Page 40 of Forcibly Sold to the Bratva
As dinner winds down and the staff cleans the plates, Arina speaks to a couple of my siblings. I overhear Agafon tell her that we should catch up soon, and she smiles and agrees.
In the midst of the flurry of activity where everyone’s grabbing their coats and checking for their wallets and keys, I see Arina helping them out.
“You forgot your purse!” she tells Katya and grabs it from the couch, handing it to her.
“You really are a gem, you know that?” Katya envelops her in a hug.
I find my heart blooms at the thought. They’re treating her like family, accepting her as one of our own. It’s almost as though they don’t remember she’s a Sokolov.
“We should get going,” Agafon tells me. “It’s getting late.”
I nod and show Agafon out.
“How’s Lilibeth, by the way?” I ask about my sister-in-law, sorry that we missed her today.
“She’s doing well. She sends her love, but she had a charity event tonight.”
I nod and send her my regards.
After I show Agafon into his car, I find Bogdan walking up to me.
“Can I have a word?” He motions to the corner of the driveway, where others can’t overhear.
“Sure, what’s up?” I ask out of curiosity, following him to a quiet corner.
Bogdan turns to face me and levels such a look of disappointment that I try not to melt under his glare.
“What were you thinking, Ilariy?” he asks. “You kidnapped an innocent woman?”
“I didn’t know she was innocent, okay?” I sound defensive, but it’s the truth.
“You really fucked up, you know that? Arina has no idea what she’s caught up in. She thinks her brothers run restaurants, for God’s sake!”
“I know that.”
“What was your intention? What did you think would happen?”
“I wasn’t thinking straight, alright?” I wince. “I thought she’d know things about her brothers, and we could use that information to get to them. But clearly, she knows nothing.”
“So why are you still keeping her around? She doesn’t deserve this, Ilariy. You’re keeping an innocent woman prisoner.”
“She’s not a prisoner, okay?” I argue back.
“Really?” Bogdan cocks an eyebrow in my direction. “What are you saying? That she can just walk out?”
I don’t answer that question, and Bogdan sighs. He presses a hand into my shoulder and gives me a compassionate look, like he knows what he’s asking of me. “Please, Ilary, let her go.”
The thought of Arina leaving, walking out of my life, creates a hollow feeling in my chest that I don’t entirely like. “I can’t do that,” I say mechanically.
“Jesus,” Bogdan pulls his hand back. “Why?”
I level a glare at my brother now, angry at what he asks. I can’t tell him why. That’ll only make him angrier. He’ll say I compromise myself with the feelings I’m beginning to harbor. So, I tell the next best truth. “Because she’s still leverage. Her brothers will want her back, and then we find them.”
There’s a tense silence, and Bogdan speaks after a while. “This could really hurt her. You'd better know what you’re doing.”
“I know what I’m doing,” I say without thinking. Though the truth is, I sure as hell don’t.
“Do you?” He sighs. “Just... be careful. This can’t end well, and you know it.”
