Page 29 of Trapped by the Bratva (The Valkov Bratva #5)

DMITRI

A s soon as we got back to the mansion, I led Hannah to my room. She was quiet, maybe too quiet, but so was I.

I needed a moment or two to process all that had happened.

Her going off without any concern about her safety… Didn’t she realize how important she was to me? It was a grave issue for her to be so relaxed with her security.

Then her willingness to pay off her sister. When would she get it that Melissa didn’t care about her? I had to make her see reason and not let her get in the position to be taken advantage of ever again.

And Avilov. A lingering pang of disappointment bothered me, but it wasn’t so much of an obsession as an afterthought.

It was over.

I wished I could’ve paid him back in kind for what he’d done, but it wouldn’t erase the fact that it had happened.

I glanced at Hannah as I opened the door to my room, curious why she was so skittish now. It had to be a lot for her to accept. She’d witnessed my brother shoot a man dead. She faced off with her sister, realizing—once again—that the bitch had manipulated her.

Hannah wanted to be loved and to belong. To matter. I’d never forget how she’d told me that one day how she figured she didn’t matter. I hated the thought of her feeling so unworthy, and I vowed to remind her that she was from the moment I woke up until the second I fell asleep.

She was giving up her former life to start one with me, and I understood that it would take time. The process of becoming my partner wasn’t a simple shift. And I hoped she would want to stay regardless of all the troubles and danger.

“You can’t do that,” I said, caging her against the closed door.

I’d caught her by surprise, whirling her around and pinning her up like this. The alarm in her eyes turned me on, but the sassy glare she snapped to giving me heated me up like nothing else ever could.

“You’re my woman now,” I growled.

She smirked, tipping her chin up defiantly. There you are. This sass, this fire, was more like the Hannah I knew. It was far better than her looking worried and anxious, confused and bewildered. She’d had a shock to her system, but she wasn’t trapped in it.

“That means you always have a guard when I’m not with you.”

“Oh.” She huffed. “I’m your woman now, huh?”

I licked my lips, fighting the urge to silence her with a punishing kiss. I wasn’t sure if it was healthy, but this push-and-pull drove me wild.

“Yes.” I leaned in closer, teasing her with my mouth a breath away from hers.

I felt triumphant when she whined and reached out to me but thought twice.

This tension and waiting game got under her skin just as much as it did mine.

I loved that she didn’t cave or give in too easily.

I liked the challenge she offered me. She kept me on my toes, and I enjoyed it.

“Will you be?” I asked. I lowered my voice and infused as much genuine sincerity into my question as I could.

I hadn’t actually asked her. She showed me her consent and interest with her actions, but this moment felt different.

Deeper. I wanted to hear her admit it directly. “Will you be my woman, Hannah?”

She gazed at me with such wide-open vulnerability that I swore she held my heart in her hands.

“For good,” I added, even though it felt silly to say that. It was implied, wasn’t it?

“Is this some sort of Mafia speak that substitutes as a proposal?”

I frowned, worried that she hadn’t given me an instant yes. But I wasn’t bothered. I understood why she’d hesitate. She still had so many walls up, guarded by nature because of the life she’d had before she met me.

“Hannah, what I’m suggesting isn’t anything like what you’ve ever known before.

You faced a shitty life. Your sister used you, expected you to give and give and give.

” I cupped her face and leaned my brow against hers while I stroked my thumb over her cheek.

“I will not do that. My family will never abuse you like that. You were hired to help me, but this isn’t a circumstance of mixing business with pleasure.

This isn’t a loophole for my sisters-in-law to count on convenient and unlimited babysitting.

You will be mine , Darling. Only mine. But you will have all of us to belong to.

You will always have our help and support. ”

I kissed her softly, charged with so much arousal and heart-felt nerves at baring my soul like this for her.

“Don’t you want that?”

She smiled slightly. “I just want you . Period. Full stop. I want you, Dmitri. I love you.”

I crushed my mouth to hers and swallowed her moans. Fuck, yes. “I love you so goddamn much, Darling,” I growled between kisses.

She secured her hands in my hair, tightening her fingers and keeping me close as she kissed me back with all the longing she’d likely bottled up for too long. I’d felt it. Our connection had been a tense mess of attraction that we’d both tried to resist.

“It’s a done deal,” I said as I pulled her to walk back toward the bed with me. “I’ll marry you.”

Her short, quick laughter was the sweetest and sexiest music to my ears. “Oh, you will? You don’t ask?”

“I did.”

“You asked me to be your woman,” she argued as I sat on the bed. She dug in, standing and protesting my pulls on her hands to bring her down on the mattress with me.

“I didn’t know if that meant your girlfriend or what.”

“Be my wife.” I squeezed her fingers. “Please?”

She nodded, but she seemed more on edge, biting her lip.

