Page 7 of Captivated By the Bratva

“How long has she known that she must marry him?” In other words, how long could she have plotted her escape?

“Since she was a kid. Anytime she started watching all them Disney movies and thinking about happily-ever-after bullshit, I reminded her that it’s not her. That she had a husband already picked out for her.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Since she was a kid?” Anger, simmering but potent, built in my veins. Now that I was an uncle—twice over with baby Alana joining Emily—I couldn’t picture it. None of us in the Bratva could arrange those babies in marriage. Arranged unions were common in the Bratva, but I doubted any of my brothers would be so hasty like Gregory had been.

“Before she was born.” Gregory frowned, wiping at the gash on his arm. “When I married Nadia’s mother, I interfered with Lev’s expectations.”

What?“Explain.”

“Sabrina, Nadia’s mother, was arranged to be married to Lev. I slept with her because I thought she’d make a pretty penny being a dancer. We eloped before she could marry that fucker. Then she ended up dying before she could be much of a dancerfor long and make money anyway.” He shrugged. “But Lev was furious. He threatened to kill me for interfering and taking his bride. So, I made a deal with him. I’d get to live and keep Sabrina so long as I gave him my first daughter. And here we are.” He lifted his hand and let it fall to his lap.

I shouldn’t have been irritated with that setup, but deep down, I was. Arranging a marriage with a young woman was one thing. But shackling a baby to a fate like that before they’d even lived at all? It felt wrong. It didn’t sit well with me that he’d married his wife just to make money on her, either.

“I thought the old fucker would forget about it over the years. Or die before it became an issue. He’s almost seventy. But no, he’s alive and well, still expecting me to pay him back with Nadia.” He hissed as he moved his shoulder. “Nadia’s always known, but I wondered if it would actually happen. If he’d remember about the arrangement. He never said shit when she was a kid. Never stopped in. Nothing. No meetings. Until she was fifteen. He wanted to take her and marry her then, but she ran away. Hid at a friend’s or something.”

I can’t blame her.Her fifteen to his, what, fifty something? It was sick.

“All through high school, she tried to stay away from me, from home. Probably afraid that he’d come back. After high school, she took off to London. I’ve tried every excuse in the book. I’ve tried to negotiate with him. Even considered buying a woman and offering her as a replacement. Nothing works. He wants Nadia because of the agreement with me, and she won’t fucking listen.

“She’s due to come home after her graduation, but I know she’s applying to other colleges and shit. She’ll keep trying to run andhide. I know she will. And Avilov’s running out of patience. He’s been hounding me to get her home, to deliver her to him. He sent his fucking animals to threaten me just now.” He huffed an angry laugh. “And they said this is it. Within the month. If she’s not here to marry him, they’ll kill me. Torture me.” He raised his troubled gaze to me.

I shrugged, unmoved. It was his problem. Not mine. If he didn’t want a powerful Mafia lord like Lev Avilov to come after him, he should’ve thought twice about eloping with Lev’s first intended bride.

Arranged marriages were commonplace. Breaking them happened frequently too. Alek stole Mila from her wedding to our now-dead cousin. Shit like that wasn’t out of the norm. However, if a man wanted to risk his life to take someone else’s bride, that was his fucking decision, no one else’s.

“That’s why I’ve been asking thePakhanfor help.” He sneered at me. “If Nadia isn’t brought home and forced to marry Avilov, it’s my life on the line.”

See if I care.The only thing binding me to seeing this through was the implication that the Valkov name would be tarnished with one of our associates reneging on a deal with a powerful man.

“And here he sendsyou? What, are you the youngest brother?” He shook his head. “You don’t look capable.”

“I could say the same,” I drawled, emphasizing how weak and defeated he looked all beaten and breathing hard like that.

“I doubt you can find her, let alone get her home.”

I narrowed my eyes, instantly infuriated by his words. I was tired of being doubted, of feeling like I wouldn’t ever measure up to my brothers.

“I’ve offered to step up and handle this issue.” I smoothed down the front of my shirt. “And I will.”

Gregory rolled his eyes. “I fucking hope so. My life is on the line.”

“I don’t give a shit about you. I’m only doing this because you’ll drag the Valkov name down with your inability to see through your deal. Now give me her address.”

Still muttering to himself, he did as I told him to. He scribbled on a piece of paper, then handed it to me. “That’s her last address. I wouldn’t be shocked if she moved since then, but that’s the university she is enrolled at.”

I skimmed the note before folding it and putting it in my pocket. I wouldn’t be shocked if Avilov already knew where she was and had men there to grab her. If that was the case, my job was halfway done already.

And then I can help with getting Dmitri back.

“I never had the funds to hire a guard or anyone to follow her. I paid for a PI once when she didn’t talk to me. Her first year at the school, she gave me radio silence. No calls, no texts. Changed her number and all. My PI tracked her down, but I don’t have the resources to bring her home. She never came home for any breaks, either, probably thinking I’d set her up to be taken if she gave me word that she was returning at all.”

Years. He’d gone years without seeing her, and it appeared as though he didn’t give a shit. Gregory hadn’t missed her, and I couldn’t understand it.

“Good luck.” Gregory scoffed. “I can’t make up any more excuses and hold off Lev. He wants hernow, and this is it. You have to find her.”

I nodded, tossing him one last look of pure disdain. “I will.”

Sniveling little asshole.I hardly blamed the woman for wanting to run far and fast from the man who called himself her father.

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