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Ania

How To Love A Monster: A Bunny’s Guide

Content:

Step One: Accidentally hack a Bratva Boss

Step Two: Be bored in a shit-smeared cell

Step Three: Let him stitch a tracker in your skull

Step Four: Pretend to hate everything he does but secretly love it

Step Five: Let him see your vulnerability and watch him melt

Step Six: Bite back—he likes it

Step Seven: Become the Bratva Queen and take over the business.

*Please note that each step should be studied and understood. Once you have read this document, you will be tested.

I hit send, emailing the eight-page guide to Adrik while copying Viktor in.

The responses came back within a few minutes.

Adrik: This document is utter bullshit. I own you.

Viktor: Would not recommend, but I would watch. ☆☆☆☆☆

I heard his heavy footsteps in the hallway, and I closed my laptop. The door flew open, and Adrik walked in.

“P.S. The sex was worth it. Is that all I am to you?”

he ranted before he walked toward me. “I take it you're bored if you are writing ridiculous documents?”

“Ugh! So bored,”

I said before fluttering my eyelashes at him. “Why can't you carry me downstairs?”

“Bunny, you know my back—”

I screamed and threw a pillow at him.

“Was it something I said?”

he asked, catching my pillow.

“This is your fault,”

I said, pointing at my belly.

“I remember you screaming, ‘Deeper, make it hurt,’”

he said with a smirk.

“Bed rest is killing me,”

I cried, trying to force a tear out, but nothing came out of my dried-up tear ducts.

“Bunny, it’s only for another two weeks,”

he said, climbing onto the bed while I looked at his tattooed hands on my belly.

“You know, while you're up here—”

I said with a smile, but he cut me off quickly.

“No, Bunny. Whatever you're plotting, it isn't happening.”

“What about all the times I took it whenever you wanted it?”

I said, glaring at him before crossing my arms.

“That was your job, Bunny,”

he said, kissing my pregnant belly.

“I bet Viktor would—”

“I advise you not to finish that sentence,”

he snapped at me.

“Statistics were correct. Once you get married, it all fizzles out,”

I said, flopping back on my pillows.

“You know damn well that I will not do anything that poses a risk to you or our baby,”

he said stiffly.

“If I die, would you remarry?”

I asked, staring at the ceiling.

“No, I’d taxidermy you.”

I grinned before glancing at him.

“You say the sweetest things to me,”

I said, placing my hand over his.

“I’m too kind,”

he said, agreeing with me.

“Were all the women taken care of?” I asked.

He nodded before sitting beside me to hold my hand. He slipped his fingers through mine and kissed my hand.

“The Madam was ready to retire.”

“Thank you for closing it all down,”

I said, squeezing his hand.

“You do realise someone else will take over?”

“I do, but it won't be you.”

The world was cruel, but we all had to pull our weight. The flesh trade made me feel sick. After many discussions and with enough information that his men reported back to him, Adrik didn’t hesitate to close it all down. The only reason it took so long was that vulnerable young women needed to be placed back into society.

“What do we tell the kid how we met?”

I asked, rubbing my belly.

“I will be telling them the truth. You sent me a dirty email,”

he said with a smirk.

I gasped but realised it was true. The email I sent with the malware attached to it had been a titty link.

“Well, technically I sent it to one of your employees,”

I said with a smirk of my own.

He frowned before he smiled. “I caught the rabbit, though.”

“The poor kid is going to be traumatised before he or she comes out,”

I said with a sigh.

“Viktor is going to be the godfather. The kid never stood a chance,”

he said dryly.

I frowned because that was true.

“How about we ask Rurik—”

“No. Not him. He isn't normal. Who does that much good in the world? I’m telling you, he does it just to stick it to people like me. No, we stick with Viktor. Better the psycho we know and trust.”

I shrugged. “At least the baby will be well-protected with all the psychos around it.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to bring my laptop up here?”

“Yes—no. You have your meeting today.”

“I can send Viktor up.”

“No, I will end up stabbing him with your dagger. Then we need to go through the shortlist for potential Godfathers again,”

I said nodding at the dagger he still slept with.

“Bunny, you couldn't even aim a pillow at me. I’m sure Viktor will be safe.”

“You can go now,”

I said, pursing my lips together tightly.

With a grin and a kiss, he left as quickly as he came, lingering in the doorway with a final glimpse before vanishing.

“It’s just you and me now, kid,”

I said to my bump, smiling when I felt him or her kick. “I should write a Bratva parenting guide next. What do you think?”

I opened up my laptop and began my research, but at the back of my mind, I wondered how Adrik would greet our child into this world.

Adrik

Two Weeks Later

I never imagined that I could feel such unadulterated love and devotion like this, but as I cradled my tiny daughter against my chest, this was all I could feel.

Poor Bunny was exhausted and slept, knowing I held our daughter.

When she continued to fight sleep, she confessed that she didn't want the nurses to take Alya.

Her reasoning made the hair at the back of my neck rise.

The thought of anyone harming our innocent daughter made me physically sick.

As I paced the room, gently speaking to Alya I would stop and stare at Ania in awe.

She created this tiny being.

Alya came from her mother.

I was there—I witnessed it all—but I couldn't believe a monster like me could create such an innocent being, completely untainted.

With a sigh, I parted Alya’s blanket to touch her miniature fingers, uncurling them to see her nails again.

She was perfect, and like her mother, she was mine—mine to hold, love, and protect.

I didn't feel deserving of such a precious gift, but I was a selfish man when it came to all things Bunny.

I smelled her hair again, inhaling her unique baby scent.

