Page 83 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride
“This is between Diomid and me, Angelika. Stay out of it,” Jaroslav laughs.
My brother takes a deep breath. “So I imagine you’re not coming home then? Officially moving out?”
I look nervously toward Diomid. This is really happening. My heart floods with butterflies. “Officially moving out,” I agree.
“I’m turning your room into a gym, so don’t think you can come back again. This is it. You’re no longer my responsibility,” he lectures me, but there is mischief and playfulness in his voice.
“We want to have the wedding in your garden. Is that ok?” Diomid asks.
“Of course it is, man. My home is your home.”
Ending the call, I am rich with relief and happiness.
Diomid pulls me into his arms. “So, I don’t have to watch you leave me again,” he whispers, kissing my neck.
“Never,” I say, tilting my head to the side, wrapping my arms around his waist. He’s just about to lift me into his arms when his phone rings.
“It’s Marlen Popov,” he says, tense, as he flicks the screen to answer the call.
“Marlen,” he growls. His voice is authoritative, strong.
“I just had a conversation with Bardil. What the fuck are you playing at, Diomid? You threaten my family, so I will rain hell down on yours. Your precious little girlfriend—you will lose her. Maybe you’ll learn a lesson or two about respect if I make you watch me putting her out of her misery…”
“Marlen, did Bardil tell you the full story?”
“He’s my brother, asshole. I trust him more than I trust you. Don’t try and twist things to make him wrong about this. You put bombs at his event, and you attacked him on the street. No matter how you look at it, you’re in the wrong, and I am well within my rights to act on it, taking revenge on something you started. I’m coming for you. Watch your back.”
Diomid sighs in frustration, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
I stand tense, listening to everything around me.
“Marlen, the party he was hosting…”
But Marlen snarls and hangs up.
“Apparently, the conversation is over,” Diomid sighs.
“What are we going to do? Do you think he knows what Bardil was doing at that event?” I ask, nervous and worried for Diomid’s life.
“I doubt it, but I don’t think it matters. He wants to protect his family, even if it means covering for his brother’sblack market deals. He can deny the dark stuff and play up the fact that we attacked first—never mind that you were kidnapped and that’s what triggered the whole thing,” Diomid is thinking out loud, pacing in the living room.
“Dio, we need to tell my family,” I say carefully.
“Chances are, they are already getting the same threatening call from Marlen. He knows who you are; he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten your brother, too.”
I chew the inside of my cheek, worried this will ruin the peaceful agreement Jaroslav just made with us, the marriage, the alliance. He’ll be furious that Diomid let me get involved in the auction operation.
“Let me call Jaroslav now, then. Let’s get ahead of it,” I say, holding out my hand to take the phone.
“No, I’ll call him; it should be me,” Diomid says, searching for Jaroslav’s number.
Before he presses to call, though, Jaroslav is calling him.
I groan and scrunch my nose. Before Diomid answers, he pulls me close and kisses my forehead. “No matter what, princess. You’re mine. Nothing will change that.”
His reassurance settles me.
“Jaro, I assume Marlen just called you?”
