Page 16 of Pregnant Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #17)

It’s been two days since Arkady and I slept together. I can’t believe it finally happened—and I can’t stop thinking about it.

It was incredible. His hands set me on fire, his movements, his body, wrapped in that gorgeous tattoo that shifts over his muscular form.

I can’t stop picturing him moving over me.

And it’s driving me crazy.

I want him again, but I’m too shy to say anything.

I don’t know what is going on with us, but I’m pretty sure it was just a bit of fun for him. As it should be for me too.

My heart seems to have other ideas, though. It’s tricking me into thinking that this is the life I deserve. To be with him—to be with his family. To have people who care about me.

But that’s not real, is it?

None of this is.

Ark gave me my phone back because my uncle kept checking in to see how my holiday was going and when I’d be back. He doesn’t care if I’m enjoying myself or not—he clearly just needs me back at work.

I take Ark giving me my phone as a huge sign of trust, which I’m really grateful for.

He doesn’t realize that the last thing I want on this earth is to go back to living under my uncle’s rule.

I want to stay with him. Even though I have my own little apartment in the city, my uncle constantly controls everything in my life, and I don’t have freedom.

I hate it. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.

I can’t expect Arkady to let me stay here, though. I can’t ask that of him.

It’s a silly daydream. That’s all.

My phone buzzes, and my uncle's name splashes across my screen.

I groan, and I swipe down to read the message.

Uncle Boris: Tania, you said you’d be back tomorrow, and I need to see you as soon as you arrive. This is important.

Me: I can see you tomorrow. Is one okay, just after lunch?

Uncle Boris: Yes, fine. Meet me on Seventh Street at the coffee shop. I won’t be in the office.

Me: I’ll be there.

My stomach knots uncomfortably. The idea of seeing him makes me want to throw up. How can I sit face-to-face with my uncle after everything that’s happened between Ark and me?

My entire life has changed so drastically, yet I have to go in front of my uncle and pretend I’m the same person he’s always known.

I’m not. I’ve changed. Even if it’s subtle, it’s there.

A new, stronger version of me. I’m suddenly someone who has been happier in the past month than I’ve ever been in my life.

It’s strange how happiness makes you strong and healthy.

I honestly feel good. Even the weight of my guilt has become less of a burden.

It doesn’t take away my responsibility to help people in order to make my past right, though.

I can’t fix it or change it. But I can do some good to make the future better for so many people, including myself.

I will help the Andreevs take my uncle down—no matter how terrifying it is for me.

***

At dinner that night, I slide my phone over to Arkady, and he immediately knows to read my uncle's latest texts.

He sits quietly for a moment, chewing his food, the phone in his hand.

“I wonder what he wants to meet about,” he says, handing my phone back to me.

“I’m nervous.” I smile tightly.

“Don’t be, you have nothing to be worried about. He still believes this whole vacation thing happened, so in his eyes, you are still the same you who was working in his office.”

I nod, not feeling the same confidence he is.

He senses my tension and reaches across the table to take my hand. “I promise you it’s going to be okay.”

“I think I have to start going back to my apartment, though. My uncle might have men watching it—if I don’t come home as he expects me to, it will cause problems.”

“Okay, yes, I suppose that is true. So, I guess tonight will be your last night here, then. I would have made something more special for dinner if I had known.” He chuckles.

I grin at him, tilting my head to the side. “Oh—celebrating me getting out of your hair, hey?”

He runs his hand over his head, rubbing his close-cropped hair. “Not much hair for you to get out of, though.” He shrugs, his eyes glittering.

We both fall quiet, and I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking. And what he really thinks of me.

***

The next day, Arkady goes to work at one of his warehouses, and I head to Seventh Street to meet my uncle. I’m in a pair of jeans and a hoodie, not ready to go back to work yet, having apparently just landed this morning from a flight home.

Outside the coffee shop, I have to pause and pull myself together. I’m so anxious about seeing this man; it’s making me panic, and I can’t go in there and face him like that. I have to appear calm and normal.

Well, what I used to think was normal but apparently isn’t at all.

I step towards the door, forcing a smile onto my face when I spot Uncle Boris. He waves at me, not smiling back.

