Page 61 of Bratva's Vow
“By making me your prisoner?” I hated how small I sounded. “You’re asking for forgiveness, but how can I even think about forgiving you when you’ve handled all this so wrong? On top of everything you’ve done, you’re holding me hostage. And you expect me to smile and thank you?”
His eyes softened, but only for a second before frustration bled into his features.
“If I let you go, can you guarantee you won’t run?” He watched me closely.
“Yes.” I said it quickly. Too quickly.
He let out a low, humorless chuckle, sitting back on his heels. “You’re a terrible liar. I know you too well, Wren. The second I let you out of this room, you’ll try to escape me, and that’s not an option.”
I swallowed tightly, bitterness rising sharp in my throat. “Pity I didn’t know you at all. Just the man you pretended to be.”
That landed. Hard. Maxim’s face darkened, his jaw ticking. “You do know me.”
I barked a laugh that sounded closer to a sob. “Do I? Really? The same man I shared jokes and breakfasts and lazy mornings with? Because the one I see now has a lot more blood on his hands.”
He lunged up and paced like he couldn’t stay still. Like my words were biting into him worse than bullets.
“I have killed, yes,” he snapped, voice gravel rough and violent with emotion. “I’ll kill again if I have to. But I don’t murder innocents. I end threats. There’s a difference.”
“Bullshit. You’re seriously standing there telling me you’ve never killed the wrong person before? Never made a mistake? Never looked at someone and decided they didn’t deserve to breathe for your convenience?”
Silence.
That silence said more than words ever could.
I stared at him, heart twisting cruelly in my chest. How could I have fallen for this man? “Thought so.”
Maxim’s eyes gleamed with something fierce as he stalked back toward the bed and loomed over me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“All Bradley did was warn me,” I whispered, barely able to say it. “And you killed him for it. Because you were jealous of?—”
“Warn you?” Maxim’s mouth twisted in fury. “Bradley wasn’t innocent, Wren. You think he cared about you? He cared about hurting me. He cared about getting revenge. That car accident you were in? You think that was random? We found the fucking driver. He confessed. It was a hit directed at you, Wren. A hit ordered by the chief of police. Why do you think I had to rush you out of TagX before we finished playing? The chief had someone follow us there. If not for Sergei, I would have been dead. Do you think it’s a coincidence our whereabouts were always known?”
My stomach dropped.
“Bradley,” Maxim snarled, lips curling. “Every time he hovered near your desk, talked sweet, asked you questions, he was feeding the chief everything. He was the leak. That’s how they knew where we’d be for TagX. He used you.”
I shook my head, the room tilting slightly from how fast my thoughts spun. “No. You’re twisting this. You’re making it up to justify what you did, and Bradley’s no longer here to defend himself.”
“I’m not making anything up!” Maxim pounced on me onthe bed, crowding me. He gripped my arms so tight I gasped, forcing them above my head. “Wake up, Wren. The world isn’t nice. People don’t play fair. They use, they exploit, and when men like me aren’t around to stop them, they burn people like you alive. I do what has to be done so you never have to.”
His words hit like thunder. They shouldn’t have made sense. They shouldn’t have chipped at the edges of my anger.
But they did.
“No,” I whispered weakly. “You don’t get to paint yourself as the hero.”
“I’m no fucking hero. I’m just yours, so don’t blame me for ending a life to protect you.”
His mouth crushed down on mine, fierce and brutal, swallowing the rest of my protests. Heat slammed through me, angry, bitter, and starved for the taste of him, even though I hated that I craved it.
And I did crave it. My lips parted under his, my fingers curling into his shirt as I kissed him back just as desperately. Every broken thing between us poured out through that kiss. Frustration. Grief. Lust. Love. Hate.
But it wasn’t enough to drown out reality.
I ripped my mouth free with a sob, shoving hard at his chest. “Stop.” I slid off the bed and stumbled away from him like his touch had burned. “No. I can’t—I can’t do this.”
“Wren—”
