Page 19 of Bride of the Bratva King (Blood & Bride #1)

Chapter eighteen

The Choice

A lexei

Boris's voice is grim through the encrypted connection. "Sir, we have a problem. Roman has your in-laws."

Ice floods my veins. "What?"

"Mila's parents. They were taken from their apartment two hours ago. Clean extraction, professional team. No witnesses."

I'm already out of bed, reaching for clothes. Beside me, Mila stirs at the movement.

"Demands?" I ask.

"Not yet. But sir... there's more. Roman sent a message. He says the exchange is Mila for her parents. Twenty-four hours to decide."

The words hit me like physical blows. Roman wants my wife. He wants to take the woman I love, the woman I just started planning a future with, and use her as a bargaining chip.

Over my dead body.

"Alexei?" Mila's voice is soft with sleep. "What's wrong?"

I end the call and turn to face her, trying to figure out how to deliver news that's going to shatter her world.

"Your parents," I say simply. "Roman has them."

She sits up so fast it's like she's been electrocuted. "What? How? When?"

"Two hours ago. Clean extraction from their apartment."

"Are they... are they alive?"

"As far as we know. Roman wants them alive for leverage."

"What kind of leverage?"

This is the part I've been dreading. The part that's going to test everything we've built between us.

"He wants to trade them for you."

The color drains from her face. For a moment, she doesn't move, doesn't breathe, doesn't do anything except stare at me with wide, terrified eyes.

Then she's out of bed, pacing the room like a caged animal.

"We have to do it," she says.

"No."

"Alexei, these are my parents. The only family I have left—"

"No, Mila. Absolutely not."

She spins to face me, and there's fire in her dark eyes. "That's not your decision to make."

"It is exactly my decision to make. You're my wife, which makes your safety my responsibility."

"My parents are innocent people who got dragged into this because of me. Because I married you, because I'm helping you fight Roman—"

"Your parents are targets because Roman is a monster who uses innocent people as weapons. That's not your fault."

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is!" Her voice rises, cracking with emotion. "What matters is that they're going to die if I don't go to him."

"And you're going to die if you do go to him."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Roman doesn't make trades, Mila. He takes what he wants and eliminates witnesses. If you go to him, you'll be dead within hours, and your parents will follow shortly after."

She stops pacing, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "So what's your solution? Let them die? Write them off as acceptable losses?"

"My solution is to rescue them."

"How? Roman isn't stupid—he'll have them hidden, heavily guarded, impossible to find."

"Nothing is impossible. It's just a matter of resources and planning."

"And time. How long will it take to find them? Days? Weeks? What condition will they be in by then?"

The pain in her voice makes my chest ache, but I can't let emotion cloud my judgment. Not when her life is at stake.

"Mila, listen to me—"

"No, you listen to me." She moves closer, and I can see tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. "Those people raised me. They sacrificed everything to give me a better life. They've already lost one child because of this war between you and Roman. I will not let them lose their lives too."

"Viktor's death wasn't their fault any more than it was yours."

"But my choices led Roman to them. My decision to marry you, to help you fight him—"

"Your decision to stand up to a monster who needed to be stopped."

"It doesn't matter why I did it! What matters is that innocent people are going to pay the price for my choices, and I can't live with that."

I can see her spiraling, can see the guilt and fear driving her toward a decision that will destroy us both. I need to get through to her, need to make her understand that sacrificing herself won't save her parents.

"Mila," I say, crossing the room to take her hands in mine. "Look at me. Really look at me."

She does, and I can see the war raging behind her eyes—love for me battling with love for her family.

"I understand why you want to make this trade," I continue. "I understand the guilt and the fear and the desperate need to protect the people you love. But Roman is counting on that. He's counting on you being willing to sacrifice yourself for them."

"Because I am willing."

"I know. And that's one of the reasons I love you. But I'm not willing to sacrifice you for anyone. Not for your parents, not for my organization, not for the entire world."

"That's not your choice to make."

"It is when you're my wife. When you're the woman I love more than my own life."

"Alexei—"

"No, let me finish. You think going to Roman will save your parents? It won't. It will just give him three victims instead of two. And it will destroy me in the process."

"So what are you saying? That I should just abandon them?"

"I'm saying we find another way. We use every resource at our disposal, every contact, every piece of leverage we have. We find them and we get them back."

"And if we can't?"

The question hangs between us, stark and terrible. If we can't find them, if we can't rescue them, then Roman wins. He gets to use innocent people as weapons against us, and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

"Then we make Roman pay for every day they suffer," I say finally. "But we don't hand you over to him. We don't give him exactly what he wants."

"Even if it means my parents die?"

"Even then."

The words taste like ash in my mouth, but they're true. I would move heaven and earth to save her parents, would sacrifice everything I own to bring them home safe. But I will not sacrifice Mila herself. I can't.

"You bastard," she whispers.

"Yes."

"You cold, calculating bastard."

"If that's what it takes to keep you alive."

She pulls her hands free and steps back, looking at me like I'm a stranger. Like I'm the monster she once thought I was. "This is who you really are, isn't it?" she says. "When it comes down to it, when hard choices have to be made, you choose yourself. You choose what you want over what's right."

