Page 41 of Stolen By the Bratva

I shared no such smug confidence. All I could think about was how he intended to involve me in this war among men.

He planned to drag me all the way through it right by his side.

17

ALEK

Now that I’d had Mila once, I wanted her again. Lying here on the bed was torture. She was within reach, just over here, an arm’s length away.

I didn’t move any closer. Distance would help her adjust to what I explained. I saw how much she struggled to understand, and I couldn’t fault her for her naiveté. She was so damn young, so inexperienced with this world. Her father had sheltered her all her life, and now that she’d broken out of that existence, I bet she felt like her whole purpose was shattered.

I’d turned her life upside down, but I stood by my reasoning. It would be for the better. This was the only solution that would ensure my success and her survival.

Because in just these few short days that I’d known her, I didn’t want to entertain the possibility of losing her. It didn’t make sense how quickly and deeply she’d gotten under my skin. But she had.

I didn’t plan to stop that wedding so I could take her for myself. I’d only gone to Plan B and kidnapped her so she wouldn’t be able to marry Andrey. Not because I’d coveted her for myself. Now that I’d had her, now that I’d realized how fucking perfect she felt with me, I couldn’t imagine releasing her.

I wouldn’t be returning her to her father. I wouldn’t consider letting Andrey have her now.

She was mine, and I intended to keep her.

As she lay there still and silent, brooding about what I said, I felt at ease. She could take her time. No matter how she chose to view these circumstances and no matter how she tweaked her perspective on the changes that had been forced on her, I would not change my mind.

Before her wedding, she’d been on my mind. I’d struggled to stop thinking about her, and that was from just a mere interaction at that shipping office.

Now that she’d been here with me, arguing or grinding back against me to come faster, I knew I’d never be able to cast her out of my mind.

Mila had spirit. She had fire. And she would be an ideal woman to help me bring the Valkov Bratva back to the top. I wasn’t tricking myself into thinking I knew everything about her, but of the little I’d witnessed so far, I just knew. She was the kind of no-nonsense woman with the right amount of backbone to not only survive in our world, but also to contribute to it. I suspected that she was a maternal sort, a woman who would want to nurture and help. Someone who’d be inclined to help repair the chaos within my family. Women were submissive to the bratva men, but I also knew that with the right wife at my side, she could help me make the Valkov Bratva seem like a family again, not just an operation held together with shitty leadership.

They way things used to be, like when I was a boy and my grandfather was the Pakhan. When I was too small to understand all the violence as my grandmother helped to nurture me.

Mila staying with me—in marriage and life—had to be the solution to this mess. If I sent her home, she’d be as good as dead. Yusef couldn’t have been lying when he predicted that Sergei would ensure Mila’s death. I couldn’t bear to think of her being taken from me like that. One time with her was nowhere near enough, and already, I looked forward to enjoying her sweet, sexy body again. Over and over, I would take my fill of her.

I glanced at her, wondering if that was the point that stuck the worst. She had to understand that she no longer had a family, no longer had a home with her father. He wanted to end her.

Pavel had never tried to kill me. We’d both viewed each other with malice and disrespect, but he’d never escalated to the point of eliminating me like a pest he didn’t want to deal with any longer.

Perhaps killing me wouldn’t have even mattered. Or he was too spiteful to ever lift his hand and kill the son of his brother, another he had murdered.

After my action at the wedding, though, I’d guaranteed a hit on my own head. Pavel was out for my blood. According to my brothers, he was furious and raging to bring me down. If he were to get ahold of me, he’d kill me on the spot. But that was different. I’d warranted that. I’d caused his fury by going against his will.

Mila had done nothing to deserve her father’s wrath. She’d only served and worked as expected, going so far in her duty as to show up for that ill-fated wedding. She clung to the assumption that her virgin pussy was all that lent her any worth, but now that I had it, now that I’d claimed her, that power belonged to me.

She belonged to me.

Finally, she broke the silence with a grunt of a laugh. “You’re crazy.”

That’s not the first time I’ve been called that. I bit back a wicked grin.

“We can’t get married, Alek.” She rolled her head on the pillow and gave me a droll look.

“We will.”

She shook her hands, still bound over her head. The emphasis of her restraints amused me. They weren’t cutting off her circulation. She was as comfortable as possible, but I knew I couldn’t rely on them for good.

“How the hell could we get married if I’m hidden and tied up like an animal in a cage?”

Like an animal in a cage? I rolled my eyes at her theatrics. “I’ll get a priest.”

---