Page 60 of Bratva Prince
But what if he didn’t mean it? What if I went back to Moscow and never heard from him again, leaving everything behind on that island as a distant memory?
I bit my lip, holding back the tears that wanted to surface. With my father there, I couldn’t think of a response. My feelings were all over the place, and I hadn’t even begun to sort them out. But I knew one thing, and that was how desperately I wanted to stay with Ivan.
Instead, I nodded and gave him one last kiss—the possibility haunting me that it very well may be ourlastkiss—before my father ushered me away.
A part of me hoped he would stop him, threaten my father to leave me alone or he’d kill him, cut off his fingers one by one—or whatever those bratva men do. Use his badass Viking magic to terrify my father into disappearing from my life for good.
But he didn’t.
He let my father take me back to Moscow.
Maybe I was expecting too much. After all, I was some random person who happened to spill my drink on him at the beautiful beach in Crete. No, that couldn’t be. Was I crazy to believe we were more? To think we’d grown close to one another when we shared our deepest secrets and our darkest regrets.
I watched Ivan as I was guided into my father’s rental car that’d been waiting by the dock. His face held confliction, and I hoped that was the moment he’d run up to my father yelling, “Stop!” and declare that he let me stay by his side.
But once again, another man in my life had let me down.
I guess it was finally time that I put an end to this life once and for all—put an end to the dutiful daughter who obliged her father’s demands out of fear he’d hurt her and everyone she loved.
I’d end her, alright. And when there wasn’t even a shred of her left, a new me would emerge, like a phoenix among the flames. An even better me who would stand up for herself and not let her father’s cruel behavior and terrifying promises dictate her life.
Just wait,I silently repeated to myself, a mantra to get me through whatever awaited me at home.Wait until the phoenix emerges.
She’ll claw you to pieces.
30
Ivan
Have you ever wished you could go back in time and change a single moment? One that seemed so mundane at the time, but looking back was the factor that made all the difference.
That moment for me was watching Willow walk back into the clutches of her father’s controlling grasp.
I told her I’d see her soon. After being gone for a month, I had no idea where my business stood or what happened with Spero. There were many loose ends I needed to tie up urgently. Once I could get that out of the way, I’d be free to give Willow my attention and affection.
That was the plan, anyway.
Before I arranged for the private jet to take us from Croatia to Crete, I’d called Mihailo and had him meet me in Crete with my other private jet, a little vixen I like to call Ophelia.
I flew back to Moscow, stepping into my home for the first time in over a month.
It felt… surreal. Strangely surreal, with both a familiar and unfamiliar sensation. Like when you visit a place you hadn’t been to in years.
But more than anything, it felt empty, lonely.Iwas lonely. Without Willow here with me, it was like a piece of myself had been left behind on that island.
Did I make the right decision, leaving her like that?
I wasn’t lying when I told her we’d meet up in Moscow—I really did want to see her again—but she was going back with her father. The man she despised more than anyone was taking her home, and that left a sour taste in my mouth.
She can handle it. She’s handled it thus far in her life, what was a few days more?At least, that was what I told myself to get past the fact that I’d let him take her away.
In battle with myself, my conscience screamed,Arman is a piece of shit! He’s cruel and threatening to Willow.
But I couldn’t ignore my business. I hadn’t spoken to Spero in over a month, and I had no idea where my business stood. This was my livelihood we were talking about.
No,I resolved.I did the right thing. Once I get this settled, I’ll be able to give Willow my entire focus, rather than disappearing constantly to travel to Greece and tie up loose ends. I made the right decision.
Still, something gnawed at my nerves, severing them like a mouse chewing through wire.What if she’s not okay?
