Page 67 of The Pakhan’s Heir

When we walked through the door of my house, I told Rikki to set him up in the game room and call Marius to look him over, then I told Nona to wait for me in the parlor. Marius got there within the hour and started looking Kostya over.

“If you don’t mind,” he said, “I’m gonna stick around and watch him. He might have a concussion.”

A concussion. I’m only pissed about it because I wasn’t there to stop it from happening in the first place.

Now I’m neck deep in doing serious fortifying of my castle. The boeviks that were here when she left… I’ve got the nerve to fire them all for letting it happen, but the longer I think about it, the more I realize there wasn’t much they could have done to stop it short of locking her in one of the rooms until I returned. And I won’t have anyone treating my wife that way. Even my own men.

That thought sticks in my head like a mantra. I won’t have my wife treated that way. It stops me as I’m sitting at the kitchen table, phone in hand as I call in several more of my men.

She is my wife. In every sense. I know that now. And not Slavik, nor anyone else, is ever going to come between us again. I just wish I knew what the hell she was thinking by trying to leave.

You did tell her to go, my mind chirps back at me. So I did. And for some reason , she actually listened to me.

It’s a problem between us that I mean to solve, after this house is secure. I start dialing the number of the next man in line.

I’ll have them walking this entire block if it means that Slavik’s men will never put their grimy hands on her again.

She’s waiting for me outside the parlor door. The moment I see her, I remember my habit of locking the door after the fight about her snooping. It’s funny how much more I understand about her now.

She’s not looking at me. She’s looking at the floor and her hands, doing her best not to meet my eyes. I pull out my key and open the door, letting her in.

I close the door behind me and she says, “You told me to leave. You said that it’s not necessary for us to be married anymore.”

“I know,” I say. “I also told you to wait until all this is over. I thought you understood why.”

She stares at me with those big, verdant eyes. “I did. I do. But…” She shakes her head and turns away from me, leaning against the couch. “You don’t understand. I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Nona, it’s too dangerous to just leave on your own like that. Your father⁠—”

“It’s always going to be too dangerous,” she says softly, her hand moving to her stomach.

Oh. I see. I sigh and say, “I know, Nona. About the baby.”

Her eyes widen and her head snaps to me. Her mouth moves without words at first, then she says, “How… ?”

“Never mind how,” I tell her. “What in the world were you thinking? You know that your father is looking for all of us. Why would you put yourself in danger like this? Don’t you understand that your father will kill you too if he gets the chance? Just to get to me?”

She shakes her head and tears rise up in her eyes. “There’s always going to be someone trying to kill you. Or me. What will happen if this baby has to deal with one of us being dead? And on top of all that, I don’t even know if you want this baby at all. I just thought it’d be easier if I left. I… I couldn’t put all of that on you. Not now. Not when everything is falling apart.”

She starts to weep. I reach out to her and she pulls away. “And you’re a Pakhan now,” she says, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “I know what kind of person you have to become to run a Bratva. You have to be cruel and hard and cold. Sometimes when I don’t mind you, you’ll have to… have to put me in my place. And one day… one day, you’ll do that to this baby and I just…”

I frown at her. “Nona…”

“You haven’t been that way to me. Not really. But one day, I’ll go too far and you’ll take it out on me.”

“Never. I would never do that.”

“Because my father was that way. My whole life, he was just as cruel to me as he was ever kind. The things he did to me…” She sniffles, wiping at her tears again. “When I was ten, he beat me with one of his shoes for spilling orange juice in the kitchen. When I was twelve, he slapped me in front of my friends for talking about liking a boy. By the time I was sixteen, he started… started punching me in the face, in the stomach, throwing me in rooms and locking me away, and I can’t let that happen to this baby. I can’t⁠—”

I pull her into my arms and hold her as she weeps into my chest. “Nona,” I say softly. “That will never happen. Not in a million years. I will never touch you or this child out of anything but love.”

I take her face in my hands and wipe away her tears. “Do you hear me, Nona? I’m not the monster that raised you. I’m your husband. I’ll give my life for you and this baby before I let anyone lay a hand on you ever again.”

“Promise,” she says into my chest. “Promise me, Alex.”

“I swear, rabbit. You’re my queen. No one will touch you as long as I’m alive.”

The sadness in her eyes sinks. She stands on her toes and brings her lips to mine, kissing me long and deep as her hands move up my chest and around my neck.