Page 14 of The Bratva's Nanny

“I have killed men for less,” Dmitry said.

With her surprised at slapping him, he played the upper hand and grabbed her. He pulled her out of the bedroom.

He was going to have a word with his men. Yes, he had told them to trash her room, but not destroy it. Like him, they must have assumed she was plotting to get rid of him, when that was the furthest thing from the truth. Dmitry knew he was an asshole for what he had done. Alix had told him on that first night she’d been trying to get a divorce but George wouldn’t listen. She explained that she had nothing to do with her husband. They didn’t talk or have a proper marriage. It was when she told him they had a marriage to appease their parents. That was all. And Dmitri had treated her like a criminal.

He took her to his bedroom and she tried to fight him. None of his men interfered. They might have seen the anger in his face. Either way, he had fucked up today. Once inside his room, he let her go and when Alix whirled around as if to slap him again, he stopped her.

“Do not hit me.” He captured her wrist and stopped the slap that was undoubtedly aimed for his face. His cheek still stung from the first slap.

“How dare you!”

“You will stay with me.”

“Why? I will not sleep with you!” She glared at him and then swiped at her eyes as the tears had still been falling. There was nothing he could say to make up for what had happened.

“All of my belongings that you allowed me to bring have been broken.” She shook her head. “What did I do?”

“George is missing.”

“And you assumed I would know the answer.” She shook her head. “I’ve got to … Sofia needs me. I’ll clean up the mess in my room later.”

“You’re not going anywhere, Alix. Don’t forget you belong to me and if you continue I am going to have to punish you.”

She laughed. “Punish me? I’m not the one who’s done something wrong here. You have. You accused me of … what? Ugh, I don’t even know what you’ve accused me of.” She shook her head. “This is crazy.”

“I’m going to go and take care of Sofia. You are going to stay here, calm down,” Dmitry said.

“Calm down? Are you completely insane? Can you even hear yourself?”

Dmitry had heard enough. He’d never been around highly emotional women, not unless they were about to meet the Grim Reaper and were begging for their lives. This was different. Alix was angry. She was hurt. And in that moment, he knew she hated him.

****

When Dmitry had collected her, he’d told her to pack a few items, so she had. Nothing of any real value, as she didn’t own anything like that. She’d taken a few pictures of her parents which brought her peace, a few items of jewelry that her mother used to wear, several changes of clothes, but that had been all. He’d not given her long to decide.

She hadn’t put up a fight or questioned what was going on. Dmitry had explained some of it in the car. That George had given her to him as payment. Alix now belonged to Dmitry or George would be dead. Alix didn’t care about George. She was pissed at him for doing this, but even though she didn’t love nor care for him, she didn’t want his death on her conscience.

So, she accepted what was about to happen. There was also the tiny little smidge of curiosity about the man she’d met at the party, who she thought about … a lot. Certainly a lot more than she should. She couldn’t not think about him.

So, this was where she was. The jewelry was broken as were the pictures. The clothes were no longer wearable. She sat on the floor at the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around her waist. Why had it come to this? All her life she had been an open and honest person. Even with Dmitry, she’d been honest.

Her mother had always told her that honesty was indeed the best policy. So she stuck by it. She had even told George, on their wedding night, that there was no way they would ever be a real couple. He thought they were going to have regular sex and all of that. She had told him firmly, no. That was never, ever, ever going to happen.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. Why did this hurt so much? It wasn’t like Dmitry had tried to fool her into believing he was a good guy. She had known from the start he wasn’t a nice man. No one treated him as such. She felt like such a fool.

George was a dick and it hurt her to think Dmitry had assumed she was working with him. Dmitry had locked the door so there was no way for her to escape. Even as she was locked in his room, she wasn’t even tempted to go exploring his stuff. She didn’t want anything to do with him. His cruelty had hurt her. His thoughtless accusations had seriously upset her. She knew she shouldn’t care, but she did. They hadn’t made any promises to each other, but now, she didn’t want to be anything to him other than a nanny to Sofia.

She heard the lock flick on his door, and then the doorknob twist. Dmitry stood in the doorway.

“Sofia would like to say good night to you.”

Alix got to her feet, swiped at her face, and brushed past him. He grabbed her arm and she flinched. It was the first time she had shown any kind of fear.

“Damn it, Alix, I’m not going to hurt you.”

She turned to look at him. “There are a lot of different kinds of pain other than physical. Where’s Sofia?”

“In her room,” he said.

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