Page 62 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
No, there was no way Dan could know about this, and I certainly wouldn’t spring it on him as some kind of insane Christmas present. He might like me now, hell, he’d flown from Aspen and somehow found me and rescued me from a killer. That kind of thing was exciting and fun to a rich playboy like him. He was fine with how things were. But once he found out I was pregnant, he’d try to buy me off or completely renounce me.
Or worse than that, he’d try to do the right thing. Despite being so wealthy that they could buy all of Aspen and probably owned a good chunk of LA, it was obvious to anyone who knew them more than a couple days that the Fokins put family aboveeverything. He’d think he had to take care of me and his child, and it might be nice for a year or two, but he’d grow to resent me and I’d end up bitter and alone while he found a woman he truly loved and chose. And I’d have to witness their happiness for the rest of my life. No amount of child support was worth having to see that.
I put my head in my hands, trying to shove aside the slicing pain that filled me. Jealousy about some imaginary woman, despair about being cast aside after only being taken on as a responsibility. It would tear me apart.
Oh God, what an awful time to realize I was in love with Dan. My whole heart yearned for the kind of future we could never have. I had to shove it aside and forget it and face the fact I’d be raising this child alone and on the run. I was on Axon’s list and I knew they wouldn’t stop until there was a checkmark beside my name.
“They’ll never find us,” I whispered, rubbing my stomach. Thankfully shock had calmed it down and I no longer felt the need to puke my guts out. That was one good thing about being frozen with fear.
Dan poked his head in, waving a shopping bag at me. “New clothes,” he said, studying me hard from the doorway.
I was able to rearrange my face into a neutral smile, and even fake a look of superiority. “Stop acting like I’m going to drop dead at any moment,” I said. How was I smiling? How did my voice sound so normal when I wanted to sink to the floor and give up? But I couldn’t, because it wasn’t just me I had to protect now. “It’s just a touch of the flu,” I continued.
I dropped my gaze, unable to take the look of relief on his face at my lie. He handed me the bag with the fresh clothes hehad promised me, asking if I wanted to go back to the hotel for another night or head back to Aspen.
The simple question made my head spin. He wanted to take me back to his family like nothing had happened and I hadn’t been the cause of the explosion. I’d go back to endangering those wonderful kids I had grown to care for, and put his family in harm’s way all over again.
Didn’t he get it? His bravado had been so comforting in the hotel, and I longed to get lost in that some more and continue to pretend nothing was wrong. Couldn’t I keep pretending and have a nice Christmas, then leave and never look back?
No. I couldn’t. I found the strength to look Dan in the eyes, my heart dropping when I saw there was so much concern still in them. “I’m not going back to Aspen,” I said firmly. “But I can’t stay here, either.” I took a deep breath and hurried on before he could interrupt, because it looked like he wanted to. “Could you please take me to the airport and stay with me until I get on a plane?”
“Where?” he said tersely, his eyes stormy now.
“I don’t know. I don’t have my passport, so it’ll have to be somewhere in the US. As far from here as I can get.”
I pleaded with him with my eyes. He had kept me safe so far, I just needed him to help me out a little while longer.
He looked shocked and downright pissed off as he shook his head. “Wrong answer.” As soon as I opened my mouth to argue, he pressed his fingertip against my lips. “I’ll take you to the airport, but the only place you’re going is back to Aspen, with me.”
His look said he’d carry me out of there the same way he carried me in, so I kept my mouth shut. Damn it. A take charge attitude was great when he was blowing a hole in my would-be murderer’s head, but now it was throwing a wrench in everything. I scowled, following him quietly out of the hospital, not about to make a scene. Not there, anyway.
Dan was back to irritating the hell out of me and I tried to use that to chase away the more complicated feelings that were making this all so hard. It didn’t work, but that didn’t matter. Feelings weren’t important when lives I cared about were on the line. I was nothing but a liability to him and his family.
As much as it was going to hurt, I had to disappear.
Chapter 41 - Daniil
While I waited impatiently in the hospital for some word on Paisley, I paced the hall until a nurse who could have given Aleks a run for his money in terms of intimidation told me to have a seat. I was worried and pissed off that I’d been shoved out of the exam room when they finally got to Paisley, but no amount of throwing my weight around would get me any answers.
The place was bleak, with far off beeping sounds, the murmur of the other sick people who were still waiting their turn to be seen. The nurses’ station had a limp, sorry garland draped across the wall behind it, with cheap stockings tacked to it, each with a scrawled name in glitter glue. A few had miniature candy canes sticking out, and one looked to have a gift card of some sort. Perhaps some kind of secret Santa exchange to help brighten their overly busy shifts. It was trying to be jolly but had the opposite effect on me in my anxiety riddled state.
Paisley had to be okay. I went back and forth, cursing myself for not finding her sooner before that bastard cop could hurt her, and also for not insisting she go to the hospital last night instead of waiting around.
Someone in a white lab coat entered her room with an electronic chart held up to her nose and I let out a pent up breath of frustration now that she was finally getting some attention after being put in that room almost an hour ago.
I found a bench with a clear line of sight to her door, ready to pounce as soon as the doctor came out. In the meantime, I had a lot of questions waiting for me on my phone. I sent a couple quick messages to my brothers, who had been spamming me since the night before with demands to knowwhat was going on. For all they knew, I was dead, and that would have certainly put a damper on the festivities back at the lodge.
Then I called Aleks, who assured me that no one was in a festive mood. More than anyone else, Katie was going out of her mind, wracked with guilt that she’d somehow screwed up by trusting Paisley’s friend’s nanny agency. While no one had been badly injured, there were still cuts and bruises and a lot of ill will towards Paisley.
“She’s one hundred percent clean,” I said before he could start bellowing at me for disappearing.
“We know she works for Axon,” he said gruffly. I rolled my eyes.
Of course Anatoli couldn’t keep the secret for more than ten minutes. I wasn’t too mad at him though, because I would have done the same thing. It still ruffled my feathers a little because Masha was so dear to me, but Anatoli was one of us now, and looking out for the family.
“And we know Axon is linked to the Collective. Big time. One of their top shareholders is Gavril—”
“Yes, Gavril Bocharov. I’m aware. Paisley had a run in with him last night. One of his guys was trying to kill her when I caught up with them.”
