Page 27 of Brutal Bratva’s Owned Hostage

“I actually wasn’t so sure I’d be able to—” I started, my chest still heaving as I sat up. He pulled me into him, kissing the rest of the sentence off my lips.

Still kissing me fervently, he sat up, making me straddle him as his hands kneaded my butt. He began kissing my neck as his hands came to my lap and then towards my throbbing core.

I placed my hand over his. “No, Dmitri. I don’t need you to repay.”

His eyes stayed on mine, and he blinked like he was trying to understand what I just said. Then he sighed deeply and brought his sweaty forehead to mine.

“I don’t…” he started and trailed off, sighing again as he held me tightly against his chest.

“Don’t say anything,” I said, chuckling despite the depth I could feel our intimacy reaching.

He laid back, bringing me with him. For the first time since any of this started, I didn’t feel like I was being pulled deeper into his world. I felt like he was trying to meet me inside mine.

I traced the edge of the bandage along his side gently, careful not to disturb it.

“You scared me tonight,” I admitted quietly, into the dark.

“I know.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared, and that’s saying something considering the past few weeks.”

He was quiet for a moment, his hand finding mine where it rested against his chest. “Why do you think that is?”

“During the raid, I didn’t understand what I stood to lose. Tonight I did.”

Something in his chest moved beneath my cheek, a slow exhale that sounded almost like relief. “I came back.”

“You did. This time.”

“I intend to keep doing that.”

Then, he went on, “Federal agents moved in faster than we expected. We got most of the sensitive material out before they cleared the building, but one of the men working the floor panicked, tried to run instead of following protocol, and drew attention we didn’t need. Two of my men engaged before I could stop it. I got clipped pulling one of them clear.”

“Thank you.” I turned slightly, kissing his jaw.

“You’re worth it.”

Then an understanding crept up on me: that survival might not be the only thing waiting for me in this strange, dangerous life I’d married into.

Chapter Twelve

Dmitri

Morning brought clarity I didn’t exactly want.

I’d left Val asleep in our bed and gone down to the security office before the rest of the building had properly woken up. The wound along my side ached with every movement, serving as a dull reminder of the night before, but it hadn’t stopped me from wanting answers to the question that had followed me home from that club.

I’d given up on rest entirely and gone through the access logs one more time in the dark, hoping to catch something my thinking had missed the day before. It hadn’t. The pattern held steady no matter how many times I ran it, precise and damning in the same way each pass.

The leak was no longer a vague concern sitting at the edge of my attention. It was confirmed, laid out in front of me on the monitor. Someone had extracted sensitive operational files from my private device across multiple sessions, spaced carefully.

Roman stood across from me in the security office, arms crossed, his expression tight.

“You confirmed it,” he stated.

“I confirmed it.” I turned the monitor slightly so he could see the timeline laid out, showing him the careful, patient extraction I’d been tracing for days now fully mapped. “Three sessions. Financial routing, meeting schedules, and now personnel files. All pulled through my own device credentials, all timed to blend into routine maintenance traffic.”

He studied the screen for a long moment. It was all the same as what was on his tablet screen, of course.