Page 43 of Bossed Around By the Bratva

Iosif cleared his throat, pulled his shoulders back, and stood proud as he spoke. “Yes, but even so, there are proper ways of doing things.”

“No, no, no,” Akim huffed. He also pulled his shoulders back, puffing out his chest as he stepped in before me. “I understand there are certain ways we do things. But has she not proven her worth? In my eyes, she has done so over and over. I will not allow you or anyone to take her achievements from her.”

Iosif glanced at Avgust, who was a couple of feet behind him. I had never seen confusion on his face. But it was there now. It was dripping from him like honey from a comb. He was stunned into silence and appeared unsure how to reply.

I’ve never heard anyone ever calling him out like that. He was usually right, and people couldn’t do what Akim just did. The two men stared at each other. The atmosphere in the room was thick.

Aleksandr, Akim’s oldest brother, cleared his throat. Even though he came in late, I was confident he had heard everything. I watched as he stepped to Akim’s side.

“Iosif,” he said calmly. “Technically, this isn’t a romantic alliance since neither party arranged it. Neither you nor we planned any part of it. I mean, heck, we didn’t even know the full truth when things happened. Neither did they.”

Iosif looked at the two men at me. I could see frustration replacing anger in his eyes. Glancing at his hands, I noticed the tight fists at his side. Iosif wasn’t convinced. He still wanted to make someone pay for what had happened.

“Look, man,” Akim said in a calmer tone. “The thing is, things happened. It wasn’t planned like my brother said. It was spontaneous. Let’s talk about it.”

“Okay, you want to talk,” Iosif spat back. “Tell me then, what are your plans moving forward?” I could clearly hear the demand in his tone.

As I opened my mouth to try and defend Akim, Akim spat back at my brother. “I’ll marry her!”

A deadening silence filled the room. Iosif’s eyes were wide in surprise, and I could see even Akim’s brothers were dumbstruck. I had no words. My heart filled so quickly with joy that I had to grab my chest, hoping it wouldn’t explode.

Then I heard a small whispering in the back of my mind. “After everything you put him through, could this be true? Was he not only getting you back for what you did to him?”

Before the ideas could manifest themselves, Akim looked back at me. His smile was warm and gentle, melting any doubt I had. Yet, I couldn’t be sure if he was doing this as he felt he had to or because he wanted to. I knew I wanted to. Yet, I didn’t want him to feel obliged to do it because of my brothers.

“Now, just hang on a minute,” Avgust finally added his voice to the conversation. “I think the two of you should sit down and talk about this. Let’s not rush into things.”

I kept quiet as I watched Aleksandr turn to Akim. He squeezed Akim’s shoulder as he spoke. “I agree. The two of you should first talk it out.”

Aleksandr turned to Iosif as he continued. “Come on, let’s give them a minute or two so they can talk about what’s going on here. I don’t know about you, but I can see both of them are worried and shocked. Let’s give them space.”

Iosif nodded at Aleksandr. He looked like he had met a ghost. Avgust took his shoulder, turned him, and ushered him out gently. We stood like statues until everyone was out, and the door closed behind them.

Akim turned to me, smiling. His entire being appeared to be glowing, and not only his eyes. Stepping back, I felt the seat of the chair behind me and sat down. I didn’t know what to say or do as he started coming closer.

I was thrilled and scared shitless at the same time.

Chapter 23 - Akim

This day was not what I expected. I was shattered after the fire and found out the truth about Zhenya. Then, her brothers showed up. They brought their A-game but also proved everything she had ever mentioned about what they thought of her. Yet, she was so much more.

Slowly, I approached Zhenya, where she sat. I could see she was shocked at my sudden revelation and felt sure she had doubts. But I was prepared to convince her. I had to make her see, make her believe in me. I wanted her to be mine forever, to spend the rest of our days together.

I stopped before her and went down on my knees. Taking her hands in mine, I smiled as I spoke tenderly. “Zhenya…,”

Before I could continue, she started rambling. “Akim, I am so very sorry. Please, you don’t need to keep covering for me or my mistakes. I know I have hurt you deeply. No words could ever make right what I did and all I’ve put you through. You don’t have to do something you don’t want to just for the sake of peace or whatever reason you have.”

Carefully lifting her hand, I kissed her fingers before speaking. “No, dear Zhenya, let me correct you. What we shared wasn’t a mistake. Meeting you wasn’t a mistake, and what you have achieved wasn’t either.”

Letting her hand go, I caressed her cheek as I continued. “What we have together is something special. I have fallen in love with you. My proposal has nothing to do with you being a Chernykh or your brothers. I want to marry you because of who you are. I fell in love with the real Zhenya.”

I could feel tears pushing at the back of my eyes, and I looked down for a moment. As I defended her earlier, Iconcluded that I was in love with her. I couldn’t allow anyone to speak to her or about her inappropriately, not even her. The sheer need to protect her overwhelmed me.

All I wanted to do was make her happy, make her smile. Looking into her eyes, I spoke softly. “I fell in love with you, stripped of all your powers and connections. The woman sitting here before me is the one I want to marry.”

She just sat there staring at me. Swallowing hard, I wondered if I had said something wrong. Maybe she didn’t want to marry me. I would give her time to think and decided I should apologize.

I opened my mouth to let her know that I never intended to put words in her mouth or push her into something she didn’t want. Then, she stunned me as she spoke. “I love you.”

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