Page 13 of Pregnant Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #17)

It takes all the willpower I have to get off that sofa and walk away from her. What I really want to do is rip her skirt off and fuck her for hours. I can smell her sweet scent on my skin, taste her lips on mine—she’s fucking gorgeous and I want her so badly my cock is in pain.

Standing in the kitchen, I lean my hands against the countertop and hang my head down, taking a few deep breaths and trying desperately to pull myself together. I want to go back in there and take her.

But I can’t do that.

Not after what she told me.

She’s just shared some very painful memories, some horrible and traumatic things that she’s been experiencing her entire life.

If I take advantage of her now, it’ll make me a monster for real.

I want to kill Boris Krolik. That man is a demon. He’s evil down to his core. I can’t believe he treated his own family like that. What kind of heartless person does that?

I want to kill him, and I want it to be slow and painful.

For what he did to Tania. For hurting her. For abusing her.

I want to tear him to shreds.

I slam my fist into the countertop and let out a low growl of frustration.

My cock is still hard, pressing against my pants.

Standing up, I roll my neck left and then right and adjust my cock to a more comfortable position while I wait for it to go down.

I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t deal with that.

I’ll take a shower after dinner. For now, I’m going to make Tania something nice to eat.

Shaking my head, I walk to the fridge, wrought with inner turmoil.

Here I am, wanting to kill Boris for hurting Tania, but my whole plan was to use Tania to get to Boris.

And now suddenly the plan can’t be that way.

I hate the idea of putting her anywhere near that man or causing her any more pain.

She’s had enough in her life. I’d rather protect her, hold her, take care of her—

What the hell is going on with me?

And why am I asking myself this question so many times lately?

It’s ever since she came into my life.

The fridge light is bright, and I’m just staring blankly at it.

Food, Arkady. Choose something to make for dinner.

I reach in and grab a steak and some ingredients to make a salad.

Sparking the gas stove alight, I place the pan on the flame, and once it’s soaked in enough of the heat, I throw in a blob of butter. It sizzles as it slides over the smooth cast iron surface.

The steak is peppered, salted, and ready to cook.

When I place it in the pan, the sound it makes it’s one of my favorite sounds. Maybe not anymore, now that you’ve heard the sweet little moans she makes when you slip your fingers inside her.

Dammit. There is definitely something wrong with me.

I let the steak sear on each side, but keep the center pink and tender.

Then I pull it off the pan and let it rest while I toss the salad together.

Slicing long strips of steak, I plate them with fresh, colorful greens, tomatoes, shredded carrots, and avocado, and finally a sprinkle of blue cheese over the meat.

Done.

I grab a plate for Tania, and I head upstairs to give it to her.

She can have dinner in bed, nice and relaxed.

I’m sure she’s tired after such an emotional day.

I wish she could see it how I do—that she saved two people today.

It’s unfortunate that she couldn’t save three.

But the other two, they got to go home to their families because of her. She saved them.

Her uncle is the one to blame. No one else. And she has been doing everything she can, even putting herself in danger, to make right what he forced her to do in the past.

Her bedroom door is closed, but I ignore that and push it gently open. In a way, I’m hoping to catch her naked, freshly out of the shower, perhaps a little shy that I walked in on her.

But she’s already in bed with the light off.

“Tania,” I say quietly. “Aren’t you hungry? You need to eat, darling.” I lean over the bed and flick her bedside light on. She turns towards me, a tight smile on her face. She looks sad and lost.

“Come on, sit up, I’ve made you some steak and salad.”

She scoots up in the bed, and I wait for her to get comfortable before I put the tray on her lap. “I know you’re tired, but you should eat. At least some of it.”

“This looks amazing,” she says softly. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Mine’s downstairs, I thought you might want some privacy after such a long day.” I would love to sit in here and eat with her, but I don’t trust myself. Even now, I’m looking at her and picturing the things I want to do to her.

“Oh. Okay.” She nods, looking down at her plate.

“Enjoy.” I smile, taking a step back.

“Thank you, Ark,” she says as I step out of her room.

It’s the first time she’s called me Ark instead of using my full name. Somehow, it makes my heart flip. It’s more intimate. I smile widely.

“It’s a pleasure, darling,” I say. “Sleep well, beautiful.”

***

Over the next few days, I do my best to focus on work instead of on her. I want to figure out the next step in my plan against Boris, but even the idea I have involves Tania being in danger again, and I can’t bring myself to accept it. There has to be another way.

It’s late on Friday afternoon when my guards tell me my brothers have arrived at the mansion. It’s not unusual for them to rock up unannounced, but panic bolts through me, because Tania is here.

There’s nothing I can do, though. They were bound to find out at some time; they may as well find out from me, if they happen to see her here.

When I get down to the foyer to say hi to everyone, my stomach immediately knots.

Their faces are sullen and turned down.

“What’s going on? It looks like someone killed your cat?” I say, walking towards them.

