Page 31 of Kidnapped Prisoner By the Bratva
Her golden blonde hair fell in effortless waves over her shoulders, and her eyes sparkled in a way I hadn’t seen before. It was interesting how those eyes shifted between green and amber depending on the light. She looked at me silently, arms crossed, while her skin shimmered in the warm glow of the chandelier.
She was nothing short of gorgeous.
“What’s that for?” She nodded at the gun in my hand.
“Curiosity is not a sin,” I said, “but it kills the cat.”
She let out a dismissive scoff and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bore.” A sigh escaped her lips. “But I guess that’s one of the cons of being a monster.”
I didn’t respond—just stared at her in silence, discreetly drinking in her beauty. She held my gaze for a moment, and the longer I looked into those eyes, the more I felt something unravel within me. The feeling was just as fascinating as it was disturbing.
Beneath the surface, I couldn’t find that intense hatred I used to always see whenever I looked at her. What did that mean? Did she hate me less? Was she finally coming to terms with her new reality?
The fact that I was starting to question where she stood was a clear indication that she’d torn a page from my own book. Wren was gradually becoming unreadable. Just like me.
Now, it was almost impossible to tell what she was thinking, what she was planning. This simple act was enough to strip me of the control I had over her. It would be more difficult now to predict her next move.
Her lips twisted into a faint, self-satisfied smirk, and with that, she turned around and left.
Alone with my thoughts, I realized I needed to pay closer attention to her now. However, just because she’d torn a page from my book didn’t make her a master of the game.
This was a challenge, one that I’d welcome with open arms.
Chapter 13 – Wren
I lay in bed staring at the ceiling with arms clutching a pillow to my chest. It was midnight, and my eyes were still wide open. I’d been tossing and turning, rolling from one end of the bed to the other. My mind was restless, tugged at by a million different thoughts that wouldn’t let me sleep.
Val had occupied my thoughts, and as much as I hated the fact that he was living rent-free in my head, there was nothing that I could do to get him out. This unnecessary distraction began the very first day I stumbled upon him working out in the estate’s private gym.
That morning, I was wandering the mansion as usual when I heard the faint clanking of metal accompanied by a series of rhythmic grunts. I saw the “gym” sign above the open door across the hallway. At first, I thought it was just the guards working out and decided to walk past.
However, when I glanced at the inside, I stopped in my tracks. It wasn’t the guards as I’d thought. It was him. Val. He was alone in the gym, shirtless with only a pair of jogger shorts and sneakers. His back was toward the door, so he had no idea that I was standing there, watching.
My heart skipped a beat, eyes fixed on his back with raised brows. He was focused on the weight in his hands, his muscles flexing with each lift, his biceps tightening. The light caught on the sheen covering him, his shoulder blades shifting beneath the sweat-slicked skin.
It was so much fun to watch that I got carried away, and I didn’t realize I was already leaning against the door frame. I tried to fight the illicit thoughts that flooded my mind in that instant, but the raw sight of him in his element wasn’t helping matters at all.
I lingered at the doorway that morning, a lot longer than I’d intended to. It took the sound of approaching footsteps to snap me back to reality. I got a grip of myself, took one last look at his body, and then hurried away before someone caught me snooping around.
Ever since that day, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head. I thought of him day and night, imagining all the crazy things he could do to me in bed. I wasn’t proud of those thoughts, especially because they were distracting me from the fact that he was a monster. But I couldn’t help myself.
Maybe I never should have peeped at him that morning. I should have just walked away the moment I spotted him in the gym. Instead, I stood there and let my imagination run wild while drinking in the sight of him.
I put myself in this situation, and now I was stuck, unable to get the images of his sweaty, masculine body out of my mind. The more I tried, the more difficult it became. And this was because that morning wasn’t the only time I watched him work out.
No.
It was just the first time.
I deluded myself into thinking and believing that I was only watching him so I’d better understand his personality. But the reality was, I was watching him because I loved the sight of his body and the feeling it stirred within me.
Morning after morning, I would sneak to the gym and hide behind the door, feeding my eyes with the incredible sight of him. I hated myself for doing so, and although I’d promised to put an end to it, I simply couldn’t.
He was my husband anyway, and so I shouldn’t feel guilty. Right? But this wasn’t just about guilt; it was also about my pride as a woman.
I should hate Val for all the bad things that had happened to me ever since he kidnapped me. He ruined my life and stole my happiness—I shouldn’t be drawn to him the way that I was. No. He was a monster, and I was supposed to see him as nothing but that. Yet, this monster was slowly creeping into my mind with each passing day.
Maybe this was nothing but just lust. Maybe if, for some reason, he scratched my itch, whatever feeling was growing inside me would die instantly. Maybe giving in to this lust would fizzle out this flame that wouldn’t stop burning.
