AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her hand tightens around her stomach and her eyes widen with horror. “My baby isn’t even born yet and you’re already planning on marrying her off to some… some… asshole like you?” She shakes her head, like she’s trying to wake herself up from a nightmare. “A woman has more value than just being someone’s wife. Just because she’s—No. Fuck this. Get out of my way.”
She starts to struggle upright again. This time, she even manages to swing one bare foot off the bed.
“Where do you think you are going?”
“Away from you.”
“You need to rest.”
“And you need to leave me alone.”
Rolling my eyes, I push her gently but firmly back onto the mattress. She thrashes, but there’s no strength behind it. The painkillers are sapping her physical resistance, though God knows it would take a hell of a lot bigger dosage to tamp down her inner fire.
She realizes soon enough that fighting me is a non-starter, and she goes limp on her back. But the anger never leaves her eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?”
I lean in, just so she can see the urgency in my eyes. “Believe it or not, I’m trying to protect you. You met Ravil. Do you think he is the kind of man who plays nice?”
Her eyelids float up and down. Half with sleep and half with confusion. “Ravil…? Why would he…?”
“I told you he wasn’t your friend and I meant it. The only reason he’s interested in your baby is so he can kill it.” Her face goes slack with fear. “You and your baby pose a direct threat to him.”
“Why?”
“Because he can’t have children of his own. And once his men get wind of that fact, they’re going to be significantly less interested in following him.”
She frowns. “Wait… does Ravil think that this baby, my baby… is yours?”
“He made an assumption. I didn’t think it was necessary to correct him.”
“Why?” she asks desperately. “If he knows that I’m carrying Adrian’s baby, then—”
“Then he won’t care?” I interrupt. “Don’t be a fucking fool, June. Adrian’s baby, my baby—it won’t make a difference. Any grandson of Luka Uvarov is the natural heir to the Uvarov Bratva. He’s going to want that risk eliminated.”
She shivers. I’d offer her a blanket, but this shiver has nothing to do with the temperature in the room.
“The whole reason you’re here,” I rasp, “is because I couldn’t turn my back on you to let him get his way. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to—”
I freeze. The words wilt on my lips.
If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.
“I wouldn’t be able to honor the promise I made to my brother,” I finish.
Before she can drag the real end to that sentence out of me, I jerk back and turn away from her. I need distance from this woman. From her scent, from her eyes, from her fear and her trust and her confusion and her hope.
Everything about her unsettles me.
And a man like me can’t afford to be unsettled.
“Get some rest,” I tell her gruffly without looking back. Then I storm out of her room.
I run smack into Milana when I open the door. She’s slouched against the wall, smirking like the cat that got the canary.
I narrow my eyes. “You were eavesdropping.”
She shrugs unapologetically. “I’m your right hand. It’s my job to get information.”
“Not about me.”
