Page 39 of Captivated By the Bratva

“Why do you sound surprised?” He turned to face me more.

“Well, you’re…” I gestured at him, waving a hand. “Dangerous and deadly.” My mind flashed back to how he’d shot those thugs at the other place. How fearsome he looked when fighting that Avilov man in London. “You donotlook like some office worker.”

He smirked, crawling up onto the bed to lie next to me. On his side, he faced me but didn’t reach out to touch me. “I was. I’m the youngest and?—”

“Of how many?” I couldn’t help but smile. I always wanted siblings. Then again, my dad might have tried to barter them off too, so it was likely for the best that I was an only child.

“Four brothers. And they’ve never let me have a real mission in the field.”

I was his first assignment, then. “Aha. So you need to prove yourself to them or something?” I bit my lip to temper my smile. He was too sexy like this, not sheepish but almost shy to admit it.

“Yes. The pressure to bring you home is there, but I also want to make sure I’m available to help get my brother home, too.”

“Someone captured him?”

He nodded. “The Kastavas. Dmitri was fighting them, and he’s been missing since.”

I shook my head. “Kastavas? Never heard of them.”

“Rivals of the family. Alek, my oldest brother who is now thePakhan, married Sergei Kastava’s daughter, but the family remains an enemy.”

I whistled slowly. “Sounds like drama. I never grew up like that. I mean, yeah, my dad’s under the Valkov protection, but he’s like, a little guy. A small cog in the whole operation.”

He nodded. “He is.”

“I’ve never felt like I was an actual elite Mafia daughter.”

He smirked. “Except when you’re reminded that you need to marry a prominent member of another Mafia organization?”

I exhaled and winced. “Yeah, that.”

I didn’t want to talk about it. While I never wanted to know about the Mafia men who dealt with my dad, I was intrigued about the fierce and sexy protector sharing this bed with me. “Do you think Dmitri is okay?”

He furrowed his brow. “Yes. I hope so. I had a tracker injected under his skin, and they cut it out.”

I grimaced.

“Torture is expected, and Dmitri is a hard fucker to beat. But Sergei Kastava’s been planning to attack us ever since Alek took Mila from her wedding.”

“Whoa. Likeatthe wedding?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. It was a mess.” As he summarized the story and gave me a watered-down explanation of how his oldest brother met his wife, I snuggled closer to him and enjoyed the fact that he was opening up to me.

We weren’t intimate, fully clothed and not even in the bed, but for the hours that we talked and talked, I felt like we grew closer to each other.

When I eventually drifted toward a deep sleep, my lids tiring as I stared at his face, I relished the soothing caress of his hand on me, stroking my long hair back.

Nothing had changed. I knew, deep down, that he would still bring me back home to marry Lev even if it wasn’t something that he wanted to happen to me.

Which was why I still planned to run as soon as the opportunity arose—no matter how much it would break my heart to flee from the sexy, strong man I wanted to keep forever.

15

MAXIM

For the second day in a row, I woke up to the peaceful sight of Nadia asleep in bed with me. And also for the second day in a row, I lost myself in watching her rest.

No smirks or sassy scowls lined her face. No chance for her to roll her eyes or blind me with those bright smiles that felt like a direct hit to my heart.

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