Page 62 of The Bratva’s Stalked Pregnant Bride

All I could do was reach for her hand and hold on. Close to dawn, when a sliver of orange light crept in through the slats of the blinds, she opened her eyes. I leaned in, ready to show her I was right here, still holding her hand.

She blinked, swallowed hard, then whimpered and rolled over, curling into a ball.

“Laurel,” I said softly. “Please. It’s me.”

“I can’t,” she whispered, her shoulders beginning to shake.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She shook her head. “It’s not you. I’m broken.”

“Stop it,” I told her, more harshly than I meant. “You’re not.”

She rolled back to face me, looking past me instead of at me, fresh tears silently falling from her eyes. “My parents hated each other. They still do. They were just always fighting. And when they weren’t, I waited for it to start again, like when you see lightning and hold your breath, counting down to the thunder.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again, the only thing I could think to say. I would have given everything I owned and half my life to change things for her.

“The only thing they agreed on was how worthless I was. They tried for another kid, but it never happened, so they let me know how awful it was to be stuck with just me.”

“Fucking hell, Laurel,” I said, burning with anger on her behalf. What little I remembered of my parents being together before my mother died was a quiet disdain for each other. And my father always doted on us, making up for my mother’s shortcomings.

She tucked her head down to her chest, her hair falling across her face. “When I got away and thought I could find peace, I found Rand instead.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” I told her, once again more harshly than I meant to.

She didn’t believe me, and was shutting down again, curling more and more into herself. I was only making things worse. She needed quiet and normalcy and the peace she craved, not a battered giant looming over her with a glare on his face.

Smoothing her hair away from her cheeks, I pulled the covers back up around her and left the room, flinching when I heard her soft sobs. This had to end. If it was the last thing I did, I’d make sure she knew at least part of what tormented her was gone. And then I’d find a way to make the rest not matter so much.

I went to the security office out in the garage, telling the guards to stay on high alert. “No one gets in,” I said. “Unless they’re a member of my family, and even then, I want a call.”

“You got it,” Georgiy said, fully recovered from his head wound and back to being my head of security.

“But don’t let Laurel know anything’s different,” I said. “Business as usual where she’s concerned.”

The whole plan to tell her the entire truth had to be put on the back burner, maybe tossed completely, at least for now. The last thing she needed in her state was to know her ex had put out a reward for her capture, or that he was now working with the group that was bothering my family.

But I did need to come up with a plan, and that meant I still had to be honest, this time with my cousins. They needed to know everything about Laurel’s ex, so we could concentrate our efforts on finding him. In turn, we might be able to locate the head of this rogue faction that was getting far too much of a toehold in Fokin territory.

Either way, Rand was going to end up dead, because in my eyes, if he was after Laurel, he was the biggest threat. No one messed with what was mine.

Chapter 37 - Laurel

Once Mik left the room, I let out a deep, shuddering sigh and kicked the covers off, feeling as if they were suffocating me. The air conditioning blew on my heated skin, instantly breaking me out in goosebumps, but I lay still, staring at the ceiling.

There were too many thoughts swirling in my head, but I pushed them all aside. Was I more scared for myself or for Mik? It had taken all my strength, but I managed to tell him a little bit, hoping it would help him understand why I was messed up. Why I couldn’t be in the middle of a conflict without retreating.

Once again I had freaked out at the mere sight of him, and got swept up in a tidal wave of old memories. The anger felt good for a second or two, burning past the fear I was so sick of. Then determination to get my past trauma under control took over, and I was able to sit up.

A rush of dizziness made me reach out and grip the bedside table, but I stayed upright. I was so tired of being carried to bed, waking up with Mik staring down at me with concern and more pity.

He told me none of this was my fault, but even when I shared why I fainted in hopes that he’d share why he looked like he went nine rounds with a heavyweight, he still offered no explanation. How could I stop thinking this was my fault if he didn’t tell me what was actually going on?

He was being kind. The way he tried so hard to hide his anger told me everything I needed to know. Rand was behind everything. He was trying and succeeding at ruining my life, and now he was ruining Mik’s too. Maybe even causing his family trouble. I wouldn’t put it past him to spend a huge chunk of his fortune to make me pay for humiliating him.

To think I reveled in the idea of him waking up to find me long gone after I took off in the middle of the night, as quiet as a mouse. Maybe I had one or two seconds of victory, but he was determined to win a war I wanted no part in.

And now I was pregnant, tying me permanently to Mik, along with all my baggage. I had to squeeze my eyes shut hard, but my imagination was already conjuring how he might react to that. Maybe he believed he could deal with Rand and then cut me loose. Maybe he’d even let me keep working for him or give me a glowing reference.