Page 64 of Kept By the Bratva

I growled. “Yeah, but…” Our youngest brother was more used to working behind the scenes with the books. He was strong. He trained to fight. But he lacked the acquired ruthlessness the others had.

Guards would be there too. Alek wouldn’t have ever left Mila unprotected. All this week, we’d been safe with no attacks at the mansion. Diego wouldn’t have dared.

Until now.

Every second that passed on the way home felt torturously too long. Time dragged while my heart raced. I had to get to her. I had to make sure Amy was all right.

I tried to convince myself that it was a coincidence. That Diego hadn’t planned to negotiate or talk but wasn’t so dumb as to attack the Bratva’s headquarters and main home.

Coincidences were bullshit, though, and I saw the proof of my worst fears when Alek slammed to a stop at the mansion’s front drive.

Maxim lay on the ground, wounded as he fired at the Cartel thugs. More Valkov soldiers fired back and fought at others trying to break in. The large windows lay in pieces, and I prayed that Amy and Mila weren’t anywhere near the dining room.

Beast mode was activated. I turned off all my thoughts. I ceased to feel anything as I donned the mask of a killer, a predator. A protector. All that I could focus on was ending these men who'd dared to break in here and target my woman.

Amywasmine. Not because I’d pay millions for her. Not only because she was the mother of my children. But because she had my heart. She’d had it all along, and it beat for her.

Gunfire filled the house as Alek and I ran inside. We aimed and pulled our triggers, darting headfirst into the gruesome mayhem. Soldiers held back the intruders. Cartel members lay dead on the floor, but still, more remained. They’d come with forces, planning to succeed. And I’d be damned if they did.

In the dining room, I saw the slimy psycho I’d intended to kill on my terms.

“Get your hands off her,” I said, raising my gun to aim at the spot between Diego’s eyes. They looked crazed, like he was one inch from utter insanity as he held Amy close. Her eyes were open wide with alarm and fear as she stared at me. His arm was wedged beneath her chin, pushing it up as he trapped her in a headlock.

He moved his gun toward her temple as he snickered. His laughter chilled me. It was too cold, too freakish.

The man was insane. “You dare to inconvenience me with a suggestion that this girl would beyours? Not mine?” He laughed harder, pushing the gun into her hair.

“I don’t think so,” he growled, ceasing his maniacal chuckles.

I remained still.

In a standoff, I locked down and stared at Amy, tense and terrified.

She didn’t break eye contact, beseeching me to help.

As I gazed at her and vowed not to fail her, I regretted one sad fact more than anything else.

I never told you the truth. I never told you how much I love you.

And I swore on my life that I would rectify that mistake right now.

26

AMY

Diego tightened his arm around my neck, and it ramped up my fear. I’d never been this scared in my life. Even the kidnapping ordeal paled in comparison. I hadn’t known what to expect then. I hadn’t realized what was at stake.

Now, I did. He would kill me, then the man I was falling in love with. He’d hurt my new friends and all these brave men fighting for our safety.

It wasn’t only a matter of living or dying. It became something more. This standoff was a symbol of the power between these men.

Diego would buy a woman to keep her like a possession. He’d participate in trafficking humans.

Nik and his Bratva brothers didn’t. They’d released that girl. They’d cared and provided for me without question.

Diego couldn’t win, and it was that firm and staunch conviction that helped to keep me from locking up in terror and going numb. I remained alert, thinking back to all those self-defense lessons I didback in high school. How to turn my head for air. How to move my foot and place my hand for the optimum strike.

With all the gunfire, I was too hesitant to move. Nik didn’t lower his gun, aiming it at Diego. Alek, too. He remained braced to kill. Between them, they’d end this monster’s life, but I was so close. He had his gun at me.