Page 72 of Prince of Control
“Then what happened?” I whisper.
“They threw us both in the back of the van and took off. Maykl shot out one of the tires as they took off, but they kept driving, speeding away. There was a chase. The van flipped–a bunch of times. I got knocked out for a while.”
“Bozhe moi,” I breathe.
For a moment, Baron’s eyes focus on my face like I just reminded him I’m still here. That we’re in the present. A future where he’s all grown up. Where he escaped from that event with his life.
He swallows. “I heard gunfire in the front. The back of the van is blocked off from the driver’s compartment, so I don’t know what’s happening. We’re in the dark–upside down. There’s a guy on top of me. Lili is screaming and crying because she’s in pain. My head and neck hurt.
“One of the guys throws open the back doors. He has Lili in a chokehold, a gun to her head, and he’s shouting for everyone to get back.
My dad and his men are there, but they drop their weapons, and I can’t figure that out, either. I realize the guy on top of me is knocked out, so I get his gun. I knew how to fire it. My dad had been taking me hunting for a few years as an excuse to teach me how to handle weapons.
“Lili’s crying, and the guy is shaking her, telling her to shut up, or she dies. I walk up behind him. My dad is saying don’t shoot. It doesn’t occur to me that he means me. I point the gun at the back of the guy’s head and pull the trigger.
I remember the look of terror on my dad’s face as he rushed forward to catch Lili. The other man groaned behind me and started to get up, so I turned around and shot him, too.”
I try to hide the shock ricocheting through my soul. Baron’s voice has taken on a deadened quality now. Like he went numb in the moment, and he’s numb telling me about it, too.
“I missed, so I got closer and kept shooting. I emptied the chamber into the guy and still kept firing until Maykl took the gun out of my hand and pulled me into a hug.”
Tears form in the corners of my eyes.
Gospodi, he was just a kid. He watched his housekeeper die and still believes it was his fault. He had to kill two men to save his sister’s life. No wonder he tries to control every aspect of his life now to keep everyone he loves safe.
I wrap my arms around him and press my face into his neck. “I’m so sorry, Ben. That shouldn’t have happened to you.”
He pulls me tight, nearly squeezing the breath out of me.
“It wasn’t your fault.” I pull my face away to catch his eye. “If you’re thinking you got Valentina killed, you didn’t.”
A muscle jumps in Baron’s cheek. “I’m the one–”
“Nyet.” I interrupt. “You didn’t tell those men to come and shoot her. You had nothing to do with that. If your father wasn’t a bratva boss, then going to the beach to get ice cream would’ve been a normal activity. You were denied that normalcy by his actions, not yours. None of it was your fault.”
“I could’ve killed Lili.” Baron’s voice sounds tight.
“What? How?”
“When I shot the guy holding her, the gun could’ve gone off and killed her. That’s why my dad was saying don’t shoot.”
Anger flushes through me. “Fuck your dad! Did he tell you that you could’ve killed Lili? You saved Lili. You saved Lili, Ben.” I use his real name, trying to make sure his younger self hears me. “It was your dad’s fault, not yours.”
Agony washes over Ben’s face, but he nods. “No, he took the blame. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen my dad cry.”
My eyes flood with tears again. Me telling him to blame his dad is useless. They all suffered. It was a shared family trauma. I hug him again. “I’m so glad you lived, Benjamin Baranov.”
Baron lets out a chuff of air. “Yeah?”
I nod, considering. So much has happened in the last weeks. A seeming lifetime has passed. I was packed off from Paris to marry a stranger, started at a new university, was thrown into a cell made up of bratva heirs, experienced the wildest sex of my life, and…fell in love.
And if my dad hadn’t arranged my marriage to Baron, I would’ve missed all of it. I wouldn’t know this incredible young man, who is brilliant and strong and flawed in the most beautiful way. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to be the focus of a man like him. A man who commands attention from everyone around him and moves mountains to orchestrate the fate he desires. A dangerous, violent man who hasn’t shown a shred of anger toward me, even when I provoke him. A man who might be morally grey but definitely operates under a code.
I kiss him. “Yeah. I’m falling in love with my husband.” Saying the words out loud feels like pushing off the top of a double black diamond ski slope without poles.
Baron catches the back of my head. His eyes blaze. The intensely focused bratva prince is back with me now–all trauma erased. “I fell in love with you the moment you walked off that plane, malyshka,” he says. He kisses me fiercely, his lips slamming into mine, his tongue lashing into my mouth. His cock lengthens, pressing against my core.
“Inside,” he rasps against my lips, lifting my waist to help me stand. “I need you on a bed. Under me. Naked.”
