Page 9 of Secret Bratva Baby
“Until what blows over?” she says, losing her patience.
I shake my head, not answering.
We’re almost at the safe house. I’m still worried someone might have followed us, and I need to pay attention now.
Rose gives up questioning me and gently strokes her fingers over her daughter’s soft, blonde curls.
I have to fight the surge of jealously building in my chest. Whoever the man is who got to have a family with her, I secretly hate him. I wanted to be him once. I wish I’d ever pushed her away, that I’d found a way to keep her and protect her instead. But those days are over.
There is no point in dwelling on what I’ve already lost.
When we pull into the underground parking beneath my family’s safe house, I am one hundred percent satisfied that we weren’t followed.
In the garage, I shut the engine off and climb out of the car, my gun still strapped to my leg.
“Come on,” I say, tugging the back door open. “Let’s go inside.”
She glares at me, heated anger tainted with fear.
“You’ll be safe here, Rose. I assure you.”
“That might mean something if I trusted you,” she huffs, walking past me towards the door that leads into the house.
I punch in a code on the screen next to the door. I don’t hide it from her. I know she sees it. It doesn’t matter. Even if she makes it into the garage, there is no way to escape after that.
Inside the living room, the lights come on automatically, detecting our movement.
The little girl cradled in her arms stirs but remains sleeping.
I let my eyes wander over Rose’s face, her body, her hair.
Haunting memories tease me—running my fingers down the naked skin of her back, the smooth warmth of her body pressed against mine.
Her scent: strawberries and vanilla cream.
If I close my eyes, I can almost smell it now.
I take a step towards her, distracted by my thoughts, and she quickly steps back, her eyes widening.
“What do you want from me?” she asks, her voice tight.
“There are men after you, and I came to find you in order to keep you safe.”
“How do I know you aren’t the one I need to be kept safe from?” she challenges me.
“Maybe I am,” I shrug, turning my back on her to pour myself a whiskey at the bar. “Do you want one?”
“No, I have work in the morning. Please, just take me home, Luka. I don’t understand what’s going on. But I have a life. I have a job I can’t take days off from. I have rent to pay and things to do. Whatever is going on here, it’s got nothing to do with me, and I need to go home.”
I sip the whiskey, letting the gold liquid gently heat my mouth before I swallow it.
Sighing, I turn towards her again, instantly struck by her beauty all over again.
“You aren’t going anywhere, Rose. You are going to stay here with me, because if I let you leave, they will find you—and hurt you.”
“So, I’m a prisoner here?” she snaps.
I walk past her, purposefully letting my body brush against hers.
