Page 41 of Captivated By the Bratva

“It’s not your decision to make, Maxim. This isn’t your decision.”

His words hit me hard. That was just what Nadia was imploring me to understand last night. That it was too cruel and unfair to expect her to have a stay with him, to be coerced without any option or the chance to give her individual input on being Lev’s bride.

“I’ll make it mine,” I said, feeling confident about it.

“You?” He grunted. “With what power?”

“Marriages can be arranged and they can be intercepted too. Look at what Alek did when?—”

He cursed. “No. Maxim, that’s not the same thing. You and Alek are not the same. And no, before you can take my words thewrong way and act like I’m making you out to be an inferior brother of the Bratva, I mean it. You and Alek are not of the same standing, and your motives— Wait. Why do you want to keep her?”

I snorted. Why wouldn’t I? That was a more appropriate question. The more I thought about giving Nadia to Lev, the more I realized how wrong it was.

“If you’re going to claim you love her or some bullshit like that… Come on, man. Think with your head, not your dick.”

“I’m just?—”

“You’re just trying to say why can’t you do it too, since Alek stole Mila as a bride. He did it to prevent war. He did it to tell Sergei to fuck off with his plans to bring out Bratva down. And we’re still dealing with the consequences of that.”

Fine. He had a point. Alek stealing Milawasa different scenario. But he wasn’t the only one who’d pulled off a stunt like this. “You took Amy from another man.”

“No,” he argued easily. “Not another man. I took Amy from a man who bought her.”

“Which is the same thing I’m dealing with.”

He huffed. “Same thing? No. Nadia’s engaged to someone, not bought like a product.”

I winced, still annoyed and hating that my sister-in-law, Amy, had ever experienced a moment of being stuck in a human-trafficking ring. The Valkov Bratva didn’t stand for selling women or children. Drugs and guns were fine, but not people.

“It’s not the same thing,” Nik said. “I rescued her out of a bad situation?—”

“And if I fought for Nadia, to keep her with me, I would be sparing her a lifetime with Lev.”

“No,” he corrected. “You’d be interfering with an arranged marriage.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, unsure whether I was smart about asking Nik for advice.

“If you’re looking for a way to keep this girl…” Nik sighed again. “You’ll incite war. I talked with Alek last night, after he’d called you. I mean, fuck, man. You fought Erik Avilov to stop him from getting her.”

“Who?”

“His name’s Erik Avilov,” Nik said. “Lev’s nephew. Alek’s been keeping an eye on him the best he can because it seems like he might be connected to other things that could complicate what we deal with.”

“Interesting.”

“We don’t mess with the Avilovs often, but recently, it seems like that might be a mistake. A lapse of staying cautious with all the organizations who could end up as enemies of ours.”

I gazed at the rising sun in the distance. Clouds covered the sky, and I bet it’d be another rainy day. While being in this tropical, humid heat was a nice change of scenery from New York, I wanted to go home. With Nadia.

“Lev wants his bride,” Nik said. “There’s no changing that fact. Gregory Petrov isn’t going to try to change that agreement. Andnow with the Valkov influence—you—looking like you want to interfere, even if it was accidental because you didn’t know who Erik was at the place and time, it doesn’t look good.”

“I don’t want to make Alek worry about the Avilovs coming after us.”

He waited me out.

“But I don’t want to give her up.”

His chuckle almost made me smile. “That fast?”

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