Page 53 of Forced By the Bratva King
“That was my natural instinct at play,” I said. “Niall Donovan might be an asshole, but he’s still my father, and I couldn’t let you kill him, especially when I knew there was someone out there turning you two on each other.” I exhaled sharply. “Niall has other children that he’s more concerned about; he has the mafia that takes up most of his time and attention. But in his own twisted way, he still loves me—I know that to be true. He’s not father of the year, but he’s still my father, whether I like it or not.”
Artem sighed softly, rubbing his eyeballs.
“It’s ironic how my mom took me away from Niall Donovan as a child to keep me safe from all this violence, yet here I am, caught right in the middle of it all. It’s like I’ve come full circle. The very thing she tried to protect me from is the same thing I’m dealing with now…as your wife,” I said, drawing in a deep breath as I watched him stare blankly at me. “Say something.Please.”
“What do you want me to say, Sierra?” His gaze didn’t waiver one bit.
“I don’t know…anything. Just say something,” I said, locking eyes with him. When he didn’t reply, my heart broke. “You hate me now, don’t you?” This was a rhetorical question, although a positive response would have been nice. “I get it. I deserve it.”
Emotional blackmail. It often worked, but I wasn’t sure it would get the anticipated reaction from a man like Artem Tarasov.
He just continued to stare, his expression blank.
“I know what it’s like to grow up without having both parents’ love. It sucks. Been there, done that,” I said, shaking myhead as my hair swished behind me. “No matter how hard I tried to pretend, there was a void my stepdad couldn’t fill.” I paused, watching the expression on his face soften. “I can’t subject our kids to what I suffered. It wouldn’t be fair on them. So, please, do not kick me out of their lives once they’re born.” I looked right into his hollow eyes, pleading with mine.
“Kick you out?” He smirked faintly and leaned forward. “No, no, no.” Artem clicked his tongue as he grabbed my jaw with a gentle move. “You’re mine. And I am never letting you go. For better, for worse, right? You’re stuck with me now.”
As relieved as I was to hear him say that, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something in his voice that hinted at a more sinister plan hidden beneath the surface.
Chapter 22 – Artem
The living room was quieter than a fucking cemetery despite the five of us seated there, all looking at each other as no one said anything.
My wife was seated beside me, Yuri was somewhere to our left, and Niall, together with his right-hand man, Jacob, were both on the couch opposite us. It was an awkward meeting which I’d never thought would be possible—not even in a million years. Yet here we were.
Niall and I were glaring at each other, and we both knew the only reason bullets weren’t flying in the air was because of Sierra and the babies in her womb. In his eyes, I saw his rage; obviously, he was still mad that we fucked him up and killed half of his men. If an apology was what he wanted from me, he wasn’t going to get it.
Yuri and Jacob seemed to be in a staring contest, and upon Yuri’s face, a pesky little smirk was plastered. It was clear that Jacob saw it as a sign of mockery, and he was so pissed.
Sierra’s eyes were drifting across each of us as she discreetly chewed on her fingers. Maybe she was nervous, or maybe she was equally pissed at our silence, and if the latter was the case, then she’d burst out, snapping at us any minute now. I wouldn’t be surprised at all. The way she confronted me even with a gun to her face at the warehouse was remarkable. She’d stood up to me like no woman ever had, all in a bid to save this greedy bastard’s ass. He owed her his fucking gratitude becauseshewas the only reason he was still breathing.
Seeing all those bruises on his face filled me with a deep-seated sense of satisfaction. He had a couple of deep cuts on his lips, a black eye, a swollen cheek, and plaster over the woundacross his brows. My blows had done some serious damage to the scumbag.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, are you guys just gonna sit here and glare at each other all day?” Sierra snapped, losing her patience.
I leaned back on the sofa. “I’ve got nothing else to do, so….”
“Other than jumping to conclusions and killing half my men, you mean?” Niall’s eyes were fixed on me.
“You don’t give a rat’s ass about your dead men. You’re only pissed because you got your ass handed to you in a fair fight,” Yuri chipped in, chuckling.
“It was a fucking ambush, not a fair fight, you idiot,” Jacob said to Yuri, his lips twisting into a frown.
“Call me that one more time, and I can guarantee you, we’ll have a rematch.” Yuri’s voice was unsettling, husky with a tone that indicated that he meant every single word.
“And yet you callusthe mindless animals.” Donovan scoffed, contemptuously shaking his head.
“Enough,” Sierra said, clearly trying to hold back her anger.
“You should consider yourselves lucky that your puny brains aren’t plastered on my walls,” I said, ignoring my wife for a moment. These arrogant bastards were starting to get on my nerves.
“Enough,” Sierra reiterated, her voice calm, but there was a warning in there.
Donovan, too, ignored her. “You don’t scare me, Tarasov. Our brains might be puny, as you said, but at leastweweren’t the ones stupid enough to lead an ambush based on unverified information.”
His comment had hit a nerve.
I balled my hands into fists. “I’d watch my tongue if I were you.”