Page 29 of Captive Vows (The Dubinin Bratva #1)

GAbrIELLA

L uka hadn’t dismissed me like that since I’d gotten here. No matter what, he infiltrated my space and my mind until I had to cave. Until I would cave and give in to him and accept that he was my owner. My master. It later turned to accepting him as my lover.

Or so I thought.

Being sent to my room like that was a cruel punishment. The fact that he wanted to put distance between us was enough of a sign that he had heard that Rivera man. That he was clued in to the fact that I was pregnant.

And from the stern set of his jaw and the cold anger in his dark eyes, I could only believe he was furious.

Of course, he’s mad.

He was surprised in the worst way imaginable.

I should have just come clean and told him!

These past few weeks of hiding my pregnancy had been hell.

Now, it was all out of my hands. It was beyond my control how he might perceive the situation.

With him busy elsewhere and not even slowing down to ask me about it, he’d made it clear that he didn’t want to hear me out.

He wasn’t interested in what I could say to elaborate about the fact that I was expecting his child.

All I could do was pace.

Back and forth, I walked in my room like a caged animal. This feeling of being trapped and stuck wasn’t anything new. I felt like this back when I first woke up here, lost and confused when this big brute of a Mafia boss came in here to tell me that he owned me because of my dad’s problems.

All I could do now was vent this nervous energy.

Because that was all I could embrace. The anxiety. The unknowns. The threat of his anger being funneled toward me and no one else. Being the enemy of a Mafia boss was an incredibly stupid thing to let happen, but there was no erasing time now. I couldn’t go back and clarify.

Nope. He expected me to stay in here and stew. To wait for him.

When he at last appeared, entering my room without so much as a knock, fear claimed me. My nervousness escalated to outright trepidation as he walked in, closed the door behind himself, and stared me down.

His hands were shoved into his pockets, but that seemingly relaxed and casual stance wasn’t fooling me. That intense look warned that he was livid. The tension in the air between us proved he was still mad, here to expect answers that would probably not appease him in the end.

A fleeting conviction rolled through my mind that I was in the wrong. That it had been my fault to hide my pregnancy from him. But I wouldn’t take back my actions. I wouldn’t apologize for acting out of fear and dealing with this the best I could.

He wasn’t some standard, upfront kind of guy. He wasn’t an ideal book boyfriend of a fictional hero I could lean on.

Luka Dubinin was a cruel, hardened, lethal Mafia boss.

But he was also the father of my child.

And that had to be what he’d come here to talk about with me. Not that fact that my dad was trying to figure out a new, illegitimate deal that would allow the Rivera Mafia to have me, but the fact that I was pregnant.

“Explain yourself.” He lifted his chin, glowering at me.

Just like that, sensing the height of his anger, my stubborn streak lit me up and took over.

I crossed my arms. “Explain what?” I replied.

Before he could show me more of how mad he was, I continued.

“Why my dad would try to sell me to someone else? I have no fucking clue. He’s a pathetic piece of shit who’s only looking out for himself. ”

“The other part,” he growled. “Explain why you thought it would be a smart choice to hide your pregnancy from me.”

Well, that settled that. It wasn’t a matter of him trying to figure out if I really was pregnant. He knew. One way or another, he did know now.

“Because.”

He stepped forward as he pulled one hand out of his pocket. Pairing his menacing and thunderous expression with the lift of his arm, as though he wanted to grab me, he shook his head and muttered curses that sounded like Russian gibberish that I couldn’t decipher.

“Try again,” he warned in a serious growl.

“Because,” I repeated, digging in to stand my ground despite how scared I was.

My child would never have a weakling for a mother.

I would survive this storm. “Because I figured you’d confront me just like this.

Because I worried that you’d go berserk about this news, one way or another.

” Tightening my arms around me, I tried to use my defensive stance as a shield to hide behind before he’d lose his temper.

“I wouldn’t be confronting you about this at all if you’d just told the fucking truth to begin with.”

“You never asked me if I was pregnant,” I retorted, regretting it the second I spoke. It sounded so childish, so stupid.

“You’ve lied by omission,” he yelled. “You have been dishonest to hide such a huge thing from me at all!”

