Page 132 of Bratva's Intern

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

WREN

Ipaced Maxim’s office like a man waiting for a verdict. The door was shut. The heater was on. But I couldn’t get warm. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. My chest wouldn’t stop tightening.

The gun.

The way that man had looked at me.

The way Maxim had said, “he’s nobody important.”

My stomach twisted again and again, each thought like a knife carving out a new piece of me. I hated myself for coming back tonight. I should have gone to his house like he’d instructed. At least then I wouldn’t have found out what Maxim thought about our relationship…about me.

He scream when you fuck him? Or he moan soft like a girl?

Jess and I talked about our sex lives with our men, but our conversations were encouraging. That asshole had made it sound degrading what Maxim did to me. Like I was less than because of it.

What did Maxim even reply? The elevator door had closed before he said anything.

I was so stupid. For believing, even for a moment, that I was something more than a well-fucked secret he kept behind his office door.

What the hell had I expected?

That he would kiss me in front of those men? That he’d say, “This is Wren, the man I wake up beside every morning, the one I plan to spend the rest of my life with?”

He’d called me an intern.

A fuckingintern.

And he was right.

For a minute there, I’d let his treatment of me cloud my judgment, convince me that I was somebody special. I wasn’t. I was as replaceable as the last coffee cup he’d thrown into the trash.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I swiped it away with the back of my hand.

I really love him.

Oh god, what have I done?

There was a noise outside the door, and I froze. Heart hammering.

The door opened.

Maxim stepped in and closed it softly behind him, like he was trying not to spook me. As if I were some frightened animal he wasn’t sure would bolt or bite.

I couldn’t look at him.

Not right away.

“Wren,” he said quietly.

I didn’t answer. Just crossed my arms tightly over my chest and stared at the floor like it had answers I didn’t. My eyes burned, but I didn’t want him to know how much his words affected me.

“You shouldn’t have come back tonight.”

Wrong thing to say.

I let out a breath that sounded more like a laugh. Bitter and sharp.

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