Page 5 of The Bratva's Prisoner Bride

Even if I managed to hurt him while carrying out Rurik’s plan, he had no right to treat me that way…to see me as nothing more than a crook and a con.

And yet, the ruthless undertone to his words…how he seemed to mean everything he said worried me.

He was a brutal man from an even more brutal family, and if he wanted to, he could cause me unbelievable pain. It would be easy for him, too.

But whether it was my pride or sheer stubbornness, I was too angry right back at him to fawn.

I had no choice in everything, and because of my brother’s actions, I was paying for something I was coerced into. I never wanted to trick anyone in the first place—certainly not Olivia or Ivan.

While he held my gaze a moment longer, he broke that tense stare to glance out the window as the jet began its descent. He leaned back in the seat and waited, nearly burning through me with those eyes.

Before, I thought they were beautiful. I enjoyed every chance I had to look at them, but then and there, I hated how they seemed to look into my soul—firm on their assumptions of me.

When I couldn’t handle it anymore, I tore my eyes away and looked out the window, silently hoping I’d make it out alive.

When the jet landed and slowed to a stop, Ivan huffed out a breath and stood before reaching out to unravel the seatbelt from around my wrists. He gave me a warning look while grabbing my forearm and slowly loosening it.

His gaze flickered to my face almost cautiously, but I sat there patiently and bided my time.

He clearly expected me to do something but would surely prefer I didn’t. With him standing so close and being well aware of how frustrated he made me ever since hauling me away, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

The second my hands were freed, my palm connected with his cheek in a sharp slap that made my skin tingle afterward.

His face whipped to the side, pausing while he registered what I had just done, and the fury that flashed in his eyes almost made me regret it. Almost.

In a blink, Ivan grabbed my wrists again and pinned me in my seat. I could practically taste his anger by then, and I didn’t miss how his jaw clenched.

“You are in no position to resist me,” he uttered, face tight with barely contained rage. His eyes burned into me as every dark thought conceivable moved through his mind. His words fanned against my lips, making a discreet shiver run through me. “If you’re going to be a little shit, then I’m going to treat you like one…”

I winced slightly at his threat, subconsciously trying to pull back from him to no avail as the seat left me with nowhere to run. His fingers tightened around my wrists, and I resisted the urge to yelp from the subtle sting.

It still put me on edge, even if I didn’t know what that entailed.

“You’ve caused enough trouble already…and I’m going to get back at you for all of it,” Ivan muttered. There was no understating the lethal rage in his eyes. All the while, he voiced what seemed like an uninterrupted stream of consciousness. “You’ll pay for deceiving me and my family…for parading around as someone you never were.”

Ice moved through my veins while I had no choice but to face him and to accept his judgment regardless of how I knew more about the nuance of the situation than he would ever want to hear.

When I didn’t say anything, his heated gaze lingered on me even while he used his spare hand to reach into his back pocket. If the circumstances had been different, I knew I’d be a complete mess for him…burning under his scrutiny. But at that moment, my heart squeezed in suspense.

Some of that gripping fear melted into curiosity and confusion the moment I spotted the silken material that splayed across his palm.

With another warning expression, he adjusted my wrists forcefully in front of me, allowing his grip to loosen by a fraction. “Hold your wrists out…and don’t move.”

That strain in his tone was enough of a reminder to not step out of line for the time being…not while he was already so close to snapping so completely. Regardless of my irritation, I didn’t want to find out what he’d do if I tried crossing that line again.

Sighing reluctantly, I kept my wrists there like he demanded, not moving even when he tentatively loosened his hold on me. His eyes flickered from mine to my wrists before he slowly wrapped the midnight blue silk against my skin. The soft material seemed almost…tender in comparison to the cuffs I expected.

As angry as he was, Ivan put the restraints around my wrists with surprising care—a gentleness that seemed far beneath him. He was quiet all the while his attention remained fixed on pinning my hands together, tying them a bit tighter.

With the tension in the fabric unforgiving against my skin, it still felt more pleasant than I imagined he would offer me. Something about that silence between us, while I waited with shallow breaths, was intimate enough to catch me completely by surprise.

I had half a mind to assume he could hear how frantically my heart pounded against my ribcage.

But even with his careful ministrations and the softness of the silk around my wrists, the raw anger never relaxed from the creases between his brows, or the faint scowl on his lips. Somehow, he managed to keep it all in.

Once he pulled back, seemingly satisfied with his handiwork, I let go of a more fulfilling breath and looked down at the bindings.

They looked delicate enough, but as I pulled faintly on the restraints, the knots he tied into them only became tighter…more restrictive.

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