Page 10 of Captivated By the Bratva

The irony killed me. Here I was, joking about being engaged, and now, I faced a moment of reckoning. A moment of my fate coming to get me because I’d stayed away for too long. Dad said that Mr. Avilov was pressuring him and contacting him more and more frequently. I’d ignored more and more calls and emails myself. The man was escalating in his race to make me his bride, dispatching one of his men to get me and bring me to him.

Fuck. This.

I wouldn’t marry. Not Lev Avilov. Not like this. Never on someone else’s goddamn terms.

I fisted my hands, firming my back to stand strong and defiant. I could not give up now. I could not go weak now.

I’d avoided the Avilov influence for years, and I damn well would continue to for as long as I wanted to. No one could make me marry that old asshole.

“Uh, hello?” The loser who hit on me was still here, hardly blocking my view of the Avilov man back there, glowering at me.

“Are you even listening?” He snapped his fingers in my face, making me blink and flinch, but he couldn’t persuade me to stop looking at the man lurking at the other end of the bar. My stare was locked on him, and panic would soon boil and bubble over. The second I gave in to this all-consuming panic, I would show it on my face. This loser would see it. He’d react. God, he’d get involved. It was already getting so complicated in my mind.

“I… I…”

He rolled his eyes, annoyed at my stubborn rejection of him. Remaining oblivious to the man slowly stalking toward us, unaware that danger waited if he stood in the way, the moronshook his head and fumed. “You’re just another antisocial tease, aren’t you? You act like you can’t stand the thought of a guy talking to you, but you’ll want the attention all the same. I can’t stand teases like you.”

I tuned him out. My heart beat faster and harder. I couldn’t breathe well. My lungs wouldn’t fill. With tunnel vision, I watched as the Avilov man walked closer, cutting through the crowd with his dark stare zeroed in onme.

Fuck!

“I have to go.” It came out as a breathy whisper. A silent declaration. I didn’t tell it to this stranger, but to myself.

I had to go. Now.

Turning so quickly that I felt lightheaded, I sucked in a deep breath and prepared to launch. To run. To sprint in the opposite direction of this man and pray that I could escape.

I didn’t get far. Instead of dodging away and hurrying out of the bar to lose that man, I slammed into someone else.

I grunted at the impact. Colliding into a hard wall of muscle didn’t feel good. Before I could glance back and see if the Avilov man was coming closer, I pulled in another deep breath and readied to sidestep whoever had been standing so close.

Strong fingers manacled me. He grabbed my upper arms, holding me close, and I frowned as I peered up at him.

“Running away, Nadia?” he asked. His deep, rich voice flowed like whiskey, and I shivered at his tone.

He knows my name.

My heart sank. Fear enveloped me again.

Is he another one here to capture me?

5

MAXIM

Nadia Petrov.

Her pictures didn’t do her justice. Not one bit. The slender brunette looked up at me. Shock crossed over her expressive face, but she snapped to quickly. Replacing that frown of surprise, she narrowed her eyes and pressed her plump lips into a firm line. Not quite a scowl, but close. A hint of fear remained in her blue eyes, but I dismissed it.

I dismissed a hell of a lot more. Gazing down at her, I was instantly captivated by the allure of her soulful eyes. She pulled at me. Instantly, without any hesitation or any chance of a knee-jerk reaction to glance aside, I was sucked into her presence.

The gorgeous challenge in her glare. The smart clamp of her lips as though she fought the urge to tell me off.

She was shorter than I’d expected. The photos I’d found of her suggested she was slender and willowy, but with my fingers locked around her upper arms, I felt the solid substance of muscles. Inked skin covered her, and with an impatient flick ofher head, she tossed her long brown locks back and revealed another line of tattoos up near the back of her neck.

God damn.

Tensing within my hold, she fidgeted to break free. “Let me go.”

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