Page 44 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

It took everything in me to restrain my desire to unleash as many bullets as the gun contained.

“But you denied it. You lied to me, Addi. You fucking lied to me. You betrayed me. I bet you two have fucked, huh? And you had fun doing it, laughing to my face. You’re now one of his fucking whores, aren’t you? That’s why you set me up.”

I inhaled.

Sderzhivay sebya. Control yourself.

“I lied to you?” She was breaking now, cracking with no reservation. “You lied to me; You betrayed me, Logan. You hid your life from me. Never told me you were married. I ... I didn’t even know you could speak other languages besides English. You made me say yes to the proposal of a complete stranger. And I loved you, Logan. I loved you so much.”

At that point, I wasn’t sure which angered me more. Hearing her profess her love for the fucking idiot—even if relayed in past tense—or watching her squirm and fight for freedom.

“And I loved you too, honey bunch.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, and he forcefully shoved his lips on hers. “I loved you so fucking much.”

A raging fire ignited in my chest and my nostrils flared.

“Well, then I guess we can only blame one person.” He turned his gaze on me. “Did you hear that, Mark? This is your bloody fault! If you'd stayed in your lane, I’d still have the love of my life. But you had to destroy the beautiful life we built, didn’t you??”

Time was ticking. How many bullets?

One.

Four.

Six.

Fucking decide Mark.

I ran my hand over my face.

“You mean you still got your next meal ticket out of poverty.”

“You see, that’s exactly the problem. You fucking Varkovs think you’re the only ones entitled to life on the high side. I mean, I loved Irina, but who said I had to stay by her side like a lapdog? I did what men do—hustle and make ends meet.” His tongue wriggled like a fucking snake. “Fucking a Varkov shouldn’t be cheap, after all.”

The balance between logic and anger tipped, and my finger fell on the trigger. A sharp bang pierced the air, leaving a lingering echo that slowly faded away.

Addison’s scream followed and Logan’s eyes grew wide.

I cocked the gun and aimed at his forehead. “I misfired. Intentionally. Shall we try again?”

“I would advise not.” His eyes were serious, and the humor was gone from his tone. Wounding her hair around his fist, he tugged her head backward, and placed the blade under her chin. “I’ll applaud you for the first round of surprise, Varkov. But if another bullet comes out of that fucking gun, I promise, I’m taking your whore down with me ...”

Addison fearfully held my gaze, and her face scrunched up when Logan licked her cheek.

“I mean, it is obvious that you want her.”

His words were lost in the deafening noise in my ears as I eyed his tongue before it went back into his mouth. If I had a knife, slicing off that wagging tongue was going to be another way to make him suffer.

“So, this is what we are going to do; tell your men to stand down, drop their weapons, and the get the fuck into their shiny toy cars. Else, I’m going to slit her throat. No bluffs.”

And he wasn’t.

He might not have been a part of the Bratva, but Logan was as ruthless as they came. The intention in his eyes was as solid as his hold on the knife.

Hesitantly, I dropped my gun. “Yuri, tell the men to stand down,” I ordered in Russian.

“But boss ...”

“Now!”