“And I would do it all over again.” Hiding this pregnancy was only something I could’ve tried to pull off for so long. Sooner or later, I’d start showing and it would be obvious. Until then, I’d hoped to determine if it would be safer to do this parenthood thing solo or with him.

With how mad he was, I had my answer.

He was not pleased about this news. In the back of my mind, I had to consider that he might just be furious about how I’d kept it a secret, not that he was mad about my having his child. Time would tell, but I wasn’t backing down now.

He could be miffed about my hiding it, but couldn’t he also respect that I was limited in power here? That I’d be afraid and act accordingly?

“You would lie to me again?”

“I would keep this information to myself until I could know whether I could trust you with it.”

“Trust me ?” He ground his teeth, glaring at me with a seething fury. “How can you claim that you can’t trust me? After all I’ve fucking done for you. After?—”

“After you kidnapped me?” I screamed back, letting my anger cover my fear.

I wouldn’t retreat like a docile whore. “You took me. Remember? I had no say, no power, no control in my life. And now that I will be bringing a new life into this world, I’ll be damned if you can assume you’ll just take him or her too! ”

“Don’t even suggest getting rid of?—”

“I wouldn’t!” At least he could appease my concerns about that.

“And get it out of your head that you’ll have any authority over my child.”

I growled, fisting my hands and hating him with every fiber of my being. He was wrong. He was so goddamn wrong. He could tell me that he owned me, but he would not own my baby.

“I do,” I bit out once I felt like I could speak, not screech. “I do have every fucking right to this baby. You will not beat submission into me with this. I will be in charge of my life to the extent that I will raise this baby. Me. Not your army.”

“I’d like to see you try.” He chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “Go on. See how far you can run if you try to be a moron and escape.”

His goading me like this was so uncalled for. It was cruel of him to taunt me at all. No matter what he said, I would not be intimidated to give up this fight. “I’ll be damned if my baby is used.”

Lifting my chin high, I let him see that while I wouldn’t argue with him point by point and be so cocky as to say I could escape if I really wanted to, I wouldn’t back down at all.

“I won’t stand for my baby to be sold. Like all you criminals want to barter with my life.” I stabbed my finger at my chest.

He shook his head, looking angrier yet. “There is no bartering. The discussion with the Riveras isn’t even a real concern. Your father gave you to me as a payment for his debt. And it is nonnegotiable for anyone to even think about taking you or calling the shots.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? To know that you don’t plan to discard me yet?”

“I don’t particularly care about how you feel after hiding this news from me,” he growled.

I shrugged, wishing I could feel an ounce of the bravado and indifference I projected. “Regardless, my stance won’t change. I will not allow my child to be sold or trained to be a robotic killer.”

“Oh. You mean like my other child? My son?” He sneered. “Like Emil? He’s a robot now?”

I wasn’t in the mood to discuss Emil. I still hadn’t forgiven him for his part in my kidnapping.

I’d be giving birth to his half-sibling, and I wasn’t sure how I wanted to think about that connection.

How could I raise a child to be a decent and loving person who’d want to give back to the world when he had an assassin for a brother?

“I’m not discussing Emil with you. I’m not talking about anything but the fact that you need to drill it into your head that I won’t let you have this baby to do with as you want.

This is my child. This is my baby that I am carrying in my body.

I have wished my whole life for a family, and the second I can look forward to really having one, I will not let you think that you can step in and determine exactly how it will go. ”

He opened his mouth to argue, but I kept going.

“I lost my mother when I was still so young. I despise the idiot I’m supposed to consider my father.” Protectively placing my hand on my stomach, I sighed and caught my breath. “This baby is the only family I have. And I will protect him or her with all my heart.”

Getting in my face, Luka loomed over me closer yet. “Oh?” He scowled, looking me up and down. “I advise you to think again.”

“Nothing you say will change my mind,” I replied with heat. My survivalist instinct burned too hot to cool it now.

“Wrong. I’m your family now.”

I rolled my eyes, too mad to speak.

He gripped my chin, forcing me to make eye contact, though. It was a small mercy that gazing into his blazing eyes, so full of loathing, didn’t make me wilt or cower.

“Because you and I are getting married.”