Page 57 of The Bratva's Arranged Virgin Bride
I hollered into my phone for someone to cover the fire escape. “And get your asses up here, now!”
Mat shook off the daze of being clobbered and hoisted himself up to try to be helpful, nearly taking a bullet right between the eyes. I hauled him behind the counter and motioned for him to wait. After a few more seconds, my guys burst in, taking out everyone who was left. Since Mat was clearly fine, I hurried over to make sure Nik’s injury wasn’t worse than it seemed.
He had a flesh wound in his forearm, but was already stanching the bleeding with his jacket sleeve by the time I made it over to his spot behind the couch.
“You can get up now; these are my guys.”
They were both too stunned to be properly grateful, but begrudgingly told me I could decide what happened to the erstwhile gang’s leader, who was caught on the fire escape.
“Quick or drawn out,” Mat said, finally realizing they might be dead if it wasn’t for me. “Your choice.”
The not-so-fearless leader whimpered in my guy’s grasp, but I barely spared him a glance. I did, however, give my in-laws each a long look before answering.
“As enjoyable as this was, I’d much rather get home to my wife. I trust you two to take care of it from here, now that there’s only one left.”
Yeah, I twisted the knife a little by bringing up Nat, and I’d put a bit too much emphasis on the word trust. I had just saved their sorry butts, and it was clear they still didn’t have much for me. Still, it wasn’t the most pressing thing on my mind.
That was Nat. It would always be her.
I gave my guys their orders to help with cleaning up, and not to report back to me because I was going to be busy with other things for the coming day. At least, I hoped so. I couldn’t wait to show Nat what I’d been working on, as excited as Christmas morning, and wanting to drag her out of bed to show her right away.
As I tiptoed into the beach house and all was quiet and still, I decided to wait a little bit and pretend nothing was different. If her cousin or uncle mentioned anything to her about our joint battle, it might go a long way towards winning her heart.
My surprise could wait. The next gallery show was just a few days away, and we’d both be riding high after that. When she was giddy with success, I’d take her to her new house and show her who and what was the most important thing in my life.
Nat. Always Nat.
But even though the surprise could wait, I couldn’t wait to see her. It was nearing dawn, and if nothing else, I could slip into bed beside her and tuck her under my arm until she woke up. Except, when I got upstairs to our room, she wasn’t in bed. It hadn’t been slept in at all.
Did she work herself up into a bad enough mood to go back to the guest room? No, she wasn’t there, either. She wasn’t anywhere in the house or on the beach. She must have gone to the gallery early, though that didn’t explain the beds that hadn’t been slept in. Before heading over there, I gave her a call. There was no answer, so I sent a text message, just a casual question if she was there.
Surely, she wasn’t mad enough to go back to her father’s house, was she?
The wait was interminable, but after only a few minutes, I got a reply. It was as cold and distant as the one she sent me the night before.
I need some time. Please respect me enough to give it to me.
I stared at the message, willing the words to form into something different. Every fiber in my being wanted to search her out and pull her close, but I knew her. That would only drive her further from me. She could have until the end of the day, then I was bringing my wife home where she belonged.
