Page 28 of Cruel Bratva King

But I feared I was going to get too attached if I allowed gestures like that. There was a decent chance I was going to forget that I was nothing more than a captive, and he was my captor.

“I am also obsessed with you,” he said in a calmer tone. “If I want something, I take it, Lilianna. And I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in my life.”

His dark eyes were peering into mine with so much intensity. A lump formed in my throat, and my brain fizzled. Sergey dominated me without even trying to. He controlled my body without even knowing it.

I got distracted for a minute. His male pheromones were so potent I was daydreaming in the middle of our fight. My body shook with strong waves, and I wanted his touch.

“We’re not getting married tomorrow.” He moved away from me. “We’ll get married tonight.”

The sexual tension between us died an instant death, and I was thrown back into a tunnel of fury.Is he shitting me right now?“You can’t be serious.” This had to be some sort of sick joke.

“I am.”

I sank into one of the chairs around the dining table and tried to keep myself from panicking. I wrapped my hand around my stomach, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths.

Sergey was not the kind of man to bluff. I’d learned that about him quicker than I wanted to. He wouldn’t joke or say something he didn’t mean. Still, I hoped he was only trying to taunt me when he said we were getting married tonight.

I didn’t hate the idea of marriage. In fact, I’d hoped Derrick and I would end up married. What I hadn’t expected was that I was going to end up being forced into a marriage with a man I despised more than anyone else in the world. A mafia king.

I opened my eyes when I heard someone enter the dining room. Marina stood in front of me with a white dress draped over one of her shoulders. It was all the proof I needed to know Sergey was, indeed, not joking.

“The boss asked me to bring this to you,” she said, holding the dress towards me. “He wants you to get dressed. The priest will be here in an hour.”

Tears prickled my eyes. I threw my head back, staring at the ceiling to keep my tears from falling. I wasn’t in some kind of nightmare that I’d wake up from; all of this was really happening, and I was going to wake up a married woman tomorrow.

My chest grew heavy with emotions, painful and dreadful emotions that finally wandered down my face as salty liquid. “Do I have to wear that?”

I looked at Marina with tears in my eyes, and some of her tough walls crumbled. She finally showed a hint of human emotion. “The boss is a good man,” she said softly. “He won’t hurt you. I’ll tell you this, getting married to the boss is the safest thing to do now. You’re already entangled to him, and it won’t be long before his enemies come after you.”

I broke into an uncontrollable sob. I wasn’t a crier, but I was pregnant and pregnant women were emotional, right? Minutes had passed by the time I stopped crying, and the realization hit my guts.

Being married to Sergey was my new reality. I could either be strong and find a way out of there or be weak and cry for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to wear a white dress or sayI doto Sergey, but I didn’t have a choice now.

Sergey hadn’t let me in on his relationship with Giovanni and Giulia, but I’d put two and two together, and I knew they were far from being his friends. Giovanni didn’t give away how he felt about Sergey’s marriage announcement, but it wasn't a good sign if Giulia could raise her hand to me.

Who knew what she would do if she found out I was pregnant for Sergey?” The thought alone was so terrifying that I clutched my stomach even tighter. They could hurt my child if he was vulnerable. Only Sergey could protect us right now.

I thought of how life would be being married to Sergey, and it couldn’t be that bad. Not because he was husband material but because I couldn’t deny my attraction to him. I hated him, all right, but I couldn’t resist him either.

Sergey was like a flame, and I was like a moth attracted to the flame despite knowing I could burn to death.

I reached for the dress and took it from Marina. It was a plain, silky white dress that was totally not my style. I couldn’t complain, though. This marriage wasn’t my style either, but I’d made my decision.

***

Two hours later, I was standing on Sergey’s patio at night, shivering from the cold breeze outside, as I stared blankly at the man in front of me—the man who would soon become my husband.

He wasn’t bothered by the cold or anything else. His dark, curly head glowed from all the light outside, and I hated to admit it, but he was damn handsome in his black suit. Our wedding would’ve looked more like a funeral if it weren’t for the white dress I was wearing.

That’s right,some corpses were buried in a wedding dress. The only difference between me and those corpses was that they couldn’t see or feel anything. Me on the other hand, I was swamped with conflicted emotions.

I was torn between drinking in how handsome Sergey looked and spitting on his face for dragging me into this mess.

“You haven’t said your vows,” Sergey whispered to me, pulling me back into the present. I’d gotten lost in thoughts and didn’t hear the priest ask me to say my vows. I went on to recite a bunch of words I didn’t mean.

“I take Sergey Vadim to be my lawfully wedded husband, for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. Till death do us part.”Useless words that meant nothing to me.

Sergey said his vows, we exchanged rings, and then we were married. Sergey was my husband, and I was his wife. Hilarious, wasn’t it? Just yesterday, I was a pregnant woman looking for her baby daddy, and now I was married against my will.

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