When I traced my finger down her cheek, I could have sworn I saw a flicker of a smile on her rosebud mouth.

Bunny said she had my lips and nose, which I denied, but the more I looked, the more I could see it.

Her eyes were greyish-blue, but they could change.

I stroked her soft brown hair, smiling when she yawned. She had a long journey coming out of her mother.

They gave her gas and air, but she refused any other pain relief.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but when I saw Alya’s head crown, I could only admire my wife’s strength.

I finally understood why that self-righteous bastard, Rurik, was trying to repopulate Russia.

“My Bratva Princess, you will have an army of men to protect you, my love.

No one will ever touch a single hair on your head, or Daddy will chop their arms off before he decapitates them,”

I hummed to her.

“Wow. Pakhan, she is only a few hours old, and you're singing about chopping arms and decapitation.”

I smiled at Viktor’s voice.

“You took your time,”

I said, turning to face him before nodding to leave the room. Bunny needed to sleep.

He was rubbing his neck with a sheepish expression, and I knew exactly why he was late.

“I didn't see the message until later,”

he said before his face softened as he looked at Alya.

“Meet your goddaughter, Ayla,”

I said proudly, not wanting to let her go, but this man was one who would swallow a bullet for my daughter.

He swallowed but pushed his hands up. “I don't think I should hold her.”

I placed her in his outstretched arms and watched my friend curl his arm around her and hold her against his chest as I had.

“How can she be so small?”

“I wouldn't say that to Bunny. She didn't think that when she was pushing her out,”

I said dryly.

“I am happy they are both okay, Pakhan,”

he said, gently swaying Alya. “I can see why you were threatening random people.”

“Let’s go inside. I don't want Bunny to wake up alone.”

He nodded and walked ahead while I glanced around to see the three armed men close to our door.

I had far more to lose than my position now.

Pyotr smiled at me, and my countenance softened, knowing I did have some good soldiers on my side.

I nodded at him and stepped inside the room, closing the door behind me.

Viktor sat close to Bunny’s bed, but for once, I didn't feel jealousy claw its way through me.

His eyes were glued to Ayla, but his homage was toward the Queen who birthed her.

I studied him as he cautiously touched Ayla’s cheek.

We were broken, sadistic men, but the ties of unspoken trauma that bound us together were more durable than most superficial connections.

My eyes lingered on Ania’s sleeping features.

Without my Bunny, none of this would have been possible.

The demons that once raged inside of me were silenced.

Without her resilience and grace, I might never have found peace.

My new world was not earned or deserved, but it was one that I would protect and keep.

After a lifetime of emptiness, I would commit unspeakable acts to keep what was mine.

With a smile, I sat beside Ania, finally comfortable in my obsession with my wife and now our daughter.

Ania

Two Months Later

From the first fateful day that I met Adrik till today, the man kept me on my toes.

It had been almost fifteen months since that day, and our first wedding anniversary was when he presented me with a gold locket.

The oval ten-point star reminded me of the Bratva tattoos he had.

Each point had a diamond set in it, and in the middle was an enamel sapphire that matched the shade of his and Ayla’s eyes.

Inside the locket was a picture of us and our daughter.

The inscription on the back was simple.

Bunny, Property of Adrik.

He removed the collar and replaced it with something far more binding—a reminder of our family.

My wedding ring wasn't enough for him.

Hell, his wedding ring wasn't enough when he uncovered his new tattoo.

There were inked black wired thorns from his heart to his neck, but within the thorns on the side of his neck, he had our names inscribed.

Ayla’s arrival changed everything.

I thought he was obsessed before, but instead of diminishing through time, it steadily crept up and engulfed our daughter.

Our home became a military-styled fortress with countless cameras, reinforced walls and razor-sharp wire.

I honestly wasn’t sure if it was to keep us in or others out.

The only aspect that I was certain about was that no one would ever hurt Ayla the way we were, and that was enough for me.

I could handle Adrik’s level of crazy—I think.

The man, who was disgusted with dirt and foul smells, didn't hesitate to change Ayla’s nappies or bathe her.

For the first month, she lived on his arm or chest.

If his nipples were functional, he probably would have tried to feed her too.

I shivered, thinking of the switch in him, from looking at Ayla breastfeeding with love and fascination to me with dark, hungry eyes full of a monster’s promise of pain to come one day soon.

Viktor was more subtle, but he was another one who claimed Ayla as his. I winced, thinking that if Ayla ever managed to date, the safety of her beau would not be guaranteed. I thought of Vadik and his creative ways of making people suffer.

“Why do you look as if you're sucking on a lemon, Bunny?”

There was no better time to test out my theory.

“I was just thinking how children grow up so quickly these days that before we know it, she will be off marrying someone and—”

“Bunny, my daughter will never leave me,”

he said, cutting me off before looking down at Ayla. “No, you won’t because Daddy will slice anyone up if they look at you.”

Ayla waved her hand, trying to grip his beard. He lowered her face and cooed at her. “You are Daddy’s little Princess. Yes, you are.”

His eyes snapped up to mine with unmitigated fury burning in them and a scowl on his face. “Don’t say that about my baby girl again.”

I smiled sweetly at him. At least I had a number of years to plan an escape route for my daughter. His eyes dropped to my smile as suspicion crept into his eyes. He leaned back into his chair.

“You can’t ruin my good mood today,”

he said, dismissing me before focusing on Ayla again.

I opened up a new document to work on a new guide, hoping to share it with our daughter one day.

How To Survive Your Bratva Father.

The End.