Page 38 of The Russian Pakhan's Forced Bride
Quick on my feet, I survey the lot, and at once, I find her. She’s already approaching the chain-link gate with nothing but sheer momentum behind her. She’s running like her life depends on it. Like she’ll never get the chance again.
For a moment, I’m frozen in place and unable to do anything but watch.
Then, I’m gone.
I haven’t run like this in some time, but with urgency ringing through me, unwilling to let her go or to let my empire fall due to my misstep, I put everything I have into it.
Victoria glances back and notices me there, but beneath the flicker of fear in her eyes is defiance. Betrayal.
She thinks I won’t and can’t catch her. That she’s already home free.
But she’s sorely mistaken.
Despite how my legs burn, I close the gap and press on, noting how her steps become less coordinated and sure. She’s faltering with me on her heels.
There’s a chance.
Right as her fingers reach for the gate, I’m on her, grabbing her waist and yanking her back.
We stumble as she thrashes in my arms, kicking and trying to elbow me.
Immediately, she seems like a completely different woman all over again. Like something has been triggered in her, revealing the true face of her fear and anger, she’s almost uncontrollable.
“Stop it, you idiot!” I snap, doing everything I can to wrangle her back in again. My blood is hot while that anger surrounds me. “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened?”
As if that moment between us in the club or the SUV never happened, Victoria snarls and thrashes still while I haul her back towards the building.
“Let go!”
“I gave you a chance. I let you go out for the day, and this is the shit you pull?” I ask, voice ripe with barely contained rage. “Is it really that hard to just behave?”
Managing to loosen my grip on her by a touch, Victoria spins around in my hold and tries to push against my chest.
“Behave? This is all fake, Roman. It’s fake! Yet you want me to act like your obedient little wife?”
Her incredulous tone bites hard, seemingly coming from a place of pure hurt and anguish.
Even so, my pulse roars in my ears, but she just continues.
“You keep me locked up like a possession…like I’m something that can’t be worn out or else I’ll tarnish. Like I’m supposed to thank you—”
“Youshould,” I mutter, cutting her off.
Victoria stops in her tracks and stares at me, seemingly at a loss for words.
Even if it’s harsher than I intended, the connotation still lingers in the air like smog.
I hold her gaze squarely, not offering her anywhere else to look. “You’re safe. You’re fed. You’re given far more than you ever had before…far more than most others will ever see in their lifetime. Yet, this is what you do still.”
Her brows furrow, almost like she can’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. “None of that matters when I don’t have any autonomy…when all choice is taken from me.”
I try to hold back, but it seems almost impossible with everything mounting in me.
I’ve had to bury too much over the last week, and I can’t take it anymore.
“You kissed me…you didn’t want me to stop,” I utter, dragging up something I should probably keep buried. “I didn’t take advantage of you. I didn’t even touch you after the fact. I’m not looking for any kind of reward, but I’ve given you space and time…I’ve been as patient as I possibly can be.”
When she says nothing, I continue.
