Page 2 of The Bratva's Prisoner Bride

Even with my grasp on her small wrists while I dragged her closer, Daria fought me every step of the way.

It was hard to believe she had once been an obedient mouse in front of her brother, given how she was acting. Gritting her teeth and trying to find purchase in the concrete, she wrestled and pulled against me, but I didn’t waver in my hold on her.

Her struggle only made me grip tighter, determined to show her exactly how furious I was with her.

With some extra force from me and the few guys I had with me, we got her onto the jet and dropped her into one of the seats.

Daria huffed out several breaths, giving me a wild look as the others held her down while I strapped her in, doing so tight enough to make sure she couldn’t wriggle her way out, sure to keep her arms pinned. Once she was in, Daria gave me a poisonous look.

“What are you doing with me?”

Her clipped tone, sharp like the claws she seemed to develop so suddenly, grated against my nerves and made me clench my jaw.

Just barely holding back how badly I wanted to unravel on her for everything, I muttered with frayed control next to her ear, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Daria scowled. “That’s not an answer.”

“You don’t deserve an answer.”

The comment seemed to catch her by surprise, but she soon schooled her emotions and glared at me. I couldn’t tell if she was preparing to break down or pull another fit, but either way, she was at my mercy.

After a beat of frustrated silence, her eyes settled on me again. “You can’t just haul me around like this…”

I narrowed my gaze at her slightly, both intrigued and annoyed by her weightless claims. “No? And why’s that?”

“Because someone will find me eventually…you’ll get caught for human trafficking.”

My brows lifted slightly at the remark, unable to silence the snicker from coming out before it was too late. “Is that so?”

Despite trying to sound firm, a shred of uncertainty flashed in her eyes. “Yes…”

That vaguely irritated, vaguely amused smirk remained on my lips for a moment longer as I leaned in closer so she couldn’t avoid my presence by averting her gaze. Doubling down, I grabbed her chin and made her look at me with a slight turn of her head.

My expression hardened as she grit her teeth and tried to pull away, only making me grip her harder.

“I hate to break it to you,Daria…but nobody will find you. Nobody’s coming for you. You and I both know you’ve been living like a ghost for most of your life…nobody will even notice you’re gone.”

Immediately, her brows pinched faintly as she looked back at me, looking like I had slapped her across the face. I struck a nerve.

She held my gaze like that for another moment, allowing her pained expression to turn more venomous as she spat, “Fuck off.”

Those two words should’ve set me off completely—uttered from anyone else’s mouth would’ve sent me over the edge—but I couldn’t help but chuckle at that moment. It sounded bitter, at the very least.

I remained in her personal space for a moment longer, wondering if that fire had always been festering underneath that otherwise pleasant facade she had been playing up. Then, I muttered in a low, mocking tone, “Only because you asked so nicely.”

Letting go of her chin roughly, I stood and watched as she immediately looked out the small window beside her, features pinched in her tumultuous fury.

In all honesty, other than taking her back with me, I didn’t know what I would do with Daria yet. There were several things I could do—countless ways I could torture her over what she did, but at that moment, I was still too pissed off to work out the details.

While I didn’t know my next move, I did know I wanted revenge, and I wasn’t going to let her slip from between my fingers before I could achieve it.

The buzz of my phone in my pocket shook me from my scheming, and I grabbed it as quickly as I could to stop the incessant vibration before it could piss me off further. Seeing Aleks’ name on my screen made me accept the call with a gentle exhale to gather myself again while I stepped off the jet and hung around on the tarmac.

“Yeah?”

“I heard about what happened with the Kuzmins from Dima…how’s the situation?” Aleks asked with a hint of concern, but mostly his usual expectant tone.

“Handled,” I murmured, running a hand over my mouth while I glanced around as the sun began to set. “Both Kuzmins are being taken care of as we speak.”

---