Page 31 of Chased & Bred by the BRATVA
I flip the phone around so she can see the empty screen. “I’ve been gone for almost a week. Not a single one of them thought I might be in trouble. They thought I was being dramatic.Again.”
Clara tilts her head. “And were you?”
“No,” I snap, then immediately soften. “I mean… maybe sometimes I used to leave early. But I always told them I was going so they wouldn’t worry. But this was different. I was literally kidnapped from right outside the club.”
She hums thoughtfully. “Sometimes it takes something awful to show you who’s really in your corner.”
I nod, eyes stinging. “I keep thinking about how easily I could have disappeared. How I almost did. And they just went back to their plans like I don’t even exist.”
She doesn’t say I told you so. She doesn’t have to.
Clara leans forward slightly. “What did you do, before all of this?”
I let out a short laugh. “I’m a graduate accountant. Or, I guess I was. I worked for a firm in the city. You know the type, gray walls, quiet desks, spreadsheets that never end.”
“Sounds thrilling.”
“Oh, it was,” I say, sarcasm thick. “I was one of twenty junior analysts. They called me the ‘Excel Whisperer.’ I didn’t mind it, not really. But no one noticed me unless something went wrong. My manager couldn’t even remember my name. Always called me ‘Grace’ for some reason.”
Clara smiles gently. “And now?”
“Now…” I glance out the window. The estate stretches beyond the glass, all stone paths and flowerbeds and guards who nod respectfully when I walk past. “Now I’m in a mansion with men who kill for honor and kiss like it means something.”
Her laughter is warm and surprised. “That’s quite a shift.”
“Yeah,” I breathe. “And I’m not sure I want to go back.”
Clara’s expression shifts, her gaze sharpening with curiosity. “That’s not just Stockholm syndrome talking?”
“No. I don’t feel trapped. Not with Nikolai. If anything, I feel… seen. It’s terrifying, but in a good way.”
She nods. “That’s exactly how it started for me too.”
I blink. “Was it scary?”
“At first. Maksim isn’t exactly a man who makes small talk. But then I realized he wasn’t trying to control me. He was trying to protect something he didn’t think he deserved. Loving a man like that means learning how to speak the same language. It’s not always easy, but it’s always honest.”
I let that sit for a moment. The quiet hum of the estate. The breeze filtering through the open windows. The heavy truth of everything that’s happened.
“I just thought they’d ask after me. Check in with me,” I whisper. “Even just one of them.”
Clara leans forward and places her hand gently over mine. “You found someone who would burn the world down to bring you home. That’s worth more than a dozen friends who didn’t notice when you vanished.”
The sting in my chest eases a little.
I squeeze her hand. “Thanks.”
She gives me a slow, knowing smile. “Anytime.”
Nikolai
The sun has begun its late afternoon descent when I find Maksim and Roman in the atrium, standing near the glass wall that overlooks the gardens. Clara is with them, curled into Maksim’s side, a hand resting on his chest. Roman is sipping espresso, as usual, black and scalding. They look like a painting of power and permanence, a dynasty carved out of steel and blood.
“Afternoon,” I say, though it feels like the wrong word for a house that never stops.
Roman cuts a glance toward me. “You look domesticated.”
I shrug. “I feel good.”
