Page 75 of The Pakhan's Arranged Bride

“You belong to me, Ulyana. I’ve made that clear already. We have a past and a future. And theonlyreason you marriedthat asshole was to get to Las Vegas to find a way to be with me,” he says, smirking.

He leans forward to kiss me, and I scream.

Suddenly, he’s pulled away from me and he grunts in fright. There’s shouting and a fight and men wrestling on the ground. Miron scoots backwards, then jumps to his feet and starts running.

The fear that was holding me snaps, releasing me, and I push off the wall, turning blindly, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“Jadon, take the car, follow him,” Benedikt shouts, pointing after Miron.

I blink, shocked, wondering how Benedikt came to my rescue again. I leap forward ,into his arms, wrapping myself tightly against him as tears roll down my cheeks.

Our baby is safe.

Our baby is safe.

It’s all I can think.

Chapter 21 - Benedikt

Ulyana leans close to me as we walk towards where she parked her car near the mall.

My body is tense with anger, after seeing Miron trying to force himself on her life that. The fact that he dared to touch my wife—I want to kill him. But choosing between chasing him down and taking care of Ulyana was easy.

She is my priority. She is my wife, she is the mother of my baby.

I wrap my arm tighter around her, leaning over to whisper against her hair. “It’s going to be okay.”

I don’t know if it’s going to be okay, because I don’t know what’s going on.

She hasn’t said anything, and I have a hundred questions spinning through my mind.

No, that’s not true. I haveonequestion to ask her.

Did you come to Las Vegas to be closer to Miron?

I heard what he said to her, talking about their past, and how she only came here for him. If that’s true—I can’t even fathom what it would mean. How it would change things.

I want to ask her, but now isn’t the time. She’s in shock, flooded with fear again. She’s got her hand pressed protectively over her belly, and I can see she’s stressed out. How could anyone blame her? He was being forceful and arrogant—she was in danger.

But I can’t get his words out of my head.

What did he mean?

It’s even more obvious now that there was something personal going on between them and that her hatred for him is not only because of his relationship with her brother.

She’s hiding something.

Yes, he wanted to kill Nestor—but there’s more to it.

Something that involvesher. Something that maybe Nestor didn’t even know about—surely, he would have told me.

We walk through the mall parking lot and reach her car. She dips her hand into her purse and passes me the keys.

I tug the passenger door open for her and she climbs inside, quiet, subdued. She’s withdrawn into herself again. I can’t read her expression or her body language.

Once I’m in the driver’s side, I turn towards her, my eyes tracing over her perfect profile, those beautiful lips and her long dark lashes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

She shakes her head. “No,” she says softly. When she turns to look at me her eyes are glittering with tears. “How did you know I needed help?”