to shaky breaths and sniffles while I closed my eyes and eventually dozed off, unable to even think about Ivan or his damning plans.

***

I didn't know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes to still feel that dull pain in my head, I could still see the sun coming in through the windows.

Groaning to myself, I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up while I regained awareness. While everything came flooding back, I had no choice but to face it.

I was still in that godforsaken room. Still forced to be there under Ivan's roof against my will.

Upon glancing to my left, I found a glass of water on the nightstand, along with a blue post-it note and a small red pill sitting on top.

Blinking my grogginess away, I reached over for the note and the pill.

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