Page 20 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride

Chapter 6 - Angelika

Two days I’ve been stuck here with him with no end in sight. I want to go home. And I know for a fact that there is more to this stupid ploy than he’s letting on. I’d be perfectly safe with my brothers. They have a whole team of guards, and they could hire more.

Guilt tingles again, pulsing through my thoughts.

What if those men do come looking for me, though? I couldn’t live with myself if they hurt my family.

But this… I look around the safe house and groan miserably. This is far worse than any overprotective bullshit my brothers have done to me in the past. The walls are closing in. This place is too small for two people. Especially two people who hate each other.

Looking around the room I’ve claimed as my own and done my best to make cozy… I bite my lip, lost in thought. I’m desperate to get out of here. I want to get away from Diomid and his intense stares and those bright, sharp eyes. And dammit. I want to get away from the stupid fact that I still think he’s so freaking hot.

It’s midafternoon when I drag myself off the bed, dropping the boring book I can’t seem to focus on down onto the bedside table, and marching downstairs to find Diomid.

I’m over this.

Whatever he’s trying to do by keeping me here—it ends now.

Diomid is downstairs, in a backroom that’s been made into a small gym. He’s shirtless and wearing dark grey sweatpants that leave hardly anything to the imagination.

As I walk in, I forget what I wanted to say or do.

He drops the weights on the ground and turns toward me. Sweat glistens over his tight muscles, freshly worked, flexing across his torso and arms.

“Did you need something?” he asks, amused by my expression.

I snap my mouth closed and drag my eyes off his tanned, perfect skin, away from the tattoo snaking over his hip and rib cage.

“I, um. I need your phone.”

“Is that a fact?” he asks, picking up another weight.No, don’t do that. Oh damn, that’s hot.

Dammit, Angelika, focus.

“I want to call my brother.”

A slight scowl replaces his amused smile.

“For what?”

“To say hello. What? Are you the police now? Well, officer, I want my one phone call,” I huff, folding my arms across my chest and jutting my hip out.

He chuckles.

Diomid walks over to a shelf and picks up his phone. He flicks through it, then places it back on the shelf, the ring tone chiming on speaker phone.

“There you go. Your brother,” he smiles.

So much for a private conversation. Oh well.

“Diomid, how are things going, man?” Jaroslav asks, his voice loud in the small gym room.

I glare at Diomid. He cocks his head to the side and gestures toward the phone.

“Jaro, it’s me,” I say.

“Hi, kiddo. How are you?” he replies cheerfully.

“I’m ok, but I really want to come now. Can I come home?” I ask quietly, turning my back toward Diomid, whose eyes are piercing into me.