Niko, Yulian, and Luka are all glaring at me.

They only pause to glance at each other, then all eyes are back on me.

“Where is she?” Luka asks, his voice low.

“Where is who?” I ask, my throat tight around my words.

“Don’t fucking play games with me, Ark. Where the hell is the Krolik girl?”

“Guys, I can explain—”

“No, you can’t, actually, because we were very clear in every single meeting we’ve had about this exact thing—that we were going to wait. We’ve spoken about it over and over again and told you that the time wasn’t right,” Niko snarls, his eyes piercing daggers into me.

“How did you find out?” I sigh, resigned to the fact that there’s no way out of this. They know. Embrace it.

“Are you serious? Like that’s the main thing to be discussing?” Yulian shouts.

“Our spies caught sight of you dragging her away from a warehouse that was bombed earlier this week. Were you involved in the bombing, too? What the fuck is going on?”

“No, dammit, I’m not going to go bombing people without you guys knowing. What the hell—” I say defensively.

“Why not? You’re fine with kidnapping our enemies against our explicit request not to do so.” I haven’t seen Luka this angry in a long time.

“Come on, man. I did this for our family. And I’m making good plans, getting good information. I even have a bug planted in Boris’s office. I can listen in on all their operation plans—that was because I took the initiative when everyone else was too scared to act.”

Niko’s face is a gridlock of tense muscles. He shakes his head in disappointment. “Arkady, you’ve really pushed it too far this time. You don’t think about the consequences of your actions. You put the entire family at risk. You are reckless and selfish and—”

“Hi.” Her voice is quiet and timid from behind me, but every single one of us turns towards her. My heart sinks. She shouldn’t be involved in this fight. This isn’t her fault, it’s mine.

I groan and close my eyes for a moment, letting out a deep breath. “Tania, go back upstairs. I’ll deal with this.”

“No,” she says calmly.

Luka’s brows are knitted tightly. Luka folds his arms over his chest, and Yulian sneers.

“Tania, please,” I say, turning away from my brothers to try and push her back up the stairs. She stops me with her hand on my chest and steps around me to talk to my brothers.

“I want to help. Everything my uncle has done to me, my whole life, I’ve made the wrong choices and let him control me. I don’t want to do that anymore. Whatever your plan is to take him down—I want to help. I can help. You need me,” she says with more confidence than I’ve ever seen in her before.

But watching her now, watching her volunteer to put her life at risk for my plans, I hate it. Every cell in my body screams no. I refuse to let her take this on. She’s been through enough, and she’s done enough to redeem herself.

“This isn’t your fight, Tania. We can handle this without you being at risk,” I argue.

“If she wants to help, isn’t that the point of this?” Luka throws his hands in the air. I stare at my brother, not knowing how to explain to him what’s going on with me.

“She—she shouldn’t have to. Her uncle—she’s been through enough, and she already helped me so much,” I stammer, pleading with my eyes, needing him to understand.

Something in my expression must catch his attention.

He presses his lips together and sighs.

Tania, on the other hand, is determined not to back down.

“My uncle killed one of my co-workers with a bomb this week. It would have been three dead if we weren’t there to ruin his plan.

I can’t let that happen again. Whatever your plan is, I’m in.

If I need to be in danger to take my uncle down, I’m in.

I want revenge against him for what he’s done to everyone around him.

Please. Don’t push me out of this,” she says, no longer talking to me, but rather pleading with my brothers.

“If the girl wants to help, let her,” Yulian says, his eyes dark as he glares at her, as though she is the enemy.

I step close to her, blocking Yulian’s glare. “We can discuss this,” I say, trying to end the conversation.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Tania says.

In frustration, I grab her arm and pull her away from my brothers.

With my voice low, I whisper in harsh tones, “Tania, you don’t know what you’re offering.

They will use you. You’ll be in danger. I don’t want this.

I want to protect you from your uncle…” I pause, saying too much, giving away what I’m feeling.

“I’ve done perfectly fine so far, Ark. And you’ve put me in danger before, so why would that suddenly be a problem now? Stop trying to control me like my uncle does. I have a choice here and I’m choosing to help.”

My heart sinks. Her comparing me to her uncle hurts.

“Don’t take this away from me, Arkady.”

I don’t want to control her. I want to keep her safe.

“Fine,” I sigh heavily.

“Ark, we need to go,” Luka huffs. “We just came to confront you about—this.” He gestures towards Tania.

“She’s going to help, man,” I say with regret.

“Good. But all operations are planned together from now on. No more lone cowboy bullshit, do you hear me? I’m sick and tired of your reckless shit.”

“Yeah, man, I hear you,” I huff.

“Dinner tomorrow at Niko’s. Seven. Don’t be late. You’re always fucking late,” Luka snaps, then turns to walk out. Niko tilts his head towards Tania and me.

“See you tomorrow,” he says.

Yulian says nothing and follows my other brothers out.