Page 23 of The Pakhan’s Arranged Bride (West Coast Bratva Pakhans #2)

Over the week following our last sighting of Miron, and Ulyana’s finally telling me the truth about everything, we haven’t managed to find him again. That asshole has slipped through the cracks.

Ulyana is getting more and more frustrated with me because I don’t want her to go out alone.

“Where are my car keys?” Ulyana asks, confused when she finds they aren’t where they always are.

“It better if you stay home,” I say, avoiding telling her that I’ve locked them away, wanting her to stay home where I can keep her safe.

“I don’t want to stay home, Ben. I’m going crazy being cooped up in here. I need to get out a bit.”

“It’s not safe,” I insist, turning to walk away from her. This conversation is over. Miron is still out there somewhere and she wants to go driving around Vegas and risking his capturing her.

I won’t take that risk.

Besides, I’m wondering if half of her frustration is because we haven’t found him yet and she wants to take matters into her own hands again, take him down on her own. That’s a stupid idea. I’ve already told her I’ll help, but she’s impatient.

I don’t think she realizes just how dangerous it was for her to go after him alone in the first place.

“I’ll be perfectly fine,” she huffs. “It’s just to my hair appointment and back. It’s in the middle of a busy part of town and there will be people everywhere.”

I clench my jaw, narrowing my eyes at her. “ Just the hairdresser?” I ask, challenging her.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asks abruptly, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at me.

“You can’t go,” I say, shaking my head. How can I keep her safe if she won’t let me.

“Benedikt,” she snaps my name angrily. “I am not your prisoner.”

“No, but you are my wife, and you will obey me.” Can’t she see it’s for her own good? I promised I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, but she’s making it impossible.

“Obey you? Is that a joke?” she says in disbelief, anger flaring in his eyes.

“Yes, Ulyana, how do you expect me to stay in control of everything going on if you don’t do as I say,” I snap again, with more command in my voice as I stare down at her.

She shakes her head, furious at me, but she gives up fighting me on the matter and turns to storm away, throwing her house keys at the wall.

I sigh in frustration. She doesn’t get it. I’m only trying to keep her safe, but she won’t let me.

I’m so worried about her. I’m convinced she wants to take him down independently. I’m convinced there is no hair appointment in town and she actually has something else up her sleeve. Something that involves Miron. It terrifies me to think of her putting herself in that position.

She’s been chasing him alone for such a long time now—?why would she be willing to work with me and trust me to help her?

Her obsession wouldn’t just disappear.

I wish I could trust her to listen to me. But I can’t. People do stupid things when they want revenge. And she lied to me for such a long time about this. Who’s to say she isn’t carrying on with the lies and manipulating me into believing she’s willing to let me handle the bulk of it?

Ulyana storms up to our room, slamming the door, blocking me out. It’s fine. At least I know where she is.

I’m down in the kitchen, taking my aggression out on a slice of toast as I butter it to hard and turn it into a broken pile of crumbs, when Jadon walks in.

He looks at what’s left of the crushed toast.

I shake my head and thrown my hands in the air in exasperation.

“Fuck man, I can’t even make the toast right,” I snap.

He leans over the counter and pulls two slices of bread from the bakery bag and slides them into the toaster, ignoring my outburst. He pushes the toaster down and sits at the kitchen counter.

“You ready to run over the mornings reports?” he asks.

“Sure.” I huff, leaning against the counter to wait for the fresh toast.

“I’ll start with the Miron news,” he says, looking down at his phone.

I go tense at the mention of his name. But it’s the news I most want to hear.

Jadon reads through some reports on his phone and taps his finger against the kitchen counter.

“He was spotted outside a casino this morning, our guys traced him, but lost him.”

“Fuck’s sake,” I grumble. The toast pops up and I jump. My nerves are frayed. My entire goal is to keep Ulyana safe and she’s making it so freaking difficult by not working with me—by probably trying to sneak out on her own.

It’s frustrating as hell.

“I know, not the best news, but we’re working on it.” Jadon shrugs. “Then for the shipment this afternoon, I have paperwork for you to sign.”

He goes over everything on his list. I do my best to listen, but I can’t stop thinking about Ulyana and how she lied in the past and put herself in danger—and that she’ll do it again.

“Jadon, do me a favor, it’s not urgent, but can you please confirm if my wife really did have a hair dresser appointment today?”

“Sir?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “You think she lied to you?” Even he seems surprised by this idea.

“I just want to be sure. It will ease my mind. It’s not like she didn’t already lie in the past.”

I feel sick talking to him about this. I never want to say anything bad about her to anyone. I want to think the best of her, but I can’t shake this fear that she’s hiding more from me.

“Will do,” Jadon says, standing up. He gestures to the toast. “It’s cold now.”

I shrug. “I’m not even hungry anymore.”

Jadon turns to leave the kitchen and Ulyana is standing in the doorway. She is glaring at me with such intensity that I can feel the heat of it from across the kitchen.

Jadon notices as well and makes a very quick escape, leaving me alone with her.

