Page 137 of Bratva's Vow
He was still here.
Thank fuck.
Just… not with me.
Why had he left our bed?
“Maxim?”
My breath stuttered out of me in a heavy exhale as I turned away and lifted the phone back to my ear. “False alarm. I found him outside. By the pool.”
Sergei muttered something about heart attacks and insomnia and hung up.
I stayed where I was for a moment longer, gripping the phone in one hand, the edge of the patio door in the other. Letting the panic drain out of me as quietly as it had come.
Then I stepped outside.
Jellybean heard me before Wren did. His ears perked, and he let out a small, curious whine. A sharp bark shattered the stillness. Wren stirred, blinking like he’d come back from somewhere far away, and bent to set the puppy gently on the stone.
He took off at once, scampering across the patio and yipping until he reached me. I bent, scooped him up, his warm little body vibrating against my chest. How evil could I truly be when he trusted me so easily? Right from the start.
“Good boy.” I scratched his belly as he stretched in my arms. I took him over to the poolside and sat beside Wren, placing the dog between us.
Wren didn’t say anything. He pulled his thighs up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees.
Silence stretched long between us, heavy with everything unsaid. A silence that threatened to drive me to insanity. I filtered through what to say and eventually settled on the truth.
“I thought you left.”
Wren slowly turned his head toward me. “What? Maxim, I told you I’d never leave you again. Didn’t you believe me?”
“I do,” I said, and meant it, but the fear hadn’t cared. “Ithought I did. But it’s the biggest fear of mine. Waking up and finding you gone. Again.”
His face crumpled slightly, and I caught the shimmer of red in his eyes, the fine tremble in his bottom lip he bit down.
“You’ve been crying.” I shifted closer, reaching out. “Talk to me, kroshka.Please. Why did you leave our bed to sit out here on your own? Is it something I did?”
His breath hitched, then broke apart completely. The first sob was quiet, but it cracked something wide open.
“You said—” Wren choked. “You said you’d never lie to me. Never keep anything important from me.”
My heart sank.
I stiffened, trying to piece together what he meant. What he could’ve possibly?—
“Wren…” I said, uncertain.
He turned to me fully, eyes red, voice hoarse. “How did Vova really die?”
I swallowed, throat tight.
His gaze pinned me. “Did he die the same day you were looking for me?”
“Wren—”
“Maxim. Please.”
I looked away. The pool lights flickered across the water, casting broken reflections. “What does it matter? What’s done is done.”
