Page 4 of Savage Boss

When Jane had realized her sister was missing, she hadn’t gone to Vlad for help. Instead, she’d gone with her partner, Mack Hudson, interrogated a lead and made her own way to a junkyard where a couple of cartel boys had buried her sister alive. Once again, she’d thrown herself and their unborn child directly into the path of certain danger without regard for her own life or Vlad’s feelings.

Vlad was pretty certain even a marriage counsellor would take his side over Jane’s and he had a body count high enough to comfortably fill a banquet hall. Jane just didn’t quit, and he couldn’t bring himself to truly break her spirit, because he was fairly certain he wouldn’t love the woman she would become if he broke her down.

“Why did you let him just leave with her?” Jane furiously turned on Vlad, yanking her arm in an attempt to pull away from him.

Vlad, who had been tracking Mack’s truck out of the yard, turned cold eyes to his wife, pinning her with all of the pent-up fury he’d been storing over a long evening of dogging her footsteps through the city. “You will stop speaking, Jane,” he said in a coldly furious voice, “And calm yourself.”

“Fuck you,” she spat, unheeding of his warning. “You let him take my sister, knowing we can do a better job of protecting her! Go and get her back!”

Vlad reacted swiftly, gripping her face and shaking her. He checked his strength so as not to hurt her or the baby she carried in her womb, but raw fury vibrated through his tense body. It took real effort not to unleash on her. His grip on her face was steel and he used it to drag her against his long, lean frame. She gasped and tried to wrench back, but he held firm.

He bent until his lips were a whisper away from hers and said in a low, sinister voice, “I’m done, Jane.”

Shock flashed through her, stiffening her body. “Done?” she whispered. “Wh-what do you mean by that?”

He could see the question in her eyes. She loved him but she didn’t trust him not to hurt her. Vlad felt a flash of guilt and anger. He’d put that look there, yet she should know him better by now, trust him.

He brushed a thumb across her lips. “Even after the time we have spent together, you still do not understand the depths of my feelings for you.” His eyes hardened, and his fingers tightened on her face. “It is these feelings, this need to protect you, and your reckless disregard for my wishes that has driven us to this point, malysh.”

She looked relieved but there was still a spark of defiance in her beautiful golden eyes. He was reminded of the first moment they met, when their eyes collided, that awareness, the breathtaking defiance he read in her. He’d wanted to own in, to keep it for himself.

Without another word, he took her arm and pulled her toward his car, jerking his chin toward his men. Vlad shoved her into the car. She would have crawled all the way across to the other side, but he stopped her, forcing her into the seat next to his. She reached for her seatbelt, but he took it from her fingers and latched it himself. She narrowed her eyes in the darkness of the vehicle and made a small sound of annoyance.

Vlad buckled himself in and gave the command for the driver to take them home. Without looking at her, Vlad said, “Get some rest.”

She’d been chasing her kidnapped sister all over the city after attending a wedding. All while pregnant. She must be exhausted.

It was a long drive back to their home and Jane slept most of the 45 minutes, the stress of the evening taking its toll on her body. She woke to Vlad unbuckling her seatbelt and lifting her from the car.

“I can walk,” she said sleepily, shoving against his chest.

She was forever trying to deny him.

“Be still,” he growled, striding with her in his arms.

For once she obeyed, snuggling closer against his chest, closing her eyes and enjoying the heat from his body. Vlad paused in front of the house looking up at the dark facade of his mansion. He’d built this place with the blood-soaked money he’d earned after moving to America.

He glanced down at Jane’s dark head, pressed against his chest. He couldn’t see her face, but he thought she’d fallen back asleep. If he took her inside the house, they would continue their argument. She would have the security of their home to continue her constant defiance. He needed something to change. Needed her to change and she wasn’t going to do it if he took her into the comfort of her home.

He strode around the side of the house instead, bypassing the garage. As if sensing that something wasn’t right, Jane lifted her head and looked sleepily around. They were crossing the back yard toward the bunker where he’d locked her up one year ago.

As soon as she figured out his intention, Jane shouted something unintelligible and surged up in his arms, twisting sideways and sending an elbow toward his throat. Vlad reacted instantly taking her down to the grass where he held her face-down with her wrists behind her back. He kept her pinned while she struggled beneath him. The tight dress wiggled up her hips until it was nearly at her waist, revealing a pair of black lace panties stretched tight over the curves of her ass.

“Calm the fuck down Jane before you hurt our child,” he growled from above her, both furious and turned on. His constant state around this woman.

“You’re the one hurting it, not me!” she yelled still twisting, but her struggles grew weaker as exhaustion overtook her.

Vlad flipped her over onto her back, pulled her hands over her head and leaned over his knee between her spread legs. He placed his entire length, his entire weight across her, careful not to put pressure on her stomach. The position was sexual and combined with his anger it took effort not to tear her panties off and fuck her right there on the grass with his men only a few yards away.

“I’ve had enough of this, Jane,” he yelled, his voice thundering across the lawn. “I’ve had enough of you. You’ve gone too far this time. Too fucking far. If I could, I would tear our baby out of you right now just to keep it safe from your stupidity and bury you so deep in Russia with my Bratva kin you would never see the light of day again.”

Her mouth fell open and tears threatened to spill. His heart cracked at that look. It was an idle threat; he could never bring himself to send her away. She belonged to him. Forever. But he had to do something to bring her to heel, to make her see how much damage she could cause with her careless pursuit of whatever caught her fancy.

Then Jane did what Jane did best, she came up fighting. She bared her teeth in a snarl and spit at him. The spittle landed on his neck where he could feel it dripping down his collar. That was his Jane, defiant to the end.

Vlad moved his hand to her neck and pinned her to the ground so hard she wouldn’t have been able to breathe if they were anywhere except on spongy grass. “Do you have any idea who I am?” he snarled.

She glared up at him.

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