Page 33 of Captive Vows (The Dubinin Bratva #1)
GAbrIELLA
I grew bigger and clumsier every day, almost startled by how my skin would stretch to accommodate this little one. This marvel of meeting my son or daughter was the only saving grace from the turmoil of being mad at Luka.
No matter what, I would do my best to protect this baby. Even if it meant running. Even if it meant fighting Luka and his family for the rest of my life.
While it would’ve been nice to share this experience with Luka, I’d be damned if I’d heel to his desire that I apologize and make amends first.
It didn’t help that the house staff treated me even worse. When it started, well before I even knew I was pregnant, it was just those side eyes and mean stares. Or they’d whisper about me as they dusted, belittling me as a cheap whore who’d never be a suitable partner for their leader.
In the beginning, I let it in one ear and out the other. As my pregnancy progressed, though, they only increased their wrath.
Still, it made no difference. With all these months I was stuck here and ignored by Luka, my desire to stand up to anyone—except him—and fight back waned.
Until I wasn’t the only one to realize how catty they’d become.
As I got up from reading a book that didn’t even hold my interest in the study, I was immediately cornered by a maid.
Older than me and bearing the signs of a hard, weathered life, she scowled and pointed at me. “It’s all your fault, bitch.”
I raised my brows, surprised she’d put so much energy into criticizing me or accusing me of something. I was a nobody here. It was almost like a full circle. A nobody before I was kidnapped and relegated to a nobody as a breeding vessel for a Mafia boss.
“You got Susanna killed.”
I shook my head, not necessarily to correct her but also to reject it. I hadn’t done anything. Ever. That was the story of my life. I never did anything to warrant hardships and headaches to this degree. Calling myself the victim got old, but it was true.
“You did!” she snarled. “You got her killed. I heard the guards talking. Mr. Dubinin had her killed because she saw your pregnancy test.”
“Ha!” I crossed my arms. A flare of a fight lit me up. “She did not. She went snooping for it. I hid that test in the trash. It wasn’t lying out.”
“Whatever. It’s all your fault she’s dead!”
I almost wanted to roll my eyes. I wasn’t soulless, but they’d get no compassion out of me. Fuck around and find out. That was the name of this game. “It’s her own damn fault. She had no right to snoop. And she had no right to sell that intel to the man who calls himself my dad.”
Because of that maid, I’d almost been taken by the Rivera Family. All due to Miguel Lopez’s greed and loathing for me.
“You bitch!” The maid lunged at me.
I covered my belly, nervous that she’d escalate to trying to harm me.
But she didn’t reach me. Alexsei and a boy were walking down the hallway and happened to see me in the study.
“Hey! Don’t hurt that lady!” The young boy darted out, smacking the maid’s hand away from reaching me.
“Misha!” Alexsei rushed in too, taking over the incident. He grabbed the woman and pulled her back as he called out for the guards.
I breathed hard, stunned, but deep inside, I was still so numb.
Heartache could do that to a person.
Grateful for the save, I watched the young boy. In the almost year that I’d been here, I’d never encountered a child. I was under the impression mine would be the only infant or youthful person here.
Alexsei handed the quarreling maid off to the guards and returned to me. “Misha. That’s not what I’ve taught you,” he scolded lightly.
“Thanks, Misha,” I said, countering Alexsei. He shot me a wry look.
“I am thankful that he was eager to be a hero too, but my son needs to think before acting on an impulse.”
“Son?” I furrowed my brow. “This is your son ?”
He nodded as Allen came into the study. “Allen, could you watch Misha for a moment?”
“Sure. Misha, have you had a cookie yet today?” Allen steered him away, clearly satisfied that nothing untoward was happening now that the maid was gone.
“You have a son?”
“I do,” Alexsei said. “He’s five and full of energy.” Likely guessing that I’d ask, he added, “My wife was killed a few years ago. I’ve raised him on my own.”
“Oh. Wow.” I blinked, surprised. Not only that this Mafia man seemed so normal about being a single father, but that he could claim to be alone in raising Misha. Alexsei was always with the others. I was sure Ivan and Emil helped with the boy, too.
“Puts a different perspective on our ‘family’ now, doesn’t it?” He smiled slightly.
“Um.” I wasn’t sure what to say. That boy looked so normal.
Like any other five-year-old. Not a robotic slave or trained soldier.
“I’m sorry for your loss. About your wife, I mean.
” I was aware that Luka had lost his first wife decades ago, but he didn’t seem eager to ever bring her up.
Emil had told me about her when I’d asked once, merely curious.
“Thanks. Time heals all wounds, but it’s taking a while to move past the grief.”
I winced, immediately thinking that his wife had to have died because of his association in the family. This wife would’ve been a target. Like I will be if I stay for good.
Wait.
No.
That bias wasn’t adding up.
My mother had been killed in a drive-by, and that drive-by likely happened near home because of my dad’s connection to criminals.
I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.
Sobered by the realization that I was a target in my “former” life before I’d been kidnapped as much as I was currently a target to be in the Dubinin Family, I had to admit my odds of survival were a hell of a lot higher here.
“We’re still a family,” Alexsei said gently. “Not just lawless heathens.”
“Heathens?” I laughed lightly at his choice of words.
“I’ve noticed how scared you are to bring someone into the Dubinin Family, but if it would help you to see how balanced and loved and protected my son is, you only have to ask.”
It really did change my views. A lot. Just knowing a normal-looking and sweet boy was here at all morphed me from worrying my baby would be conditioned into a monster.
But it still seemed too late.
The danger would always lurk too close.
“Anyway,” I said, unwilling to admit my fears were magically erased, just like that, “I appreciate your, um, standing up to that maid.”
“I guess I was in the right place at the right time, huh?”
I nodded.
“If you ever need help keeping the house staff in line and don’t want to tell Luka, then you can always count on Allen. Or me.” He smiled slowly. “Even Misha when he visits here.”
“Thanks.”
“You doing okay?” he asked, seeming reluctant to leave me.
I shrugged. “More or less.” It was less. I was less than okay, actually, but he was one of the few to ask me that.
Alexsei seemed as intense as the others I wanted to call my found family. He was nice. Obedient, though.
“What’s on your mind, Gabriella?” He wasn’t prying. I doubted he was spying for Luka.
I shrugged. “Too many things.”
“Like what? Ask me anything.”
That seemed like a generous offer. “Okay. Um.” I recalled how he’d surprised me, taking my side against that maid. Like it was automatic to stand up for me, for family. “Have you ever considered a different life? Not being mandated to serve your uncle?”
He shook his head. “I was never mandated. Family is family. Loyalty to family is everything.”
I frowned.
“Is that bad?”
“It’s just that I don’t have any family anymore. Or ever. My mom died. My dad is trying to pawn me for the highest profit. And I’m stuck here, unable to escape to raise my child on my own—with love, not a demand for loyalty and service.”
Furrowing his brow, he regarded me closely. “Are you telling me that you really don’t see how Luka cares about you?”
I sighed, having no spark of my former sass anymore. No sarcastic quip was ready for him.
Shrugging and hating how low my morale and mood had sunk, I shook my head.
“Luka doesn’t care. I’m just his thing to treat as he pleases.
And if actions speak louder than words, he’s made it clear he doesn’t truly want or need me in his life.
” Owning up to that hard truth hurt, but this dejection and dismay weren’t letting up anytime soon.