Page 45 of Captive Prize

“You. Thank god. Will you please tell my incredibly stubborn, overprotective husband that I amfine?”

“Uhh…” I looked around for an escape. None appeared. Pavel glared at me with his one good eye like a very pissed-off pirate.

“Look, I’m not a doctor.”

“Neither is she,” Pavel snapped, like I’d just proven his point.

Alina shot me a glare that promised pain.

She’d fit in just fine.

“I’m not taking any chances—with you or the baby,” Pavel said, his voice rough, desperate.

He was lost.

Lost the way my father had been for my mother.

I didn’t know what that kind of love felt like. But I recognized it.

Pavel’s fear wasn’t just for her. It was for himself. If something happened to that girl, he was finished.

Alina rolled her eyes. “The baby is less than the size of a bean, Pavel. She isfine.”

“You meanheis fine.”

“We are both fine,” she snapped, ripping her hand from his grip to throw it up in frustration.

I laughed and shook my head. Pavel was done for.

This was going to be the longest nine months of that girl’s life.

“So… I take it you’re both alive and well?”

Pavel shot me another look. I motioned toward the hallway.

“Outside?”

He sighed but stood, gripping his crutches and hobbling after me.

We stepped into the hall, and I shut the door behind us.

“What do you have on her?” he asked, all business now.

“Nothing. Yet. She’s more stubborn than I expected. Stronger, too.”

“That the only reason?”

“Excuse me?”

“I know how difficult women can be.”

“I kidnapped a girl, and she’s actually tied up in a cabin. You tried to kidnap a girl, got a blowjob, and she stole your gun. Now she’s your wife and leads you around by your cock. We are not the same.”

Pavel stared me down for a beat—then burst out laughing.

“Okay, first of all, fuck you. Second, point taken. But seriously—we need answers. Gregor and Artem won’t wait forever.”

“What are they planning?”

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