“Come on, hurry up,” he grumbles as I sit down. He doesn’t bother asking me anything about my trip or how I’m feeling.

“You shouldn’t have gone away for so long. I’ve needed you here for important things,” he complains.

“I’m sorry, I really needed a break.”

“Well, you’re not going on any more vacations again anytime soon. Listen, I have something you need to do for me. While you were relaxing on a beach doing fuck all, my business plans have been stifled. I am pretty sure it was those fucking Andreev brothers. They are an endless thorn in my side.”

“What happened?” I ask.

He huffs. “They ruined some plans of mine. I had a nice delivery set to go to one of my rivals. And they somehow intercepted. I’m not fully sure it was them, but I have a hunch and my hunches are usually right.”

The waitress arrives at our table and smiles at me. “Can I get you something?” she asks. My uncle already has a coffee in front of him.

He grunts angrily. “She doesn’t want anything, go away.”

I close my mouth. I guess I won’t order a coffee, then.

“What do you want me to do, Uncle Boris?” I ask, trying to hide my annoyance. The way he’s treating me—I can’t believe I never saw how bad it was before.

“We’ve selected one of the Andreev brothers, and you are going to lure him close to you and seduce information from him,” he says, sipping his coffee.

My heart somersaults.

“Which one?”

“What the fuck does it matter?” he snorts, annoyed. “You are going to get close to this asshole and find out anything you can, you hear me, and you do whatever it takes to trick him into falling for you. I need to know for sure if they are the ones who messed up my delivery.”

I clench my teeth tightly. It sends pain shooting through my jaw.

“I can do that,” I say anxiously. “But you’ll need to let me know if there is one brother in particular or if I can—”

“His name is Yulian, he’s the brother who manages the security team. The other brothers are all involved in different sectors of the business, but I reckon if any of them would know it would be Yulian.”

“Yulian,” I whisper.

“Yes, are you deaf?” he blurts out loudly, causing a few of the other customers in the coffee shop to turn and look at me with pity in their eyes.

I lift my chin, determined not to look weak.

“Alright. I can do that. How though? Do you have a plan?”

“Yes. There is a party tomorrow night. The Andreevs will be there, and so will you. I’ll have eyes on you. Don’t fuck this up, girl.”

“Is that everything?” I ask politely.

“Yes, go.” He waves his hand in the air, dismissing me coldly.

I stand up and walk out of the coffee shop, shoving my hands into the pockets of my long coat to hide how much they’re shaking.

Waving down a cab right outside the coffee shop, I climb in the back and tell them to take me to my apartment. The place I haven’t been in over a month. A place that is foreign in my thoughts. I want to go back to Arkady’s to tell him what’s happened and what my uncle wants me to do.

Why couldn’t he have chosen Ark? Why Yulian?

I groan inwardly as the driver stops outside my apartment. I don’t want to get out, but hey, life goes on. My time with Ark is apparently over now.

“Thanks,” I mutter, climbing out of the taxi and standing on the sidewalk outside my building.

“You got this, Tia. You can do this.” I push my shoulders back and walk inside, smiling at the doorman whom I know my uncle pays to keep tabs on when I come and go. The elevator takes me up to the eleventh floor, and I walk down the familiar passage towards my front door.

I punch in the code outside my door, and it clicks open.

My apartment is dark.

The curtains are drawn, and it’s stuffy and unwelcoming. It makes me miserable the moment I step inside.

Immediately, I walk to the windows and tug the curtains open, letting the afternoon sunlight stream in.

I push the windows open and fresh air breezes through, but I forgot to close the door, and it creates a little wind tunnel that makes the door slam.

I jump and scream in fright. Pressing my hand over my heart, I laugh at myself.

“Calm down, Tiam,” I muse.

I take a walk around my apartment and note that nothing has moved or changed. No one was here since I left. The flowers I had in the vase in the kitchen are dead. I lift them out of the stale water and throw them in the bin.

I start cleaning up the rest of the apartment, trying to freshen it up, and also trying to procrastinate and distract myself.

I need to call Ark, but I’m nervous and still wound up after seeing Uncle Boris.

I have no choice, though. He needs to know what’s going on.