Was she still struggling with all the action from before? Was she shell-shocked and trying to hide it?

“Darling?” I raised my brows. “Why do you seem so nervous?”

She worried me even more when she lifted her hands and covered her face. “I’m scared.”

I tugged her down to sit on my lap, clenching my teeth through the pain of moving my shoulder like that. Hugging her close, I smoothed my hand over her back. She wasn’t crying, but she was hiding her face.

“That’s why you will always have security. You never leave the house without a guard, and I will not let you get near any danger ever again.”

She dropped her hands and grimaced at me. “That’s not it.”

Bullshit. Seeing someone shot dead had to impact her, but I didn’t think she was lying. “Then explain it to me. Why are you acting so nervous?”

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “I think I might be pregnant.” She finished it with a deeper wince, squinting at me.

Pregnant? I raised my brows. I hadn’t been expecting that . But I should have been. We hadn’t used protection.

A sharp, incredulous laugh burst from me. “Seriously?”

Whining a bit, she nodded, almost sheepish.

I chuckled. “That’s why you’re acting so weird?”

She swatted my chest. “I’m not acting weird . Having a baby is a big deal.”

I let her off my lap as she retrieved her purse on the table by the door. “I know it’s a big deal,” I said as she walked back with a slim box in her hand.

“On the way to deal with my sister, I stopped and bought this.”

“So you don’t know if you are?” I asked.

She shrugged. “My intuition is usually pretty accurate. I’m late. Really late, and I never am.”

“What are you waiting for?” I asked and stood.

She watched me carefully. “You’re not… mad?”

I smiled and chuckled again. “Does it look like I’m mad?”

“No, but?—”

I took her hand and led her to the bathroom. “And you’re not even sure if you are.”

“I just said I was pretty sure.”

“Then why didn’t you say something before?” I didn’t know much about “womanly intuition” to be able to argue the point.

“I wanted to know for sure.”

I gestured for her to proceed. I sat on the vanity bench in the open space of the bathroom, and she glanced at the door to where the toilet was.

Before she went to take the test, I grabbed her hand, pulled her back to me, and kissed her hard.

“Go on.” I smacked her ass lightly, excited with this news. With this prospective news.

She went and came back within a few minutes. While she washed her hands, I stared at the little stick in a case on the counter.

“How long does it take to process?” I asked.

She wiped her hands dry and furrowed her brow at me. “A couple more minutes.”

I patted my lap, and she came to sit with me.

“You’re not mad?—”

I kissed her quiet, tired of her doubt. “Once again. Do I look mad?”

“No. But you said you wanted to wait to have a family.”

“Then maybe I should’ve used protection, huh?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, deadpan.

“I’m not mocking the situation. I knew that I could knock you up every time we fucked.” I emphasized the point by running my hand down over her mound and rubbing slightly.

“Then why didn’t you?” she asked.

I kissed her deeply, too needy for her sweetness. “Because I didn’t care if I knocked you up. It would’ve been fate.” I grinned at her, amazed that she would be mine. “When I found out you were a virgin, it got stuck in my head. That I was your first.”

She hummed, nuzzling closer to kiss along my jaw. “My last, too.”

“I love the sound of that.”

“I love you .”

I growled with satisfaction, squeezing her ass. “I love you, too.”

We kissed some more, bypassing that two-minute mark for the test, but we were too busy to stop.

“Will you love our child?” she asked, shy and quiet.

“All of them,” I promised.

“ All of them!” She laughed. “Just how many are you thinking of having?”

“As many as you’ll give me.” I prompted her to get up so we could look at the test.

“That’s quite a change from waiting to start a family.”

I shrugged, holding her hand as we walked toward the counter. “I would’ve rather had more time to have you to myself. I don’t like to share. But at least this way, our kids will have cousins close in age.”

She gasped, dropping her gaze to the sight of two parallel pink lines.

Positive. She was pregnant. Her intuition was accurate, after all.

“We’re going to have a baby,” I said dumbly.

“Oh, my God,” she squealed. Her face lit up with unbridled joy. After she covered her mouth, I pulled her into a hug and nudged her hand away to kiss her.

And kiss her.

And kiss her some more.

We ended up on the bed, naked and sated in short time, too impatient to celebrate the big discovery. She lay half on top of me, limp and relaxed, rubbing those teasing small circles over my pec.

“Are you happy?” she asked sleepily.

“Very.” Avilov was caught and would pay for all of his crimes, not just the ones he’d done to me. Hannah agreed to be my woman, my wife, and now, the mother of my children.

I was a moron to insist on ever clinging to the past.

After I pressed a kiss to her temple and closed my eyes, I basked in the sense of completion.

I had my whole life ahead of me, and it was all thanks to the sweet, giving woman at my side.