Page 18 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride
“If you let me finish what I was going to say,” I muse. “I’ll be keeping you safe.”
“Stop saying that. Let me call my brother,” she demands, holding out her hand to take my phone.
“The battery died,” I smirk, slipping it back into my pocket. “I’ll put it on charge while you shower and get changed. There’s plenty of clothes in the bedroom closet.”
“I’m not wearing one of your one-night stands’ old clothes,” she huffs.
“The clothes are all new. This is a safe house, not a frat house. It’s stocked for emergencies. Including clothing in various sizes. And don’t be so judgmental of my one-night stands, Angel. You are one of them.”
Laughter rumbles from my chest when I see the look of absolute horror and embarrassment on her face. She hates me right now, and I don’t give a shit. I might even go so far as to say I’m enjoying myself. I’ve managed to steal her away and keep her to myself, even if just for a few days.
“I’m not staying,” she snarls, shoving past me toward the door. She is determined to play hardball in this situation.
“Did you see what happened at the auction, Angel?” I ask calmly as she tries to punch guessed codes pointlessly into the lock.
The question pauses her. She doesn’t turn to look at me, though, but she stops her frantic attempt to escape.
“Did you see how many people I killed to get you out of there? How many do you think? Thirty? Fifty?”
When she turns to look at me, her face is pale.
She swallows, pressing her lips together.
“How angry do you think the people who took you are?”
“I suppose… I guess…”
“They’ll be angry enough to be hunting for you, princess. They’ll want revenge on the worthless little whore that they planned to make money off, but ended up losing half their customers and men to. You cost them a lot of money.”
“It wasn’t my fault that they…”
“They won’t see it that way. What do you think you are to them?”
“Worthless,” she mutters in distress. “I think they saw me as a fun toy. I think they… I think they were going to kill me when they were done with me…” Tears begin streaking down her cheeks. This time, she doesn’t fight them.
I don’t want to hurt her like this, but I do need her to be reasonable.
“And tell me, Angel, if you are with your family when those men come looking for you, what do you think they will do to your family?”
Angelika bites down hard, her face distorting with pain and guilt.
“I get it. I get your point. You can stop now.”
“You can’t go home,” I reinforce.
“But my brothers have safe houses too. I can go to one of them,” she argues.
“Don’t you think you’ve caused your family enough trouble?”
This question stings her. But it also ends the argument.
“I’m going to shower,” she mutters, walking away from the locked front door and stomping her way toward the bedroom.
“There are fresh towels in the…”
“I’m sure I’ll figure it out without you, thank you very much,” she snaps.
Laughter ripples through me. Feisty. Rude. It’s going to be fun bringing her down a notch. Teaching her a lesson is going to bring me some pleasure. After all, that is my whole reason for keeping her here.