It’s early evening when I end up sitting on my sofa with my phone in my hand.

I dial his number and hold the phone to my ear.

“Ark,” I say when he answers. “It’s me.”

“Hi, darling.” His deep voice makes me smile.

“Hi.”

“How has your day been going?”

My smile widens. He didn’t need to ask that. My uncle didn’t even ask me that.

“It’s okay. I’m in my apartment now. Feels so weird to be back here. Empty and cold…” My words trail off.

“Mm. You’re just missing the mansion, aren’t you? All this space and sunshine. And my amazing cooking.”

I giggle. “Yes.”

“How did the meeting with your uncle go?” he asks.

“It was okay. The usual. But he’s asked me to do something for him. He wants me to, um, seduce your brother to get close to him and get information out of him.”

“Mm.” It sounds more like a growl than anything else.

“Any particular brother?” he asks, his voice low.

“Yulian, because he is the one who runs the security team, apparently?”

“He is,” Ark says.

“So, there is a party tomorrow night and my uncle said that you would all be there, so I’m going too. I’m supposed to do it there.”

“I wasn’t going to go, but I’ll make sure I’m there. I’ll phone Yulian and the guys and tell them the plan to make sure he knows to go along with it.”

Relief washes through me, but also disappointment. I almost wanted him to be a little jealous that he wasn’t the one I was supposed to hit on.

“I’ll see everyone tomorrow then.”

“Going already?” he asks.

“I thought maybe you had to get back to work.”

“Actually, I’m standing in the kitchen, wondering what to make for dinner. What are you having?”

Ark and I end up talking for an hour before I hang up.

After hearing his voice, my sadness at being back home is easier to handle, and I stand up, heading towards the shower to get ready for bed. I need an early night.

***

I’m wearing one of my short glittering dresses, the type I am expected to wear when my uncle sends me out to lure men into traps they can’t escape. Except tonight, I’m here to lure Yulian, and he’s waiting for me.

I notice him standing by the bar, talking to Arkady. When my eyes lock with Ark’s, I am instantly smiling and quickly have to force myself to stop. My uncle’s men could be anywhere.

Ark makes a point of walking away from Yulian, leaving him alone and ready for me to make a move on.

I walk up to the bar and stand next to him, pretending to order a drink. I turn towards him and ask him if he’s here alone.

It feels so weird and so wrong to be flirting with him, but Yulian suddenly isn’t Yulian anymore. He’s a gorgeous, tall, dark-haired man with a charming smile and eyes only for me.

He ‘falls’ for me hook, line, and sinker, and in no time at all, we are dancing together, my back against his chest and his hand across my stomach. He brushes his hands over the front of my body and kisses my neck.

To anyone watching, we are clearly hot for each other.

We talk and dance for two hours. I can feel Arkady watching us, but when I glance in his direction, his face is blank, void of emotion.

Yulian whispers in my ear as he pulls me close on the dance floor, “Shall we sneak away and make it look like we’re off having fun?”

“Yes, I think now is a good time.” I nod, smiling up at him.

He takes my hand and walks ahead of me, leading me away from the crowds to a private area behind the pool house.

I take a deep breath, out of sight, able to let go of the pretense.

Arkady steps around the pool house, and both Yulian and I jump. “Fuck’s sake, man. Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Yulian chuckles.

“You guys are doing an excellent job. Very convincing,” he says, eyeing us both.

“Thanks. I thought so, too,” Yulian grins.

“Mm,” Ark huffs, sounding agitated.

“What’s your problem?” Yulian asks.

“Nothing,” Arkady snaps. “Just tense—because of Boris, that’s all.”

“Yeah, man. But at least we are one step ahead of him this time.”

Ark nods, but his eyes are on me.

“I need to take a leak.” Yulian huffs.

“Go in the trees there, don’t go back to the party. You guys are supposed to be sneaking away,” Ark says, pointing to the back of the garden.

Yulian disappears into the darkness, and Ark takes a bold step towards me. “Are you doing okay?” he asks, pushing my back against the wall. My heart races in ways it never did when Yulian was touching me on the dance floor.

Ark hovers his lips above mine, and I tilt my face towards him.