"I choose you. Over everything else, every time, I choose you."

"Even over innocent people."

"Even over innocent people."

The admission hangs between us like a confession. She's right—when faced with the choice between her life and her parents' lives, I choose her. It makes me selfish, maybe even evil, but it's the truth.

"I can't accept that," she says quietly.

"You don't have a choice."

"There's always a choice, Alexei. And I choose to save my parents."

"By giving yourself to Roman?"

"By doing whatever it takes."

I can see her pulling away from me, emotionally and physically. The woman who was making love to me hours ago, talking about our future children, is looking at me like I'm her enemy.

"Mila, please—"

"No. You've made your position clear. You'd rather let innocent people die than risk losing me. Well, I'd rather die than live with their blood on my hands."

"That's not going to happen."

"It is if you have your way."

"My way is the only way that keeps you alive."

"Your way is selfish and wrong."

"Maybe. But it's mine."

We stare at each other across the bedroom that's become a battleground, and I can feel everything we've built together cracking under the pressure.

"I'm going to him," she says finally.

"No, you're not."

"Try to stop me."

"I will."

"How? Lock me up? Keep me prisoner in my own home?"

"If I have to."

"Then you're no better than he is."

The words hit like bullets, but I don't flinch. She can hate me, can think I'm a monster, can curse my name for the rest of her life. As long as she's alive to do it, I can bear anything.

"Maybe not," I say. "But you'll be alive to hate me."

"God damn you, Alexei."

"Already done, little wife. The moment I fell in love with you."

She moves toward the door, and I know I have seconds to make a choice. Let her go and hope I can find her before she does something suicidal, or stop her here and now and deal with the consequences.

I choose to stop her.

My arm snakes around her waist as she passes, pulling her back against my chest. She struggles immediately, trying to break free, but I'm stronger and I'm desperate.

"Let me go," she demands.

"No."

"Alexei, I swear to God—"

"Swear all you want. You're not leaving this room."

She spins in my arms and tries to hit me, but I catch her wrists. We struggle for a moment, her trying to break free, me trying to contain her without hurting her.

"I hate you," she gasps.

"I know."

"I hate that you're doing this."

"I know."

"I hate that you're right about Roman."

That stops us both. She sags against me, and I can feel the fight going out of her.

"You know I'm right?" I ask softly.

"Of course I know you're right. Roman isn't going to honor any deal. He's going to take me and kill my parents anyway." Tears start streaming down her cheeks. "But I have to try. Don't you understand? I have to try to save them, even if it's hopeless."

"Mila—"

"They're all I have left. Viktor is gone, and if I lose them too..."

"You have me."

"It's not the same."

"I know."

I hold her while she cries, feeling like the worst kind of monster for being relieved that she's not going to sacrifice herself. She's right—I am selfish. When it comes to her life versus anyone else's, there's no contest.

"I'm sorry," I whisper into her hair.

"For what?"

"For being exactly the kind of man who would choose you over innocent people. For loving you so much that I can't think straight. For being selfish enough to keep you here even when it means your parents might die."

She pulls back to look at me, and there's something broken in her dark eyes.

"I know why you're doing it," she says quietly. "I understand the logic. I even appreciate that you love me enough to make yourself the villain in this scenario."

"But?"

"But I still need to hit you."

"Understandable."

"And I still need you to fuck me until I can't think about anything except how much I love you."

The words hit me like lightning. She's angry, heartbroken, terrified for her parents—and she wants me to help her forget, even if it's just for a little while.

"Mila—"

"Please. I need to feel something other than helpless rage. I need to feel alive and loved and like there's still something good in this world."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Make love to me like you're trying to convince me to stay. Like you're trying to remind me why choosing you is worth it."

I don't need to be asked twice. I kiss her hard, pouring all of my desperation and love and selfish need into the connection between us. She responds with equal fervor, her anger and fear transmuting into passionate hunger.

"I'm still furious with you," she gasps against my lips.

"I know."

"I still think you're a selfish bastard."

"I know."

"And I still love you more than I should."

"Thank God for that."

I back her toward the bed, my hands already working at her clothes. She helps, stripping away fabric with urgent efficiency until we're both naked and reaching for each other.

"Remind me," she whispers as I cover her body with mine. "Remind me why this is worth it."

I show her instead, with my hands and my mouth and my body moving inside hers. I make love to her like it's the last time, like I'm trying to convince her to choose me over everything else in the world.

When she comes apart beneath me, crying out my name like a prayer, I follow her over the edge and hope it's enough to keep her here, keep her safe, keep her mine.

Afterward, we lie tangled together in the wreckage of our fight and our makeup, and I can feel the weight of the choice hanging over us.

"We'll find another way," I promise her. "We'll save your parents without sacrificing you."

"How?"

"I don't know yet. But we will."

"And if we can't?"

"Then we'll live with the consequences. Together."

She nods against my chest, and I can feel some of the tension leaving her body. She's not happy with my choice, but she's accepting it.

For now, that's enough.

But deep down, I know this isn't over. Roman has played his best card, and the game is just beginning.