Page 85 of Captivated By the Bratva

Alek nodded, and Maxim sighed. “Yes, but when he wasn’t on the trail looking for you, it seems like he was the one who supervised Dmitri’s torture.”

I shook my head, saddened all over again for the other Valkov brother. We brought him back with us, and together, with more Valkov men and soldiers, we saw him to medical help.

After multiple surgeries, blood transfusions, and an aggressive antibiotic regimen, Dmitri was stable and recovering here in his private wing in the mansion. He had a long road ahead of him. His recovery would take significant time and would require great patience, but from the little I’d seen of him, he didn’t seem to possess the disposition or mood to be “patient”.

“I’m still furious that Sergei thought to ask the fucking Avilovs for help. That they were accomplices in taking Dmitri at all.” Alek stood and moved toward the door, likely to go help Milawith the baby. He was a very hands-on father, from what I’ve seen, and it made him less frightening.

“We’ll still need to deal with Sergei,” Maxim said as he stood and gestured for me to leave the meeting room with him.

“I know,” Alek bit out. He glanced at me, giving me a stern look. “She won’t be going back to her father.”

I nodded. “Me neither. Then again, mine’s dead. But if I had the choice, I’d never speak to him again. Not after he tried to force me to marry Lev.”

“You won’t be going anywhere,” Maxim said as he draped his arm around my shoulders. “Is that enough for today?” he asked his brother as he steered me to go in the opposite direction.

Someday, I bet I’d get used to this huge, fancy house. I wasn’t accustomed to this kind of wealth, this sort of luxury. But it didn’t faze me. All that mattered was that Maxim insisted on my staying in his wing, in his bed, with him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Alek waved us off as he headed toward the sound of Alana crying in the distance.

Maxim took my hand and ushered me toward his wing.

Since we arrived, we’d done nothing more than sleep, eat, and explain all that had transpired. Rinse and repeat. Over and over, we addressed what Alek wanted to know. Maxim faced his own questions, being upfront about the federal agent who’d been so critical in Maxim’s ability to find me. I felt sorry that this Tom Buttane agent had died, but Maxim intended to let the agent’s boss, Don, know what happened. It seemed like a tense subject, working with the Feds, but none of the brothers were accusing Maxim of blurring the lines of duty and loyalty. He’d done whatwas necessary to find me, and ultimately, Dmitri too. It sounded like Dmitri’s lousy attitude wasn’t only about the weakness he had to live with during his recovery but also that it seemed like the Feds would be involved going forward in bringing down Erik Avilov for torturing one of the Valkov brothers.

It had been a frenzy of sharing details and debriefing, but I was glad Maxim was right there with me through it all. A woman could only endure so many life changes so rapidly. We’d slept side by side, but with the fatigue and bodily stress of all that we’d endured, we hadn’t been intimate.

The cocky smile he gave me as he closed his suite’s door suggested that we would be now.

Under his smug grin, I came alive. Seeing him mischievous like this turned me on, and I practically shivered with the glitter of desire shining in his smoldering eyes.

“Finally,” he said simply.

“Finally what?” I asked.

“We’re alone.” He stalked away from the closed doors, prompting me to back up toward the bedroom.

“We are.” I teased him by pulling my shirt over my head and letting it drop to the floor.

“Oh, sweetheart. The things I want to do to you,” he growled. As he backed me up to the bed, he reached one arm back and removed his T-shirt, revealing all those hard cuts of muscles.

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” I shimmied out of my skirt and stepped past it.

“Like…” He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes playfully. “I just remembered something.”

“Hmm?” I unclasped my bra and trembled as the material fell over my skin and fell to the carpet.

“You told Dmitri that you were my fiancée.”

I smiled. “It seemed like the easiest introduction.”

“But…” He reached me, hooking his fingers under the band of my panties and yanking them down. On his knees, he looked up at me with an arrogant smile. “I haven’t proposed.”

“Yet,” I taunted.

He lifted me by the hips and pushed me to fall back on the bed. I landed with my legs apart. A deep thrill snaked through me as I watched him crawl closer, keeping his head right at my pussy that already dripped for him.

“I said it partly as wishful thinking, and partly because I didn’t know what else to define us as.”

He kissed up along my inner thigh. “Oh, you were right.”

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