Page 76 of Brooklyn Bratva

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It was too late to do anything other than crash into bed by the time we got in. Dad made a show of carrying my bag in for me and offering to make me something to eat, but I could have cared less.

I stomped upstairs to my room and forced myself not to be childish enough to slam the door. He thought this was some foolish crush, but he was wrong, and I hated that he didn’t see the passion between us. If he’d just looked at us together for ten minutes before he started going mad, he could have seen for himself that we were meant to be together. Everyone else had!

It felt like I was a kid again, and he’d torn me away from the city I loved. Except, I wasn’t a kid anymore, and it wasn’t the city he had a problem with, it was the man I loved.

In my childhood bedroom, I sat on my bed and plugged my phone in to charge, looking around at the pale pink walls and all the posters of the bands I’d liked in High School. So much had changed in the past few weeks, it felt like I had no way of mapping myself onto the teenager this room had belonged to. This wasn’t who I was anymore.

I’d sewn up Ivan’s bullet wounds, I’d seen a dead man and helped him get rid of evidence. I’d talked to gangsters in Russia, gone drinking with a hitman. And been by Ivan’s side through all of it.

I’d loved every minute of it, even when I was quaking in my boots. Deep down, right in the heart of me, I knew I was meant to be right there with him.

I flopped down on top of the mattress, staring at the ceiling with tears in my eyes. I had to hope he didn’t think I’d walked out on him at the first sign of trouble. Every part of me regretted getting in Dad’s car with him, but I hadn’t had a choice. It was just the same as keeping quiet about Mrs. K’s prescriptions, and I was so done with being bossed around by people who thought they could threaten me.

My impatience rose as the bars on the battery icon bubbled up and down, the charge increasing painfully slowly. I needed enough life in it for me to put through a call without getting cut off the second we started talking.

It was nearly four in the morning when I finally had enough charge, and I’d mostly convinced myself he wasn’t going to pick up. Not least because of the hour.

“Ivan. It’s me.”

“Becca.” The relief in his voice made my heart clench. Had he really worried that I wouldn’t call? The thought sliced through me.

“I’m so sorry I left. I thought Dad was going to do something stupid, and I didn’t want you to do anything to him.”

“Becca, I never would. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry with him. Of course he wants to protect you.”

“Oh God, don’t you start. I don’t need to be protected like that. I’m sorry I freaked out though. I know you wouldn’t have hurt him.”

“Becca, I would have snapped his neck if he really meant to take you from me.”

As awful as it was, the sheer strength of his feelings for me flushed heat right to my core.

“Don’t say that.”

“I would. If I had to. But Joe’s my friend. It won’t come to that.”

“I know. I’m sorry it all got so crazy. I should have told him sooner. I had no idea he was going to come and visit.”

“Hush. How could you know? It’s okay. We’ll sort it out. And I’ll come get you whenever you want. Have you talked to him?”

“He won’t listen. Ivan, he thinks you’re using me for god knows what. He doesn’t understand at all.”

Ivan let out a grunt. “He won’t take my calls either.”

“I know. I’m going to try again in the morning. I can’t deal with having to choose between the two of you. He’s my dad, but you’re… ” Everything I’d always wanted. “You’re made for me. He’s got to see that.”

Ivan let out a strangled sound and it curled heat through my belly. “God I wish you hadn’t gone. You won’t have to choose, Becca. If it takes me bashing his skull in, he’s going to accept this.”

I frowned, shaking my head. “No – Ivan, please. Don’t.”

“I was joking, Becca. But I meant what I said, I would do anything for you. I love you. I want you in my life, and no one’s going to get in the way of that. Not even him.”

Even across the distance, with everything going so wrong, hearing those three little words made something inside me glow. This wasn’t going to come between us. How could it, when what we had was already so strong?

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