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Take Alina as my wife.

She would be mine completely—legally, socially, under God, irrevocably mine.

Mine.

My wife.

Marry her to keep her, protect her…build a life with her.

If there was one thing the men in my family had in common, it was that they married fighters. Strong women who were filled with fire and sass. A woman would need those qualities if she were to survive in my world.

Alina was a fighter.

Right now, she was tucked safely in bed. My bed.

If I married her, it would solve the issue of her being a dangerous liability.

But more than that—she would belong to me in every way that mattered.

The thought of calling her my wife sent an unexpected thrill through me.

Something twisted in my chest, an unfamiliar eagerness to return to her.

I wondered if she would still be asleep. Her eyes closed and her lips barely parted?—

My reverie shattered as a different realization crashed over me.

Ice shot through my veins and a sharp, immediate panic hit me.

I forgot to cuff her back to the bed.Fuck.

CHAPTER 20

ALINA

Iwas warm, comfortable and though it defied all logical reasoning…safe.

The silk sheets were so smooth against my skin as I rolled over and buried my head into a soft pillow. The scent of warm spices and a masculine cologne filled my senses and urged me to fall back into a restful sleep.

God, these pillows smelled so good. They smelled like…him.

I jerked awake.

My bed was not warm or comfortable.

My apartment was anything but safe.

Every night was filled with shouts from my neighbors, screaming matches, and gunfire.

My sheets might as well have been made of burlap, they were so rough, and my pillow smelled faintly of cloyingly sweet strawberry dollar store conditioner, poverty, and mildew.

Where was I?

Memories of what we had done flashed through myhead, and I started shaking. I was being held against my will in some high-end apartment—or maybe hotel—God only knew where.

Pavel Ivanov, one of the most feared men in the Russian mob, freaking kidnapped me.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I listened for any noise, any sound that would tell me if there was someone else in the apartment.