Page 36 of Bratva Prince
Tears poured out of my eyes like a torrential rainfall during a thunderstorm. It may sound weak, crying in the face of danger and despair, but try waking up injured and on an island with a man you can’t stand—a man you’d just slept with before he completely betrayed you. No, not just slept with, but given a piece of your heart to. I shared things with him I never shared with my best friends.
God, did I feel stupid, but there were bigger things to worry about. I couldn’t get stuck on that. I needed to calm down and focus.
Shit! It was just too hard to stop crying when I feel so utterly fucked. And now I had reached the sobbing phase. In front of the man I vowed to hate for eternity.Great.
“Chill out,” he said, more bothered by my crying than concerned. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal!” I shrieked. “How can you say it’s not that big of a deal?”
Ivan scoffed—a sound that was quickly grating my nerves every time he did it. “Because, we have emergency supplies to last us for a week. My men will find me before then.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked, my voice weepier than I wanted him to hear.
“Trust me, they’ll be looking for me.”
“What if they don’t come? What if they can’t find us? What if they—”
“Hey,” he snapped, turning to face me. “Chill the fuck out.”
I bit my lip to control my tears—though it did little good. The floodgates were opened and I couldn’t get them closed. But I held back my questions, knowing they would only irritate him further.
Why did he have to see me like this, totally unhinged? I buried my face in my arms, resting them against my knees. Tears fell to the sand between my legs, and I let them. Why bother swiping them away?
Ivan’s hand touched my shoulder, startling me. I glanced up to see a soft expression staring back at me. The side of Ivan I’d seen at the beach when we spoke of our dreams and fears.
“Hey.” His voice was softer, soothing. “It will be alright. I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? I promise.”
I leaned into his touch, resting my cheek against his hand. Don’t get me wrong, I was still beyond pissed at him for what he’d done, but I needed a comforting touch. I needed his soft words and promises, even if they were empty. I just needed to believe, just this once, that they were real.
Swiping the tears with my arm, I stared up at him. My head tilted as I searched his eyes, trying to figure him out. Who was this man who could make my heart flutter with his kind words and charming smile?
He was the same man who made me feel worthless and despised. No amount of kindness in this moment would make me forget what he’d done.
The rage built in my chest and I shoved his hand away, backing up despite the pain that shot through my body when I did. But the pain didn’t matter because the anger fueled me—it gave me enough adrenaline to forget about the pain.
“What the hell, Willow?” He seemed offended by my action, but I couldn’t care less how I’d made him feel.
He wanted to destroy me.
But I refused to allow him to. My whole life, I’d been knocked down, trapped, chained away by men.Not anymore.
“Just stay away from me,” I spat with a scowl on my face. “Stay away.”
That torrential rainfall of tears? They weren’t weak—they were my catalyst.
In that moment, I’d felt anything but weak. That thunderstorm? That was me, my hatred brewing within me, spinning itself into a fierce cyclone that I would unleash on Ivan, destroying him and my father. My beating heart was the thunder, and the spark of animosity I’d held for him was my lightning.
I would destroy him.
18
Ivan
Willow slept for hours longer than she should have. She woke up, freaked out, threw a tantrum, and went back to sleep. About 12 hours had passed since she fell back asleep—and that’s not counting how long she was knocked out from the drugs and crash.
The effects of the drug should’ve worn off by now.
If it wasn’t the drug that was keeping her unconscious, then it had to be an injury. My fingers felt through her hair for any large bumps on her head, and sure enough, she had a big one on the back.
