Page 3 of Pregnant Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #17)

In the car, she’s sitting quietly, not looking at me, her face turned towards the blacked-out windows. Her entire body is stiff. Tense.

Why isn’t she fighting? I thought she was going to be a lot more difficult to take.

She hardly put up any fight at all, actually. It was too easy to take her. I expected a bit of self-defense, maybe a few kicks or punches, or her trying to scream.

I guess shock does strange things to people. Some people go wild—others go silent and numb.

I tear my eyes away from her subdued expression.

It’s bothering me. I wish she’d scream or shout at me instead.

We’re almost home.

I need to be alert, not worrying about why she’s too quiet.

The guards are already on high alert when we arrive at the mansion. Perfect. Everyone is ready.

Maverick parks right outside the steps leading to my front door.

The engine switches off, and I narrow my eyes towards her.

“Don’t try anything, darling,” I warn her.

She doesn’t say a word.

When I climb out, I hold the door for her, but she doesn’t move. Reaching into the car, I grab her arm and pull her out.

She huffs, but still doesn’t fight me.

I guide her from the van toward the stairs.

“You okay from here, sir?” Maverick asks, standing alongside the car.

“Yes, thanks. I’ll be in touch. We’ve got everything covered.” I gesture around the property at the guards patrolling outside.

He nods and climbs back into the car, starting the engine again.

I don’t wait for him to drive away; I focus on her and on getting her inside. She walks quietly with me towards the front door.

She says nothing and waits quietly while I press my thumb against the keypad. I’ve got her gripped tightly in my hand in case she tries to make a run for it, but she isn’t moving.

I push her into the mansion and lock the door behind me.

Inside, there is no reason to keep her bound. She has nowhere to go. She’ll never make it past the guards outside. I pull her close to me and remove the cuffs.

“Tania, I want to make a few things clear,” I say, my eyes locked onto hers.

Her bright brown eyes watch me in silence. There is so much locked away in her stare.

“You are about to help me exact revenge against your uncle for what he did to my family. And to your friend, Rose. You will do everything I tell you to do. You will not argue, fight back, or try to escape. I expect you to do nothing that makes my life harder.”

She continues to stare at me, her eyes haunted, something I can’t read in her expression.

The empty sadness in those beautiful brown eyes tugs at my heart, and I narrow my gaze towards her.

“Answer me, Tania,” I say, commanding a response.

She nods. “I understand,” she says, almost a whisper.

“If you try to fuck me over there will be consequences. I will make sure you suffer.”

I’m waiting for her to bite back at me. With words. Lashing out. Anything.

She nods again. “I said I understand.” Defeat. That’s all I hear in her voice.

My heart tugs again.

Why does she look so numb, so lost?

Why does that expression resonate with me? It’s like I recognize the distance in her eyes. As though she doesn’t know where she belongs in this world. I shake the thought away.

She must be acting. This is a pretense to distract me from some escape plan she’s cooking up.

I clench my jaw and look away.

Her eyes are gorgeous. Mesmerizing, but terribly sad.

A knock at the door pulls me back into my own thoughts.

Focus on the plan.

In a couple of long strides, I reach the door to open it, and the officiator and his assistant step inside my home.

“Good evening, Ark.” He nods. “Your security guards let us in. I hope—”

“Evening, Tony. Is everything ready?” I say, getting straight to the point.

“Yes. I’ve asked my assistant to join so that he can sign as a witness.”

“Excellent.”

There was no point in delaying the marriage arrangements, so I messaged them to be here as soon as I left my place in town to get her.

I glance at Tania. She’s watching everything in a calm, quiet manner. Her body looks tense, though, and her hands are knotted in front of her.

“Let’s go to the living room,” I say to Tony, and with my hand pressed against Tania’s lower back, I guide her to walk with me.

Tony pulls some paperwork out of a briefcase and sets it aside. He talks quietly to his assistant for a moment, then nods. “We’re ready when you are.”

Tania has stepped away from me, standing with her hands resting on the back of the sofa. I gesture for her to stand at my side. Her brows flicker in agitation, just for a second, before she walks towards me again.

I wrap my arm around her waist and hold her close so she can’t leave. She’s stiff against me.

The officiator starts going through the motions of marrying us, and when he does, I expect her to be stunned, but she’s not. She just stands there, as though she’s given up on everything.

It has to be shock. Any moment now, she’ll snap out of it and start fighting me. I’ve never met a single person who would just let things happen to them—it has to be shock.

“Do you, Arkady Andreev, take this woman, Tania Krolik, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

I glance at her. “I do.” She’s beautiful.

He continues. “Do you, Tania Krolik, take this man, Arkady Andreev, to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

She presses her lips together. Then blurts out, “This doesn’t mean anything if—”

“Just answer with yes, Tania,” I growl at her, pressing my fingers into her side.

She rolls her eyes. The first sign of any real disagreement towards me.

“I do,” she huffs.

“Good, then I now pronounce you man and wife.”

She sucks her cheeks in and throws me an angry glare. Mm. There she is. The feisty side of her is finally showing.

Tony picks up the folder of documents he’s prepared and lifts them to show me. “You’ll need to look over these documents, and each of you has to sign, then the witness and I will sign.” He walks over to my dining room table and slides two pieces of paper out of the brown folder.

