Page 22 of Forced By the Bratva King

“Thank you,” she said to the vendor and accepted the cones. “Here you go.” She passed one to me.

I accepted it, staring at the cone in my hand contemptuously.

“It’s not dog food, you know,” she said, playfully hitting my shoulder as we strolled through the streets.

I scoffed, shaking my head as I decided to try it. My tongue licked the cream, and for the next few seconds, the flavor danced in my mouth, and I savored it. “Hmm. Not bad,” I confessed, taking another bite.

“See, I told you,” she said with a little laugh.

The street lamps cast long shadows over the sidewalks as we walked together. I was so engrossed in our conversations that I didn’t notice the awful quietness of the street.

We got to her apartment, and she stopped by the entrance.

“Thanks for tonight, Artem,” she said.

“Would you like me to take you inside?” I teased.

She smiled before wrapping me in a tight hug. “I'll be fine from here. I promise.”

I watched her head into the house. At the entrance, she blew me a kiss before stepping inside. I waited for her to get to her room upstairs, and from her window, she bade me goodnight.

The moment she turned off the lights, I saw a figure move in the darkness of her room. It was a masked man with a knife, the blade glinting beneath the moonlight.

“Jade!”

I took off immediately, rushing up the steps like a parkour runner. When I reached her door, I kicked it down with a powerful kick.

But I was too late. She was lying in the pool of her blood with a knife wound in her belly.

“No, no, no...!”

My legs weakened as I dropped to my knees by her side. Taking her hand, I felt for a pulse, but it was futile. She was dead. I took her head in my arms and wept deeply.

At that moment, I vowed to find out who did this and make them pay. I swore that I would make them suffer just as I had suffered, taking from them what they took from her.

I blamed myself for what happened to her.

“I’m sorry, Jade. I’m so sorry.” I squeezed her cold fingers.

If I weren’t so sloppy, if I hadn’t brought her into this life of violence, maybe she’d still be alive. My weakness and compassion were the reason she was killed, but no more. I would never be so weak again.

I would find her murderer, and I would end them slowly.

I’d kept my word; Ididtrace the man who ordered her death, and after a nasty battle between our gangs, I wasvictorious. Martinez Gonzalez begged for his life like a scared little pussy, but I wouldn’t have it.

I’d cut his head off.

Chapter 9 – Sierra

It’s really happening. This is happening.

“Do you, Sierra Lane, take Artem Tarasov to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse?” the priest’s voice echoed in my head as I stood facing Artem at the altar.

He hadn’t been kidding when he said that I was going to marry him, and now, here we were, exchanging vows and joining together in holy matrimony.

His dark eyes were fixed on me, and as handsome as he looked in that black suit, I couldn’t bring myself to drool over him. How could I? I was literally being forced to do this. My choice to decline his proposal had been robbed from me, and there was clearly nothing that I could do about it.

My eyes were stinging as I fought back against the tears that filled my glands, ready to start pouring like raindrops from the sky. Irina had begged me not to cry; she said that doing so would ruin my makeup, like I gave two fucks about that. Artem had ruined my life when he kidnapped me that night, and today, I had more important things to worry about than stupid makeup.