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It was her father. I’m sure of that.
“How much do you know?”
“I know enough.” Her answer is vague.
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
“Yes, my dad taught me. Why are you asking me so many questions? I know how to defend myself. That’s it.” Robert prepared her for my life without even knowing it.
“We will teach you more self-defense techniques. This world we live in is dangerous, and I want you to be more prepared for any situation. You also need to be more alert. I came in here earlier, and you didn’t even notice.” My world is dangerous. If something were to happen to her—No, Maxim. Don’t go there.
She groans in frustration. “I know that this world is dangerous.”
Leaning closer to her, I whisper, “Are you sure you understand, Sophia? Someone from my world won’t hesitate to hurt you.” I want her in my life. I refuse to deny it any longer. If my enemies get a whiff of her, they’ll use her against me.
She takes a step back. “I have a solution. Leave me the fuck alone. Go back to your mob life, and leave me out of it. No one will harm me if you’re not in the picture. I don’t want anything to do with you or your world. How many times do I have to tell you? If I learn to say it in Russian, will you understand then?”
I chuckle, amused at how she thinks she has a choice in the matter. She belongs to me. I will let this go for now. I’m over this repetitive conversation.
“I have to go get Elena. Are you coming?”
She rolls her eyes. “Didn’t I already tell you I was? Why are you asking me again?” That smart mouth of hers.
“Give me a second to call my mom and tell her to move the reservation to later today.”
It doesn’t take us long to get to our destination. When we arrive, I see Elena is already sitting with her luggage on the sidewalk. How long has she been out here? This could be a trap. Before I even get a chance to take out my gun, Sophia is already running toward Elena. Fuck, this woman has a death wish. Quickly running out after her, I grab her wrist and pull her back to my chest before she can get close to Elena.
“What the fuck, Sophia. I didn’t tell you to get out of your fucking car. This is why I didn’t want you driving alone.” She is shaking and wiggling, trying to get free.
“Let go of me! The girl needs help.”
“No! Calm the fuck down. You can’t run into a situation blind, Sophia. This could be a trap.” She steps on my shoe and kicks my knees, forcing me to let her go. She runs toward Elena.
“Sophia, stop!” I chase after her.
“You’re not the boss of me. Get that through your thick skull.”
She finally reaches Elena and bends down. She says something that I can’t make out. When I get to where they’re at, I freeze. Andrei isn’t going to like this. Elena has bruises on her arms and a black eye.
“What the fuck happened, Elena?” She doesn’t say anything, instead just stares at Sophia.
“Maxim, shut the fuck up,” Sophia snaps at me. She trails a finger on Elena's cheek. “It’s okay, love. Ignore the ape. Tell me what happened?”
It takes a few minutes for Elena to speak, but it’s so low I have to lean in to hear when she does. “My father was mad about the deal and took it out on me. He wanted to see if Andrei still wanted me as an ugly bride.” She begins to cry. Fucking bastard.
Sophia hugs Elena and begins to rock her.
“I know this is hard, but I need you to answer something. Did he hit your stomach? Did you fall?”
Elena shudders in Sophia's arms before replying, “He punched me in the face and screamed at me, wanting to know what’s happened between me and Andrei,” she says in between streams of tears. That fucking bastard. This doesn’t surprise me.
“I know you want to be with Andrei right now, love. But we have to get you and the baby checked out,” Sophia says while looking at me.
Nodding my agreement, I text Andrei.
Me: Got Elena. She is banged up. Not too bad, a couple of bruises and a black eye. Marcos bruised her up. Elena says he didn’t go near her stomach. Sophia will take her back to the clinic to take a look at her. I need you not to do anything stupid, Andrei. Let me handle Marcos.
He is going to pay for this. Marcos should’ve had Donny read the contract. I put in that if something were to happen to Elena before she was under my roof, Elena would still belong to Andrei, but the partnership between us would be void. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. I always have a backup plan.
