Page 97 of Captive Virgin of the Bratva

I settle beside her, pulling her against me. She lets me. Her cheek finds the curve of my shoulder, and her fingers trace faint circles against my chest. We lie there, quiet, and I let myself breathe.

Let myself just feel her there.

“I was scared,” she says suddenly.

I stiffen. Not because I didn’t know—it’s the way she says it. Like she’s never admitted it out loud before.

“Back in that basement,” she adds. “I kept waiting for someone to come. I hated myself for hoping it would be you.”

I say nothing, but I pull her tighter.

“I was angry when you showed up, and relieved, and… ashamed of that too.”

“You don’t have to be ashamed of anything.”

“You said you’d always be in time.” Her voice cracks slightly. “And you were.”

I nod once. “I meant it.”

There’s a pause. The kind that carries weight.

“I don’t know what we’re doing,” she admits softly. “Or where this ends.”

“I do.”

She lifts her head, brows raised. “You do?”

I meet her gaze, slow and sure. “I’m not letting you go.”

She laughs once. “That’s not exactly comforting, Kolya.”

“Wasn’t meant to be.”

She stares at me for a long moment. Then she sighs and lays back down, her forehead pressing into my collarbone.

“I still hate you sometimes,” she mutters.

“Good.” I kiss the top of her head. “Keep it interesting.”

She’s quiet again, but I feel the way her body relaxes, breath slowing.

It’s the first time she’s ever fallen asleep in my arms.

I swear I don’t sleep at all. I watch her instead—her lashes against her cheeks, her lips slightly parted, her hand still resting over my heart like she’s trying to claim it.

Maybe she already has.

Epilogue

Elise, Two Months Later

I stand before the mirror, hands folded at my waist, the silk of the gown whispering against my skin with every slow breath.

The woman staring back isn’t a stranger—but she isn’t the girl I once was either.

That girl wanted freedom. Escape. She flinched when thunder cracked, when voices rose, when a door slammed too hard. She survived with her fists clenched around silence and her heart locked behind her ribs like a secret.

She never could have imagined this.

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