Page 44 of The Bratva’s Innocent Sold Bride (Fokin Bratva #9)

Coming home to find her plotting with her father felt like a solid punch straight to the solar plexus, and I reverted to form, blowing up before I knew the whole story.

It only took me a second to see the wine glasses, the snack CJ had prepared.

If this was an escape attempt, it was awfully leisurely.

It took me twenty minutes to get back home after the guards alerted me to who had rocked up to the house shortly after I left, so she could have been gone by then.

The argument was about to get out of control if I didn’t do something to stop it. We’d already said too much. When she asked if I still didn’t trust her, something crumpled in my very soul.

“Get out,” I bellowed at Gordon.

He was already practically curled up in the fetal position in his chair, but he found a way to shrink into the background even further. I was seeing red. Not because of CJ or her father, but because it felt like something I cared about was slipping away from me, out of my grasp.

“Of course I trust you,” I said, too harshly. I lowered my voice, calming the storm raging in my heart, which told me to fight. “Of course I do.”

“Then what’s the problem?” The question came out in a snap, but she also changed her tone. “I was going to tell you everything. About LA, too. I wanted to make sure Dad realized I didn’t need his valiant rescue efforts anymore.”

“You don’t?” I asked.

She huffed, starting to look pissed all over again. “No, I don’t.” She looked hard at me, then at her father. Why the hell was he still here? “I really don’t.”

“I got mad because the thought of you leaving was too much. It felt like I was dying. I can’t give you up.”

“Well, why would you have to?”

She took a step forward at the same time I did, and then she was in my arms, where she belonged. “I love you,” I told her fiercely. “You’re mine.”

“I know,” she said. “To both.”

We laughed as I kissed her, and not even an awkward throat clearing could pull us apart. I murmured that I heard her tell her father to go away when they met in LA. “Was it only because you still thought I’d kill him?” I asked.

“Yeah, about that,” Gordon said from behind us.

“Go!” I shouted. “Or I may reconsider.”

He finally went, calling to CJ that he hoped to see her again soon.

“Will I be able to?” she asked, still in my arms. Where she belonged.

“Listen to Mrs. Fokin actually asking permission for something,” I teased, then kissed her again just because I couldn’t resist her smile. “Any time you want. I got the greatest reward I could have ever asked for when I married you. The debt has been repaid tenfold.”

“Tenfold, eh?” she asked, leaning back and smoothing her palms over my cheeks. “Does that mean you might owe us now?”

“The only us in this equation is you and me,” I said fiercely, running my hands down her sides and around her back to tug her close.

She melted against me, her hands sliding down to my shoulders, her fingers digging in as I tugged on her hair.

God, I loved her hair, so soft, smelling of fresh air and sunshine.

I loved the smooth skin of her neck as I dipped my mouth to kiss her behind her ear.

Loved the quiet giggle as she pressed herself closer to me. I loved CJ, every part of her.

Our mouths met at the same time. Her lips parted, and my tongue swept hers as my hands moved to cup her perfect ass. They moved up her perfect back, smoothing down her perfect sides. “Did I ever tell you I think you’re perfect?” I asked.

She grabbed my head and pulled me down for another kiss, only pulling away after I picked her up and settled her on the couch. She snuggled against me, running her hand down my chest, then really looked at me.

“No new bruises.”

“Not likely to get hit by a man who’s chained to a wall.”

“I wouldn’t put anything past him,” she said, then her eyes widened. “Chained to a wall? Do you actually have a dungeon somewhere in San Jose?”

“A little north of that,” I joked, then grew serious. “I don’t want you to think about such things.”

“I’m not so innocent anymore,” she sighed, then shrugged. “Don’t keep things from me, okay? I can handle it.” And with that, she neatly segued into a request to go back to work. “I can handle that, too,” she said. “If you’re gone all day, what will I do?”

“How can I ever let you out of my sight again?” I asked, only half teasing.

“Retire?”

It was clear she was only teasing, too, knowing I’d only leave the Bratva when I took my last breath. And that wasn’t going to be any time soon. We discussed what we thought we might want to do in the future, raising all sorts of interesting possibilities.

Why not buy a vineyard? Or start an animal shelter of our own? Maybe it was time to branch out into charities. I’d learned from Gordon that they were great tax shelters, and if a little money could be laundered while doing some good in the world, why not?

Soon enough, we were laughing as suggestions got more and more unrealistic.

“Have you ever been up close to a single sheep, let alone an entire herd?” I asked when she threw out the idea of buying a farm in New Zealand. “They stink. Artem could never smell as bad on his worst day rolling in dead squirrels.”

She grew serious after I also shot down the idea of a new, private space station that doubled as a luxury resort with shuttles to the moon. How rich did she think I was? After she was quiet for a long time, I took her hands.

“What is it?” I asked. “You can tell me anything, ask for anything. Maybe not actually the moon.”

She smiled nervously. “Why did you keep it a secret that you were rehabilitating Taurus Ingenuity? It used to be worth close to a billion in its heyday before my dad drove it into the ground.” She laughed ruefully.

“I used to think of that company like an older sibling who was better at everything. There was no competing against it for my father’s attention, but I still tried. ”

“Well, he’ll have plenty of time for you now,” I told her, trying to tease her out of her sudden, somber mood. “When I’m willing to share you, that is.”

She didn’t smile. “But why put in so much money and effort to save it? Wasn’t your original plan to make sure he ended up with nothing?”

“Plans change,” I said with a shrug. “I saw an opportunity and took it. It’s on its way up. Might not ever be at the top of the heap again, but it will turn a hefty profit soon enough. No thanks to Gordon, of course.”

“Are you going to rub it in his face?” she asked, looking uncomfortable. “The fact that he failed and you succeeded?”

“No, there’s no reason to do that. And if there was, I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

She made a face I couldn’t read, and let her shoulders drop. “And it’s yours now, anyway. No one takes what’s yours.”

“CJ, what’s this about? No one’s taking that company from me, just like no one’s taking you.”

“I know,” she said wistfully. “But what if…”

“What if?” I prodded. Why was she suddenly being so tentative?

“What if I wanted you to give my father back the controlling shares? Or is that too much to ask?”

Her bitter tone astounded me, as well as her request. The company had been part of the payment for her father’s debt.

Asking me to give it back stung, as if we weren’t on the same team.

What was next, requesting to go to her former home and pretend none of this had happened?

I couldn’t believe she still didn’t accept how much I loved her.

I turned to her with a look I was sure was much too harsh, and gripped her arms. It was time she learned what was too much to ask.