Page 46 of Captivated By the Bratva

Feeling her wrapped around me was a glorious sensation. I yearned to feel her so deep like that again. That was only the physical problem. Wanting her just because she seemed to complete me, to sync with me, was the trickiest thing to resist.

She’s not yours.

Nadia wasn’t mine. I’d fucked her. I’d taken her virginity, but that didn’t mean anything permanent.

“I’ll check the hospitals again.”

“Keep me posted. I’m here to help if I can,” Ivan replied.

“No, you need to focus on finding Dmitri,” I argued.

He huffed. “You’re my brother too. We all help each other. You know that. And if this woman is starting to matter to you as much as it sounds like she is… Then fuck. I’ll support you. I never expected to fall for Becca, and look at me now, engaged and a daddy.”

We ended the call, but I didn’t put my phone away. I called the hospitals again, grateful that I’d taken so many courses to learn other languages. My Spanish was rusty, but decent.

“Yes, we do have a woman matching that description,” the receptionist said.

I’d called and asked for my “wife”, and this was the first time someone had a different answer for me.

“All the tattoos? Flowers over her left shoulder but skulls on the other?”

“Yes,” the woman replied. “She was transported here from another facility. A patient with a head injury.”

After getting directions, I hurried to the hospital. The whole drive over, I worried that I was getting my hopes up high. That it wasn’t her. Or if it was, she was badly wounded.

A head injury?

The worst-case scenarios filed through my mind.

If the local criminals targeted her as a lone tourist out on her own… I’d track them down and make them regret it.

If Avilov’s enemies sought her out… I’d chase after them and slaughter them all.

And if Erik Avilov had gotten a bead on her and located her…

No. He wouldn’t hurt her. Not if he’s supposed to bring her in to his nasty uncle.

I wanted to assume that no one else would have found her. She had no phone or cards to be tracked. She’d made a call at that scenic area, where I first reunited with her, so maybe someone could have pinpointed her to being near Cozumel. But since then, she hadn’t offered any opportunity of being followed.

Or they could be finding her through me.

I’d kept her close, and the Valkovs had enemies. I could have been followed, making it easier for someone to get to her.

Entertaining all these worries made me more anxious, but I tamped it all down as I hurried toward her room.

A nurse accompanied me, explaining the protocol they had in place for visitors and the hours they could come, but I tuned her out. Operating with tunnel vision, I concentrated on simply reaching her.

There she was.

I stopped short as I entered the small room, and as soon as I took in the sight of her lying in a hospital bed, my heart calmed. My head cleared. My heart sung higher with the elation of not only seeing her again, but knowing for a fact that she was alive and well.

“Maxim,” she whispered. Her eyes opened wide with surprise, but she sniffled immediately, tearing up.

“Nadia.” I plowed past the nurse, rushing closer to the bed. “You brat. You ran,” I whispered as I took her hand.

“She’s been suffering from amnesia,” the nurse prattled on, furrowing her brow as she watched Nadia grip my hand.

I ignored the woman, leaning in closer to cup Nadia’s face and kiss her hard. It was a punishing, demanding order. I beckoned her to kiss me back, to open up and let me taste her sweetness again.

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