Page 49 of The Bratva's Hunted Bride
“What do I have to do to make this stop?”
He snorts with laughter. “Come home,” he says.
“Home?” I whisper, my heart growing cold.
“Yes, Talia. Leave the Abashins, come home, neverevertalk to Timofey or any member of his family again…and I will stop.”
“Marlen, I’m pregnant with his baby. He’s going to be the father of…”
“Do you think I give a fuck. I don’t want him anywhere near my family. I don’t want him near my sister. And if you don’t walk away from him, I will take him away from you. That is how this is going to end, Talia.”
I sit in utter disbelief, my throat closed around my words. My heart silenced into dark places. The phone is still pressed against the side of my head.
I don’t know what to say. My head is spinning.
“You have a week to return home.”
“A week,” I mutter, in shock, trying to process everything.
“Yes, Talia. A week. If you aren’t home by Friday next week, I will come after him with everything I’ve got.”
Marlen slams the phone down, and I stare at the receiver in my hand.
My thoughts are completely blank because I can’t fathom what he’s asking me to do. I press my hand protectively over my stomach.
“But I love him,” I whisper to no one at all as tears begin to stream down my cheeks.
***
The attacks stop.
Timofey starts coming home earlier, less stressed, smiling.
He gives me my phone back, apologizing that he hadn’t thought to do it sooner, but with everything going on at work, it hadn’t been on his mind.
Our lives shift, with him acting as though this is a genuine relationship now. He texts me when he’s at work and spends every moment away from work with me.
He talks about the future as though it’s set in stone and we’ll be together forever.
Each day that passes feels like torture as I spend a lot of time lost in thought, trying to choose between my family and the man I’ve fallen in love with.
What breaks me the most is that I already know what I have to do.
Marlen has made it clear that he will destroy Timofey and his businesses. It won’t only ruin his life, but also the lives of his family.
And perhaps, although I try not to think about it, it will even end in his death. I can’t let that happen.
So, yes, I already know what I have to do.
By Tuesday, I’ve accepted this fate and decided that I need to enjoy every moment I have left with Timofey.
I push aside the worry, I pretend everything is perfect, because in so many ways it is. He’s perfect. Life in this moment is perfect. It’s only the future that is tearing me apart.
“You look absolutely gorgeous, darling. Every day you seem to glow a little more with my baby growing inside you,” Timofey says, pulling me closer on the sofa as we sit snuggled together watching a movie.
I grin and nuzzle against him.
“Just wait until I turn into a whale, and then we’ll see how gorgeous I am,” I giggle, touching my belly. He scoffs, then laughs louder.
