Page 57 of The Pakhan's Forced Bride
Tears stream down my cheeks when I realize that nothing I say will help calm him down or make him see the truth. He’s blinded with rage. And it’s directed at me.
He thinks I ran away. He thinks I’ve been hiding from him.
All this time, I didn’t know they weren’t in contact with each other. All this time, Benedikt has been searching for me. If I knew, I would have tried to reach out to him. I wouldn’t have left it. I would have been pleading with Ardalion.
I hate the fact that he’s been in hell over this.But I didn’t know.
“Ben, please,” I whisper through my tears, my throat closing around my words.
“Save your fake tears, Belle,” he snarls. “How am I supposed to explain to Ulyana what you’ve done?” he spits.
“Don’t you dare speak to her like that,” Ardalion growls from behind me, his hand wrapping around my arm as he pulls me out of Benedikt’s line of fire. He pushes me behind himself, protecting me from my own brother’s rage. “You have no right to speak to her like that. This is my city, my turf. She’s under my protection while she’s here.”
My heart beats even faster. I don’t understand what’s happening.
Benedikt bursts out laughing, but it’s a nasty, cold laugh filled with malice and darkness. “You can have her. She’s a traitor. She’s made it clear that she doesn’t care about her family by choosing you over us. So keep her,” Benedikt says, his voice low and void of emotion. It’s like he’s gone numb.
“We need to get him out of here,” I hear Nestor say to Emmanuil.
But I don’t want Benedikt to leave before I’ve had a chance to clear this up with him. But how can I do that without telling him that Ardalion kidnapped me?
He’ll kill him.
And it also doesn’t explain why I arrived here, roaming free, carrying a bottle of champagne with a smile of my face. Shit. This looks so bad. Everything looks bad.
Emmanuil positions himself between the two men, and Nestor approaches Benedikt.
He reaches out, cautiously, wrapping his hand around my brother’s gun he pulls it from his grasp.
“Come on, man, it’s not worth it to start a shoot-out in here. Let’s go. We can sort this out when everyone has had a chance to cool down.”
“I’ll fucking kill him,” Benedikt seethes.
“Your sister is alive. She’s safe. That’s what counts. Right? She’s not a prisoner in someone’s basement.”
Benedikt’s eyes shoot to me. “No, she’s playing princess, dressing up, and drinking champagne. Having the time of her fucking life.”
I press my lips together, ignoring the tears streaming over my cheeks. I don’t say anything because it’s pointless. Nestor is right. Everyone needs to calm down. I need to ask Ardalion what is actually going on.
“Come on, this isn’t helping.” Nestor shoots Emmanuil a desperate glance. Emmanuil nods and walks towards Benedikt. He nudges my brother towards the door, and Nestor does thesame, with each man walking on either side of him to try and control him.
At first, it looks like my brother is going to put up a fight. Then it looks like Ardalion is going to yell something at him.
I grab Ardalion’s arm and shake my head, pleading with him to stay quiet. There’ve been enough harmful words thrown around this room already.
Ardalion clenches his jaw and holds back whatever he wanted to say.
I watch Nestor and Emmanuil lead my brother out of the office.
For a long time, I stare at the door, not daring to move. Waiting. I’m too tense to assume it’s over. My brother might come bursting back through that door any moment.
We hear the elevator in the distance. I’m holding my breath.
Ardalion lets out an angry sigh, and my shoulders relax. They’re gone.
I turn to look at him, so many questions racing through my mind.
He turns away from me, pushing his hand through his hair, taking a number of deep breathes, and then rolling his shoulders.
