Page 6 of Owned By the Bratva

“You two better figure it out fast. I’ll make sure to have my divorce lawyer on standby.”

“Oh.”

I look up, startled by the sound of Alina’s soft gasp. I hadn’t noticed her approach. She’s fresh out of the shower, bundled up in one of the hotel’s complimentary bathrobes with her hair damp and dripping over her shoulders. There’s no doubt about it—she heard me.

“I have to go,” I tell Dimitri.

“Good lu—” I hang up before my brother has the chance to finish.

Alina worries her bottom lip with her teeth. Even at this distance, I can smell the hotel’s floral shampoo and body wash wafting off her hair and skin. She stands in the doorway to the bathroom, just as hesitant as she was when she first arrived.

“I want to take a nap. I had an early morning.” She eyes me up and down cautiously. There’s no trust here. Understandable. Perhaps it’s best if I make myself scarce for now.

“You take the bed,” I say. “I’ll be downstairs making a few phone calls.”

“With your divorce lawyer?” she asks pointedly.

I deserved that.

Alina doesn’t crawl into bed until I’m halfway out the door. She pulls the soft blankets around her and creates her own little fortress, tucked away from the rest of the world. I consider asking her if she wants anything to eat. I’m sure I can trouble the hotel staff to send some food up. The second her head hits the pillow, the sound of her soft snores just barely reach my ears. Out like a light. I decide to leave her be and head downstairs to the lobby.

I spend the next half an hour productively. Just because I’m in a different country doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do. My inbox is full of forwarded emails from my personal assistant and secretary, Merrybell, the most important ones flagged for me.

I rub my temples with a heavy sigh. So much to do, so little time. I already had enough on my plate planning the corporate takeover of PrismLock, my company’s biggest rival in the cybersecurity space, and now this?

Just start small, Pyotr. And be patient.

My brother’s voice echoes inside my skull.

Patience… Yeah, I can do that.

I make my way back to the hotel room, entering quietly in case Alina is still asleep. I don’t hear any snoring, though there is a big mound beneath the bed covers.

Maybe a littletoobig.

Suspicious, I walk over and pull the covers down and discover that Alina has piled up a bunch of towels and spare pillows from around the room to look like her.

Fuck.

It looks like my new wife is on the run.

Chapter 3

Alina

Holy crap, I did it!

I was worried Pyotr would notice me sneaking out the front lobby, but I was thankfully able to hide behind a fully loaded luggage cart and waltz straight out the door. Pyotr was so involved with whatever he was doing on his phone he didn’t even look up once.

Now I’m free.

I just have two problems: I have no money, and I have nowhere to go.

Returning home isn’t an option. Mother will surely have my head. I bet it’d be a swift death, but if she’s feeling particularly cruel, Mother will allow me to watch as my horse is slaughtered, then return me to Pyotr and I’ll be right back where I started.

Right now, I need to focus on getting out of Moscow. The farther I get, the farther from my mother’s influence. The Salkovs have eyes and ears all over the city, and now that I’m technically an Antonov, too, I’m sure there’s a whole network of people ready to snatch me up and return me to my ever-scowling, eager-to-divorce husband.

Husband.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com