Page 41 of The Bratva's Forced Kidnapped Bride
“I suppose I will,” he answered without hesitation. I looked up, which was a mistake because he still looked too possessive, too sure I’d give in if he leaned closer.
Why didn’t he lean closer?
Ugh, how did he do this to me? Turn me upside down and inside out with a mere glance of those gray eyes? It was my first instinct to start another fight, douse this crackling energy between us. But a fight might make things worse, and then I’d be in deeper. Right now, I wasn’t in control of anything but my own actions, and throwing myself at Anatoli was out of the question.
Relaxing, I smiled at him. An honest smile, because I wanted to stay alive long enough to get free. Long enough to help my family out of the mess I helped create for them, and… was there something else I had to do?
Oh, right. Long enough to kill Anatoli.
But at this precise moment, that was the last thing on my mind.
Chapter 30 - Anatoli
The next week passed peacefully with Masha, but everything else was in upheaval. My uncle was right. It only took five days for the Collective to figure out that I was involved in Enzo’s death. He must have brought more than one person with him to the meeting, and while we quickly grabbed the guard who walked into my building with him, the other must have hung back. Julio Santino was on a rampage, thinking I lured his son there for the express purpose of putting a bullet in his skull.
I would have been glad to be rid of the young upstart, but his father’s organization was like a cockroach infestation. See one and know there were hundreds more in the walls, waiting until dark to come out and infect everything they touched. Not just one family, they were international and had many leaders. Uncle Leonid thought this was the future, but he’d already made it clear he wanted out of the family business when he sided with Konstanin’s widow.
In my opinion, their business model was a recipe for disaster, with too many strong personalities waiting for their chance to jump in and take over someone else’s territory instead of having their backs. Although that could be the case for any family in the Bratva, even mine, since I was riddled with rats and moles.
Well, not anymore. I took an ax to my organization, mostly figuratively, but somewhat literally, as I gave my uncles’ spy a good scare, and now I was down to a skeleton crew of men I’d stake my life on being loyal. It was a relief to be rid of the chaff, but it was also not exactly the best time to have gaps in my security.
Julio was already out for my blood and leaving no stone unturned, trying to piece together the events that led up to his son’s death. It hadn’t taken him a week to track his last known whereabouts to a meeting with me, which, according to my intel, wasn’t even authorized. Eventually, he’d discover the truth that it was indeed a member of the Fokin family who killed Enzo, just not any of the Fokins I wanted him to go after. And he couldn’t have mine.
So far, everything seemed safe as long as we stayed in the desert, because I was certain no one knew I had this place way out in the middle of nowhere. Until that morning.
One of the guards that I kept posted out of sight on the main road, which was several miles from the dusty lane leading to the house, mentioned that someone had paused their car at the turnoff. About six cars in total went down that road on a busy day, and no one would have even known the private drive was there unless they knew about it.
It might have been a coincidence, someone who was lost and desperate for any sign of another road, but the timing was too convenient. Since I had so few men at the moment, by the time the guard on the road contacted me and I gave him orders to leave his post and follow the car, it was too late to catch up to them. I would have liked to question whoever was sniffing around, even if it meant scaring the hell out of lost tourists, but I just didn’t have the resources.
The perimeter of the property had gaps all over, and an electric fence wouldn’t stop someone hellbent on killing my wife for the bounty that was surely on her head. It was time to go somewhere else and hide her away until this was resolved. How that was going to happen without exterminating every roach in the walls still eluded me, but if I had to kill every last member ofthe vast international Collective to keep Masha safe, that’s what would happen.
And until then, she was going into hiding. Now I just had to tell her, which meant the end of our peace treaty.
Why the hell did I care at all if she’d be upset or angry? Everything that was wrong in my life was because of her, and everything could be solved as easily as snapping my fingers if I just turned her over to Julio so he could exact his revenge.
Revenge. That seemed like a faraway concept, but hadn’t it been the reason I returned to California and grabbed Masha in the first place? I could get mine by doing what my family wanted me to do: just give her up. And I still refused. I couldn’t trust the woman, but for some reason, I couldn’t let her go. For that same reason, I was going to protect her at all costs.
At least until this mess was dealt with, then I’d deal with her however I wished. That was what I told myself as I searched her out to tell her the news that we’d be moving to a new location.
She was lying out by the pool, cooking herself in the last rays of the sun as it slid down below the line of squat hills beyond the property. Since I allowed her to roam freely around the house, she’d taken to watching the sun go down, painting the sky in pinks and purples and turning the dusty brown sand to a fiery red before the stars began to sparkle and the air was too chill to stay outdoors.
Wearing a bikini that had me distracted enough to forget my mission for a moment, she heard the patio door open and sat up, smiling at me. As stunningly beautiful as a desert sunset was, I only had eyes for Masha. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, goosebumps already rising on her skin, which was taking on a glowing copper hue.I grabbed a towel from the neighboring chair and draped it around her shoulders. She smothered a yawn.
“Hey, lazy bones,” I teased.
She gave me a side eye. “Give me something to do,” she countered, wide awake now and ready to rumble, as usual. Things were peaceful between us, but not dull. She was as spicy as ever, always looking to start something. And I was usually happy to get things going, but not tonight, because I didn’t think we’d end up in each other’s arms tonight.
“I’m glad you asked,” I said. “I need you to pack.”
Her brows drew together. “Pack? For what?”
“What do you think? We’re leaving. First thing tomorrow morning.”
A string of indignant questions began to flow out of her, her face growing darker by the second. It was cute how she kept forgetting who was in charge over the last few days, and I enjoyed it when we sparked off each other; I loved the fireworks. But she was fast becoming a ticking time bomb, and for whatever damn reason, I wanted to defuse it before she went off.
Chapter 31 - Masha
I sat up straighter, all the warm coziness from my late evening doze in the setting sun disappearing the second Anatoli announced we were leaving. Panic began to set in. Even though we were in a remote location, I was relatively close to my family here. In Volgograd, I was a few train rides away from Moscow, a mere phone call from having an army at my disposal.
