Page 29 of Owned & Bred by the BRATVA

His jaw tightens, but he tries to soften it with a shake of his head. “I didn’t sell you. Isavedyou. You don’t understand how bad things had gotten. You were sheltered. That was intentional. You think Maksim bought you because of me? He was already circling. Men like him, they don’t wait for permission.”

I glance at Maksim. He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t deny it. But there’s something in his eyes, something quietly furious.

“How much?” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest. Maksim has never told me the amount. I never felt the need to know until now.

My father leans forward, elbows on the table. “It’s not about the money, Clara. It’s about keeping you protected. Now there are options for both of us.”

Options?

“Where were my options when you told me I could finally go to Europe? Art school? Museums? When you weren’t even there to say goodbye before you had me taken to a strange man’s house with no warning of what to expect or why I was being taken there? Where were my options when you chose to lock me up, keep me away from all my friends until I had no friends left? What about my options in who you sold me to? Are you here to pay Maksim back?”

His expression cracks for a split second. “I never wanted this for you.”

“Didn’t you?”

He blinks.

“All those years,” I continue, voice rising. “All that talk about the world being dangerous, about men only wanting one thing, that I had to be the best version of myself at all times. Not seen, not heard. Trapped and lonely and scared of everything.”

“You’re upset,” he says quickly, holding up a hand. “I just wanted to talk before you signed anything. Before you locked yourself into a situation you can’t walk away from. There are other men, richer men, who would pay even more to be with someone as pure as you…”

Maksim steps forward and I hold out my hand to stop him. The fury rolls over him in waves and I know we are on the brink of all out war in this magnolia painted office.

But at least it makes sense now. That’s the real reason he’s here.

Not to apologize, but because he wants more money, and he thinks I still hold value.

I look at him. Really look. And for the first time, I don’t see my father.

I see a man who’s losing control.

A man who only knows how to trade people like currency.

A man who thought I’d stay small forever.

“No,” I say quietly, pushing back my chair.

“Clara—”

I stand.

“I’m going to marry Maksim. Today. Right now. And not because he bought me, or because you sold me to him. But because he sees me. Because he didn’t lock me away and call it love. He opened the door and let me choose. And I choose him.”

My father stares at me as I spin on my heel.

“Wait, Clara, you don’t know what this means! There’s someone else who could make you so much happier—” he pleads, grabbing my arm and tugging me back to face him.

I don’t realise I’m raising my hand. I don’t know that I’m going to slap him. None of it registers until the air around us fills with the crack of the palm of my hand making contact with his cheek.

The shock on his face must mirror mine until a feeling of calm rains over me and I feel two feet taller.

“If you ever touch me again, I’ll let Maksim tear you apart with his bare hands,” I warn, my voice barely above a whisper as the rage subsides. “I don’t know what he paid for me, I might never know what my value was to you. But you’ll never get anything else from either of us. I am no longer yours to cage and sell. We’re done here.”

I walk to the door, and Maksim’s already there, opening it for me like I’ve always belonged beside him.

Maksim

I don’t know how I made it through the drive home without pulling her over my lap and taking her in the back seat like a fucking animal. My hands never left her skin, her thigh, her wrist, the back of her neck. I needed the contact to believe it was real. That she walked out of that notary’s office with my name in her mouth and my ring on her finger.

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