Page 70 of Kidnapped Prisoner By the Bratva
I had no strings on me—no chains on my hands and shackles on my feet. I was free. Yet this freedom didn’t feel right.
Maybe Mrs. Alderman was telling the truth. Maybe I knew exactly what I wanted, but I was too afraid to face it. Maybe I was running. And maybe—just —if Val had asked me to stay back, I would’ve.
I didn’t realize how much I’d gotten used to having him around until now. I just arrived at home, and I was already feeling lonely.
That night, when I lay in bed to sleep, I couldn’t. So, I stayed awake for hours, clutching a pillow to my chest. My mind was a tangled mess, and he was at the center of it, occupying my every thought.
How could I get rid of him when his face was tattooed in my mind and his name was carved in my heart?
After a long time of trying to remove him from my head, one question popped up, challenging me to search my heart.
Do you really want to forget him, or run back into his arms?
If I could answer that question genuinely, then I’d be solving seventy percent of my problems right now.
So, what should I do: forget him or go back?
The choice was mine.
Chapter 24 – Val
It had been three days since she left me, and the house hadn’t been quieter. I was used to being alone because I found peace in solitude. However, this time, it was different; this peace wasn’t the kind that I craved.
Every day I woke up to the same routine: cook, clean, think, and nap. Repeat. The worst part was that my thoughts weren’t of anything productive; they always revolved around her.
I never should’ve let her walk out that door; I should’ve stopped her from leaving. But I didn’t. Instead, I let my pride govern me. It wasn’t my intention to allow her to leave; however, I couldn’t exactly ask her to stay, seeing that she’d already made up her mind not to.
At first, I tried to shrug it off, pretending like her decision to forfeit what little life we’d built here didn’t hurt me. It did. It hurt more than I cared to admit. I thought we were finally on the same page, that we understood each other better now.
But I was wrong.
The second she found out she was free to go, her countenance changed, and the delight in her eyes broke my stone-cold heart. How could I bring myself to ask her to stay when she obviously wanted to leave?
Her words were harsh, and they cut deep like a knife. Nevertheless, she was right; everything she said and complained about was true. Her life had become a mess when she met me, and gradually, she was losing herself in the darkness of my world.
She killed someone for the first time, and although it was mostly self-defense, it still didn’t change the fact that she pulled the trigger. She never would have become a killer if she hadn’t crossed paths with me.
Let’s face it, I was the real problem here. Everywhere I went, death and destruction followed. Everything I touched died. The innocent girl was tangled in a web of violence that almost claimed her life on multiple occasions.
I was used to this life: the thrill, the rush of adrenaline, and everything else that came with it. She wasn’t. Wren tried her best to be a part of the violence, but she’s right; she wasn’t cut out for this life. She didn’t belong in my world.
Speaking of worlds, now that I was a free man, I had two options: go back to my old life, or start again. I hadn’t decided on which one to pick yet, but from the looks of things, it might be better to stay away from the Bratva.
Yes, I earned my freedom, but the damage had already been done. It would take a really long time to clean up Akim’s mess. The man had successfully tainted my name and reputation. Going back now would mean playing his game all over again.
My freedom didn’t mean that all was forgiven or that my innocence was established. No. It just meant that by the rule of the Bratva, none of our members would come after me anymore. As far as the council was concerned, I was still guilty of Akim’s accusations.
I promised the old man that I would have my revenge. And I would. When the time was right. The day I’d remember him, evenhe wouldn’tsee me coming. He wouldn’t know what hit him.
For now, though, my biggest concern was how to fix this Wren problem. I was alone, bored, and troubled, hoping that someday, I’d get used to it. However, the longer I lived without her, the more I realized how much I actually needed her.
I missed our banter, missed seeing her everywhere I turned. Every day, before bed, I would scroll through my phone’s gallery, feeding my eyes with the recent photos she took with hercamera. I’d transferred them all from her laptop to my device the day before the attack.
My favorite image of her was the one I took the day she almost got bitten by that snake. I’d captured the fear in her eyes and the terror that masked her face. That expression was priceless, and even then, she still looked gorgeous.
She was gone now, leaving me with just the ghost of her that wandered this empty house day and night. She was stuck in my head, her sweet voice always echoing in my mind. I felt like I was haunted by her ghost, and it was driving me crazy.
I’d thought of calling her several times, but then again, what would I tell her? I wasn’t a man of many words, and I wasn’t the kind who knew how to freely express himself.