He sets a fountain pen down on top of it on the table and points to where the signatures are required.

“Here?” I ask, tapping the pen against the paper.

“Yes, both copies. Everything else has already been completed.”

I scribble my signature over the blank spaces and turn to hand the pen to Tania.

“I’m not signing anything,” she snaps.

“Excuse me?” I snarl at her. “Did I not make myself clear earlier?”

She shakes her head. “I won’t sign.”

Anger boils quickly inside me. I grab her arm and tug her close to me. “I was clear, Tania. If you don’t do as you’re told, I will make you suffer.”

“You can’t possibly make me suffer any more than I already am.” Her voice is shaking with emotion.

She tilts her chin up towards me and glares at me in defiance.

Her eyes are fierce, almost yellow-gold. I grab her jaw in my hand and force her to keep looking at me.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I warn her, my pulse beating faster as she presses against me. Her lips are perfectly shaped like a Cupid’s bow.

“Like I said. You can’t hurt me anymore,” she says coldly.

I snort with laughter.

“Maybe not you….”

I drag her towards the table, to another folder lying on the surface.

Pulling it open, I brush my hand over the stack of photographs sitting inside it, spreading them out so she can see each face staring back at her.

Every single photo is a picture of someone in her family—people who aren’t involved in the mafia, people who are innocent and have nothing to do with bratva.

These are people she loves, whom she talks to regularly.

“Do you recognize anyone?” I smirk.

“Wha—what—?” she stammers, caught off guard.

I point to the photo of a young girl with short dark hair.

“Belina—she lives two cities over, doesn’t she? With her mom and her cat. And here, Uncle Ivan, he lives alone, but his kids visit him every day—”

“What are you doing?” she shouts angrily. “What have they got to do with any of this?” Her voice is getting louder as anger and fear flood into her.

Finally.

Finally, some kind of real reaction.

“I’m letting you know what is going to happen if you don’t play along, darling.”

“Please, leave my family alone,” she pleads.

“I can’t do that, sweetheart. If you don’t do as you’re told, I will go after them. One by one, I will take them down. I will make them suffer—and it will be all your fault.” I tilt my head to the side as I watch her expression change as she absorbs the consequences I’ve presented.

My heart clenches tightly in my chest as I see tears glittering in her eyes.

She pouts, pressing her lips together while she tries to fight against them. But she loses, and they spill down her cheeks. Instincts take over, and I lift my hand, brushing my thumb over her smooth, creamy skin. “Don’t cry, darling. Just do as you’re told, and they will be safe.”

She licks her lips, and my cock stirs.

Fuck.

What is happening?

I step away from her and huff in annoyance.

“Sign the papers, Tania. Before I lose my patience.”

She steps forward, picking up the fountain pen, which looks elegant in her delicate hand, and she carefully scrawls a beautiful, feminine signature across the blank spaces above her name on each page. She drops the pen in anger, ink splattering from the nib onto the crisp white paper.

“Good, good. We’ll sign too and then get out of your way.” The officiator and his assistant quickly scribble their signatures, and everything is done. As easy as that.

“I’ll make certified copies and have them sent to your lawyer,” Tony nods.

“Thanks,” I say to him and his assistant as I walk them towards the front door.

This went smoothly.

She now understands how I plan to keep her in line, and I doubt I’ll have any more issues from her—even though there have been hardly any at all.

As the front door closes, I turn back towards Tania.

She’s standing with her arms wrapped around her chest as if needing to comfort herself. She looks lost, frozen. For some reason, I want to comfort her, going against everything that I should feel towards her.

It doesn’t matter that she’s innocent in this, Ark. Do your job. For your family. Remember the plan and the goal. Her remorse means nothing.

This isn’t even about her. It’s about Boris.

There is one more thing I need her to do for me before we can call it a night.

She isn’t going to like it, but she knows what will happen if she fights me.

Her uncle is expecting her to arrive home at some point this evening, and I need her to make up some excuse for why she won’t be there.

I need her to buy me some time. Her phone is still in my pocket, so I pull it out and walk towards where she’s standing next to the dining room table. I drop it onto the table.

“You have to make a call,” I say sternly.

She stares from the phone to me.

Her jaw is clenched as she burns hatred towards me with her eyes. Those beautiful eyes. I grin, unable to stop myself. Damn. She’s fucking sexy. The fiercer she looks, the more I want to teach her a few lessons about disobeying me.

I chuckle at my own thoughts. No, Ark. None of that.

We don’t mix business with pleasure. Besides, I’m only into playing with gorgeous little minxes when they want to play, too.

She does not look like she wants to play.

She looks like she wants to rip my face off.

Her moodiness reminds me of me in a way.

Ignoring her death stare, I step close to her and brush my hand over her cheek, gently tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

“You need to make a call, Tania,” I say it tenderly this time, my voice softer, deeper.

“To whom?” she snaps, turning her face away from my touch.

I drop my hand, the corner of my lip curving upward.

“To your uncle, of course. We can’t have Boris worrying about you. You’re going to tell him you’re staying somewhere for the rest of the week. It’ll buy me some time.”

She pulls her mouth tight, but there is a flicker in her eyes.

“No,” she says coldly.

“Actually, yes,” I say, even colder. Has she already forgotten the warning I gave her?