Page 11 of Forced By the Bratva

I simply stood there, watching her in the silence of her house. Her heart was racing, her chest heaving with slow, uneven breaths. The fear in her eyes was clear as crystal, but she tried all she could to mask it with a frown.

The scent of her perfume invaded my nostrils in such proximity while I towered over her, trapping her in that small corner. The sight of her in that semi-transparent nightgown awakened something in me.

It took all the strength I had to keep my eyes on her face rather than on the twin peaks peeking from beneath her dress. Her skin was flawless, smooth, and soft beneath mine as I held her wrist to disarm her.

The hem of her nightgown hung low above her knees, revealing her alluring thighs. The left spaghetti strap kept slipping off her shoulder, forcing her to adjust it each time.

I’d caught a glimpse of the soft skin above her breasts earlier, and a strange fire ignited within me. Staring at her face alone was a deliberate act to help me stay in control.

Her chestnut hair was slightly tousled, and the dullness of her eyes told me she had barely slept.

“Who are you anyway?” Her voice snapped me back to the present.

I didn’t respond.

She swallowed. “Since you’re going to kill me, you might as well tell me who you are.”

“What relevance is that to you?”

A pause.

“You said your name is Ilya. That’s Russian, right?” She clenched her jaw. “You look like them, but you don’t sound like them. Are you hiding your accent?” Her eyes blinked rapidly, a simple reflex. “You are, aren’t you?”

Some people tend to talk too much in what they assume to be their last moment alive. It’s a coping mechanism.

“You know what? I don’t care. Just…”

“Shut up,” I cut her off, calm as always.

Her brows arched ever so slightly, but she didn’t argue. I couldn’t help wondering what that faint scowl meant.

I hadn’t shut her up just for the fun of it. I did that because I had an incoming call from Boris. After a moment of hesitation, I stepped away to answer it.

“Speak.” I kept my eyes on the meticulously arranged bookshelf in front of me.

“The council knows about the breach and the girl.”

I knew exactly what that meant.

“If she’s not dead within twenty-four hours, they will send someone else to handle it.”

My jaw clenched at the thought of her life being snuffed out over this. I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t picture her lifeless body or why the idea of killing her suddenly didn’t sit well with me.

“Boss, are you still there? Did you hear me?”

My eyes squinted slightly. “Yeah, I heard you.”

In that same moment, the door slammed shut behind me. I spun around just in time to catch a glimpse of her back as she bolted from her apartment.

Of course she’d run. I turned my back on her to answer the call. She saw her chance to make a break. And she took it.

I hung up the phone and headed out into the night. Under the moon’s ethereal glow and the twinkling stars, she ran down the empty street like her life depended on it.

Instead of chasing after her, I stopped and took a different route—one I was certain would cut her off ahead. I’d already studied the neighborhood, so I wasn’t moving blindly. I knew exactly where I was going.

I leaped onto a trash bin and jumped over a fence into a neighbor’s backyard. The dog barked at me, flashing its canines, restrained by the chains on its neck. I ignored the beast, reaching the other side of the fence in a few long strides.

After jumping over to the next street, I quickened my pace, my shoes scuffing against the pavement. I could hear her ragged breaths and rapid footsteps as she approached me from the adjacent street.