Page 14 of Forced Bratva Hostage

His phone rings, and with his back towards me, he answers it, and I listen to the one-sided conversation.

“That’s good news. Yes. Yes, I’ll send the location. Now is good.”

He slides the phone back into his pocket.

“Uber eats?” I sass. “I don’t like pineapple on my pizza.”

While he paces around the cabin, I amuse myself, trying to push his buttons. I talk about nothing and everything, yapping on without pausing. Every now and then, he glances at me, but nothing is working. Does this guy have an infinite amount of patience or something? Is that his superpower?

A car pulls up outside, the wheels scrunching against dirt. I sit up, tense and focused.

“Who is it?” I blurt out.

“A surprise,” he murmurs without inflection.

I don’t know what I was expecting, sitting tensely on the edge of the sofa, but a priest was not it. There is another man standing behind him.

“Door-to-door exorcisms?” I ask. “I don’t think you should do it. Whatever is possessing you might be the only personality you’ll ever have.”

He ignores me, but the priest is constantly glancing my way.

“Ready?” the man asks.

“Andrei, I wasn’t aware she wasn’t exactly willing—"

“The witness says otherwise. Let’s get this done.” Andrei snaps.

Andrei.

The asshole has a name.

The man who has been referred to as the witness walks in with a smirk on his face. “From what I see this evening, she is more than willing. If anyone has any questions afterwards, she looked rather happy about it.”

“Thanks, man.” Andrei nods towards the guy.

“Hey, you paid me enough for this favor.” He chuckles.

Andrei leans over me, the scent of his skin teasing me for a moment, and he undoes the cuff from the table and snaps it onto his wrist.

“What’s going on?” I ask, terrified, slowly realizingexactlywhat is going on. “You can’t be serious. I’m not marrying you. Why would you want to get married? I don’t even know you. This is—no—you cannot be serious—"

Andrei drags me towards the edge of the kitchen counter, where the priest has set up some papers and is standing, fidgeting and nervous.

“Andrei? Andrei, come on, no—" I plead.

“You can begin.” He ignores me and speaks to the priest.

The witness leans casually against the wall, watching this scene unfold.

To my horror, the guy starts reciting vows.

Panic bolts through me, and I’m kicking and twisting and fighting again. I try and spin towards Andrei so that I can knee him right where it’ll hurt the most, but he’s fast, and each movement is controlled and smooth. Effortless. It’s like he can see every choice I make before I make it.

Andrei locks his arm around my waist and drags me close to him so that my back is pinned against his chest. We areboth facing the priest. I can’t even move. My eyes are wide and horrified, and the priest is staring at me with the same tension in his.

“Come on. Get it done—we really don’t need all the formalities.” Andrei huffs, annoyed.

Chapter 5 - Andrei

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