Page 8 of Pregnant Bratva Wife
She told me she’d rather livein her car.
Who did that? Certainly, no one in my world.
And that was the thing, wasn’t it? That she wasn’t from my world. That she was so god damn different, that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was a breath of fresh air in a very depraved, choked city.
That rejection? It didn’t anger me. Only made me more curious. So I did what I always did when I wanted something.
I moved heaven and hell to understand it. Understandher.
I dug deeper, picked up my phone again, and called Anton. “Find out everything you can about Autumn Malone.”
And when she called, I picked up without a second thought, knowing exactly why she was calling after a week had gone by. I waited for that call for nearly four days. Every time my phone rang, my heart was stuck, hoping for it to be her.
But it never was…until it was. And when I picked up, I wasn’t surprised that she called. In fact, I knew she would. Women like her—good, desperate women who truly had no other options—they always did, eventually. What surprised me was how good it felt to hear her voice.
I knew my plan worked the moment she asked if the offer still stood. I tried not to let her hear the smile on my face.
“How does tomorrow afternoon sound? The Coffee Bean on Michigan Avenue?” I’d asked her.
She agreed without a second thought. “I’ll be there.”
I couldn’t believe my plan had worked. Anton had called back and told me all he learned. Autumn Malone was twenty-four years old with no other family apart from her younger sister, Megan. While Megan was in college, Autumn had no college degree. She worked temp jobs, tried to stay afloat, and loved her sister. Their father died young. Mother? Two years ago. Left debts. Huge debts. And Autumn wired $5,000 to her sister last week. For the loan, of course. Megan withdrew it. Probably to pay off the sharks. The cash had to be on her.
And for Autumn to call me? That cash needed to disappear.
Just last night, Anton called back. “Boss. The sister’s dorm room was hit this afternoon. We took the five grand, just as you said.”
And just like that, I had Autumn where I wanted her most. On a phone call with me, asking to meet.
Was it manipulative to have my men steal the loan payment from her sister’s dorm room? Definitely.
But I’d learned long ago that waiting for fate to deliver what you wanted was a fool’s game. Smart men made their own fate.
And I wanted Autumn Malone.
Not just for a night or a week, but permanently. As my wife.
Did I feel guilty about creating her crisis? Not particularly. I hadn’t created her problems; I’d simply accelerated the timeline. Those loan sharks would have come for her sister eventually.
And besides, I was offering her a solution that would solve all her problems at once.
Marriage to me meant security and a life of luxury she couldn’t begin to imagine. If I had to manipulate circumstances to get her to see reason, so be it.
***
I arrived at the coffee shop fifteen minutes early and chose a table in the back corner from where I could see the door.
I ordered black coffee and waited. The whole time, my heart raced. What if she changed her mind? What if she found someone else to call? What if…?
But to my relief, she arrived just in time.
God. She looked beautiful with her blonde hair pulled up into a sleek, high ponytail, highlighting her killer cheekbones.She had on some lip gloss that made her lips look pouty and delicious, and god, those jeans?
Fitted. Dangerous. I had half a mind to drag her back to my car, but I didn’t. Not yet.
She looked around nervously, tentatively, and on seeing me, I saw her stand a little straighter. Even from across the room, her eyes were like the ocean.
She walked over, and I could see her trying to hold her hands still. To not fidget. To not show how nervous she was.
