Page 32 of Captive Vows (The Dubinin Bratva #1)

LUKA

M y moodiness worsened.

My patience was shot.

No matter what I tried, I couldn’t sleep well anymore.

The longer Gabriella didn’t come to me and apologize for hiding this pregnancy, the more strained things got in the house.

She was still there, always there, but more like a captive than the sensual lover I’d grown close to. I hated the reminders of how this resembled the beginning, when she first came here.

Yet, I wouldn’t bend.

I would not be the first to break.

Caving to her would prove that she held the power over me. It would make me too soft, too weak.

Besides, her reluctance to bridge things between just proved that love really was a joke at this rate.

No woman could be that damn stubborn. The only alternative was that she was a fake. That she’d never cared for me like she’d suggested. She couldn’t hold out this long to resist me if I had gotten under her skin like she had mine.

Most days, I felt like my flesh was too tight, like I couldn’t breathe right.

Other times, I experienced this rabid delusional streak where the craziest fantasies taunted me to just go after her already and show her that her temper wasn’t okay.

Love was such a fucking joke.

It was cruel and senseless.

The only thing that made sense anymore was my work.

Only knowledgeable on how to kill, to own, and to demand, I excelled in those darker ideals.

But the more I focused only on the family, I fell right back into the same old.

Now, that feeling of the same old shit consisted of the constant ache of missing her and needing her.

One night as I watched the surveillance in my office, Ivan entered, papers in his hand.

Even though Gabriella and I were at odds, with her pregnant, I’d only worked from my home office now, to be near her. Just in case.

“What is that?” We both asked the same question of each other at the same time.

He pointed at the computer monitor and I gestured at the papers in his hand.

“Oh.” He raised his brows at the vision of Gabriella on the screen. “Still watching her from afar, huh?”

I sighed, taking the papers he offered me. “I can’t help it.”

“You know, it’s not often that I agree with Emil, but he’s right. You and Gabriella just need to get over yourselves and go back to the way you were.”

Rolling my eyes, I ignored his unsolicited advice. I wouldn’t go backward with her. There should only be movement to the forefront. Progress. Change. Not returning to the illusion of what worked before.

“What do you have here?” I asked as I flipped through the pages. “Oh.” I didn’t need him to explain. These documents provided the transcripts of what our spies were able to get from the men who’d been close enough to Miguel to catch some of his plans.

It seemed that he hadn’t learned his lesson at all. He was still at it, two-timing whoever he could. While he was no longer an affiliate or associate with the Dubinin name, he was trying to pit the Viper Cartel against the Italian Mafia. And both of them against us.

The change was that he now seemed to view his daughter as a prime asset to bargain with.

I couldn’t begin to guess if he’d done so many drugs that he lacked any brain cells anymore or if he was just naturally that fucking dumb, but he couldn’t grasp the fact that Gabriella wasn’t a limited-time offer.

She was mine. She would be mine until I decided otherwise.

And she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Miguel lacked that understanding. He seemed to consider her his, if only because he was her father and that would never change. That bond no longer mattered—at all. The second I ordered her to be picked up and brought to my home, she was irrevocably mine.

“Where is that stupid fucker now?” I tossed the papers to my desk and rubbed my brow.

He shook his head. “Undetermined. He’s staying on the move.”

“He can’t hide anywhere we won’t find him.” It didn’t matter if Gabriella and I were at odds with each other. I would never stop protecting her.

“Agreed. I can put more men on it. We’ll find him.”

“And kill him.” I almost regretted not taking his life when I’d had him captured and caught before. Emil had tortured him and beaten him to within an inch of his life, but the fucker survived.

No. I can’t regret it.

If I hadn’t chosen the backup idea of a punishment for Miguel Lopez, I never would’ve had Gabriella in my life. I never would’ve discovered this second lease on life that I had now, anticipating the arrival of another child.

“You want to have Miguel killed?” Ivan questioned, seeming surprised.

I nodded, curious why that wouldn’t be obvious. The man would continue to be a threat to the mother of my child. Of course, I’d want him six feet under.

“Oh.” He nodded slowly. “So you can release Gabriella and let her go after the baby is born?”

I grunted something like a laugh. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Well…” He shrugged again as he sat on the edge of my desk. Bothered that he’d even ask me that, I grabbed the papers to feed them in the shredder to destroy the evidence. I’d seen what I wanted to.

“Well, what?” I prompted.

“She hasn’t exactly adjusted well to being a Mafia woman.”

Then I’ll continue to teach her. “She hasn’t,” I agreed, “but there is time for that.”

“And you’re not sure about committing to her. Officially.”

It would shock you to know I intend to.

I hadn’t forgotten about how I decreed to her that we’d marry.

I meant it.

But with this cooling span of distance between us after our fight, I wondered if she’d dismissed what I said as nothing.

“With all this news about Miguel treating her like a prize he can sell to the highest bidder, as if he can’t realize you have her, I imagined you were just keeping her here and safe until she can give you the baby.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Come on, Ivan. Stop joking. You’re not that stupid.”

He watched me, curious.

“She’s never giving up that baby. She says it’s the only family she’s ever had.”

“Okay. Then she’s staying?”

I nodded. “Obviously.”

“Not just to keep her safe from Miguel?”

I shook my head. “Correct.”

“And you still can’t just get over yourself and make up with her… why, again?”

I grimaced, uneasy to talk further about this. I wasn’t in the mood to reveal how vulnerable she made me feel. How much the thought of losing her would destroy me.

“Never mind that,” I told him as the papers finished shredding. “She’s staying. And things will…” I blew out a big breath, wondering if my damn pride was the only thing standing in my way. “I’m confident things will work out fine.”

Hopefully, before this baby comes.

Protecting her from Miguel was a no-brainer. But if he wasn’t caught, my second-born could be taken from me as well. It wasn’t only a risk of losing the woman I dared to love, but also this second take on growing a real family.

Just like she’d always dreamed of.

It would just have to merge with my dreams, too.