She takes a step towards me, clenching her jaw, his fists knotted at her sides. “You asked him to check if I really have an appointment?”

Her voice is as cold as ice.

Fuck. She heard that.

I fold my arms across my chest. “I’m trying to keep you safe you, Ulyana,” I say sternly.

“By calling me a liar?”

“That’s not what I said. I just don’t want you going out when it’s not completely necessary,” I sigh, pushing my hand through my hair, exhausted by this constant worry.

“And who gave you permission to control my life like that? Who put you in charge of deciding what’s necessary for me and what’s not?”

“It’s not necessary for you to get your hair done,” I huff. Her hair looks amazing, what in the world does she want to do to it anyway?

“Okay, so no hair appointments. What about shopping? No shopping? What about visiting my friends? No? What if I want to go for a walk to the park? Do I have your permission ?” She keeps going, pushing my patience to the limits.

“How about you stay home and don’t go anywhere until Miron is captured and there isn’t any danger?” I blurt out.

“That could be months . And you expect me cower away like a broken thing, hiding from him. I won’t. He’s taken enough from me already.”

“You will , Ulyana. You will stay home, and if you want to go out you will go with me. I already told you. I am your husband. It is my responsibility to keep you safe, and I forbid you from going anywhere without me.”

She presses her lips together, scrunches her nose and lets out a very sharp breath. Without a word, but with her entire body emanating the anger she can’t hide, she turns and storms away from me.

“Don’t walk away from me, Ulyana,” I snap. But she’s gone.

How can she not see that I’m only trying to protect her? Why the hell is she so determined to make it impossible?

Everything I’m doing, even looking into the truth of her appointment, it’s all to keep her safe.

Maybe once it’s all over she’ll see that. She’ll understand.

For now, I’m just going to have to try and explain to her that it’s for the best. I can’t budge on this. I will protect her.

I follow after her, not wanting to leave it like that.

We’ve been bickering non-stop and I hate it.

“Ulyana,” I say gently as I walk into our room.

But in the doorway I freeze, staring in disbelief.

She has an overnight bag open on the bed and she’s busy packing it. She doesn’t look up at me, just continues to pack. Her sweatpants, a pair of jeans, her other sneakers.

“What are you doing?” I demand, anger spiking worse than before.

“I don’t have to stay here,” she blurts out. “You don’t own me, Benedikt. I’m not your possession that you get to lock away in a basement.”

Her words cut into me.

“Are you saying I’m like Miron?” I shout, angry that she would make that reference and compare me to him.

“Well, if the shoe fits. At this point you are treating me like a prisoner, like you get to decide what happens in my life. Maybe that makes you no better than him.”

She’s angry, but she has no right to be cruel. Her words slice into me a blade, causing me to lash out as well.

“At least I didn’t lie to you from the moment we met. Was there a hair appointment or were you going to go meet him? Maybe what you really want is for him to steal you away and make you his wife.”

Even as I say this, I know I’ve gone too far.

“Maybe I do. Maybe he’ll be the lesser evil compared to the asshole of a husband I have now,” she screams, zipping her overnight bag closed, tears streaming over her cheeks.

“If you leave I will drag you back here, I swear,” I growl.

“You don’t get it, Benedikt. I wasn’t lying to you. I was willing to work with you on this. But now you’re trying to cut me out completely. This is my fight far more than it’s yours. You don’t get to push me out of it or lock me up. I have a right to be in this.”

Shit .

She’s right.

If anyone has a right to take Miron down, it’s her. And I was trying to block her out of it, just to keep her safe. But is she telling the truth? Was she willing to work with me?

“Ulyana, wait,” I say as she pushes past me.

“Go to hell, Benedikt. Go ask Jadon to find out if I really had a hair appointment. Hey, why don’t you ask him to call the doctor and find out if I’m really pregnant. Seeing as I’m apparently lying about everything .”

Fuck. I really went too far with what I said.

“Wait,” I say again, trying to grab her arm and pull her back, but she yanks her arm away from me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was only trying to keep you safe, please, let me explain.”

“Don’t you dare touch me after telling me I want to be with Miron, after I shared my fears, my story—you think it’s okay for you to say that to me?” she snaps, her eyes flaring.

I step back and raise my hands, defensive, shocked at how quickly this escalated and got out of hand.

“I should never have said that. I’m sorry.” I mutter.

I didn’t mean what I said.

Fuck. That was horrible.

She ignores my apology and stand helpless as I watch Ulyana walk down the stairs, out of the front door and slam it behind herself.

“Fuck,” I scream loudly, punching the door near me. My fists leaves a hole in the wood. I flex my fingers, shaking my head, ashamed of how I behaved.

Why couldn’t I just trust her?

Why did I have to push for control?

I know why. It’s because I want to keep her safe.

But I’ve done it all wrong. And now I’ve pushed her so far away from me that I don’t have any idea where she’s going.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket I call Jadon and tell him to track her car. I can’t risk following her, it’ll make her even angrier. But I at least have to know where she is, that she’s going somewhere safe.

Fuck. I’ve really fucked this whole thing up.