Page 9 of Taken by the Bratva (Bychkov Bratva #1)
Aria
I’m going to own your body for the next seven days.
God, I want that. So damn badly.
He’s offering me the escape I’ve so desperately been craving, but can I let go and just be with him for a week?
The question is just a thin feathery barrier keeping me from already accepting that I don’t care who he threatened to get me to agree, because I want to spend the week with him regardless of that. And that, right there, is why I need to keep a wall up between us, no matter how fragile it is. I can’t risk my heart getting involved with whatever is about to happen. That would be a nonstarter and a complication I don’t need.
“Let’s go, Aria,”
he whispers in my ear. His warm breath blows over the saliva he left behind and I shiver in his arms.
“That’s what I thought, kukolka.”
“What does that mean?”
I ask, needing to know.
“I told you, I’ll tell you when you’ve earned it.”
He plants a kiss right below my ear and I sigh. It feels too good being in his arms, his strength enveloping me like he’s willing to protect me from everything in this world that dares to touch me.
No.
No, I can’t think like that.
Snapping my eyes open, I wiggle out of his embrace and walk a few paces away. With my back to him, I clear my throat and tell him.
“Sammy should be here soon. I’d like a glass of water while we wait.”
Daniil guides me over to sit on one of the stools at the bar and Rex follows, sitting beside me as Daniil grabs me a bottle of water from one of the fridges. He twists the cap off and places it in front of me.
“Thank you.”
I reach for the bottle, but he doesn’t remove his hand. His face is unreadable, with his eyes once again guarded so there’s no telling what’s going through his mind right now.
After a beat, he lets go, and I quickly swallow a large gulp, letting the cool water flow down my throat and soothe me from the inside.
Pulling out his phone, Daniil makes a call.
“Send down Aleks and B.”
“What are you going to do to Sammy?”
“I told you I wouldn’t kill him. That’s all you need to know.”
“Not killing him isn’t my only concern.”
“Well, that’s all you’ll get from me. He’ll be fine.”
“Do you promise?”
“Do you trust me to hold that promise?”
he counters, and I weigh that question in my head before giving him a single nod.
“Yes, I do. I think you’re a man of your word.”
Daniil looks at me for a long moment, and just when I think he’s about to say something, two men join us.
“Her bodyguard will be here in a few minutes,”
Daniil informs them.
“I need you to wait for him out of sight by the front door and grab him when he gets here. Knock him out if you have to. Then you’re taking him to the Coney Island house.”
“Yes, Pakhan,”
they dutifully say together with a little bow of their heads.
So, he has a place on Coney Island that he takes hostages to? Good to remember for the future…
My phone starts ringing and I go to answer it, but Daniil grabs it first.
“You’ll get this back at the end of the week.”
“Gia is expecting me to check in every day so she knows I’m okay.”
“I know. You’ll get to call her every day.”
“You don’t trust me to keep my word on our deal? I’ll keep it off.”
“No.”
The phone stops ringing and the door to the club opens, bright sunlight spearing the dim lighting of the inside so I can only see Sammy as a shadow as he enters.
“Aria?”
He takes a few steps into the club, and that’s when I hear a mix of scuffling, grunting, and fists connecting with flesh. I sit and stare at the bar top, guilt gnawing at my insides that I’m putting him through this.
“Aria!”
Sammy calls out, and I pinch my eyes closed until it’s finally quiet.
“Jesus, he’s strong,”
one of Daniil’s men mumbles.
“Give me his phone, wallet, and keys.”
They pat Sammy down and toss Daniil his phone and wallet.
“Zip tie his hands and take him out the back door and into the Escalade. You’re responsible for him,”
he tells them, his voice carrying that ring of authority that has my insides melting and ready to do as he tells me again.
“Hide him in the Coney house and I’ll give you further instructions later. If he gets away or is hurt any more than he already is, you’re dead. Understand?”
“Yes, Pakhan,”
they say in unison again, and pick up an unconscious Sammy from the floor and carry him away.
Daniil turns off Sammy’s phone and pockets both it and his wallet before making another call on his own phone.
“Kir, I need you to drive her bodyguard’s car to JFK and leave it in long term parking. I’ll need the suitcases that are in it, though.”
.
“You called the service and Liev?”
.
“Yes, meeting tonight at the house,”
he clips, annoyed.
“Eight. Tell the others.”
Daniil hangs up and rubs the back of his neck with his eyes closed, trying to remain composed. I wonder what he’s like when he completely loses control. No, I think I already know. It involves violence.
Although, I have to wonder what he’d be like when it’s not business he’s losing control over, but me.
I don’t want to think of him with other women, but I have a feeling he’s never allowed himself to let go with anyone before, and like a stupid na?ve girl, I want to think I’m special enough that maybe he will with me.
Being Daniil Bychkov 24/7 can’t be easy, so he may need a week hiding out with me as much as I need a week away from my life.
We can be each other’s escape.