Page 22 of The Bratva's Innocent Sold Bride
I wanted my wife to beg.
For now, I was just having a good time, leading her to believe she might see something she wished she hadn’t. When we pulled up to the dark, abandoned house at the back end of a seedy neighborhood, she was clutching the edges of the car seat to keep from shaking.
Okay, no more teasing.
“It’s just dogs,” I said.
“What?” she yelped. “Attack dogs? You’re not going to shoot them, are you?”
I laughed at the quick turnaround from fear of the dogs to fear for the dogs. “Not attack dogs. Nice sweet dogs who just want a home, but who ended up here.”
After I explained, she was still gripping the seat, but this time with rage. Her cheeks were red, and her lips pressed tightly together.
“Are those…peoplein there now?”
“If they are, they’ll be neutralized. This is just a rescue mission, you’re not going to see anyone get their head cracked open tonight.”
She almost looked disappointed, now that she knew the crime. “You do this kind of thing?” she asked, perplexed.
“Not usually, but I’m not mad about it, either. I don’t question most men’s ways of making money, but this…”
“Pieces of shit,” she muttered.
I grinned at her. “There you go. Call them what they are. They’re not people.”
She looked at me as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did she think I was a monster?
“I like dogs,” I said. “Who doesn’t like dogs?”
Inside, the place reeked, not just from the animals but from mold growing on the walls and rotten food piled up on the filthy kitchen counters. The dogs had been locked up in one of the bedrooms, but now gamboled about the place, sniffing and barking. Some cowered in corners, while others acted as dippy as most dogs do when friendly people give them attention.
Masha filled me in on the group, out of hearing range of CJ. “I think we got all of them, but I’ll keep an eye on the situation. Maybe the shelters could use some added security…”
And that was how I ended up making a rather large donation to the local animal shelters, which included the volunteer time of some of my men.
A lanky, half-grown golden retriever mix was following CJ as she hurried to help put collars and leashes on the dogs to get them into Masha’s waiting vans. When she stood still, it glued itself to her legs and whined. She looked down at it and dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around its neck and mumbling words I couldn’t hear.
She was as soft-hearted as Masha, already falling for one of them. I hadn’t planned on bringing any of them home with me, but seeing CJ scratching it behind the ears and trying to keep it from being so afraid made me start thinking about where the doggy doors would go.
Turning to Masha, I gave her a look. “Don’t even think about it. One is enough. One is too much, actually.”
“Hey, I’m just taking them back to the shelter,” she said. “How do I have time to take care of a pet?”
Going over to CJ, I reached down to hoist her back to her feet. The dog—her dog—curled itself around her legs, whining softly.
“He’s a little bit of a crybaby,” she said. “Poor thing must have been so scared.” She pointed out a couple of miniature terriers in one of my men’s hands and shook her head, disgusted at what might have become of them. “What’s going to happen to them now?” she asked.
“They’re going back to the shelter they were stolen from,” I said.
She reached for the top of the golden retriever’s head as her eyes sparkled with tears. “Okay,” she said, swallowing hard and trying to nod.
“That one’s coming home with us, though. I hope you don’t mind.”
Her mouth fell open, and she flung her arms around me, squealing into my neck. “Really? Oh, thank you. I think he somehow bonded with me in just this short time. You won’t even know he’s around.”
“CJ,” I said harshly, setting her on her feet. “I like dogs.”
She beamed at me, and all my misgivings fell away. Why shouldn’t we have a pet, a start to our little family? It made her happy, the happiest I had seen her, and that was enough of a reason.
