Page 99 of The Bratva Enforcer and His Virgin Bride

We pay for the books, and afterward, Ashley and I grab coffee and a few pastries at a little cafe down the street. All the while we eat, Ashley talks and talks, her voice full of animated excitement, but for the life of me, I can’t concentrate.

I don’t feel good. That heavy, suffocating sense of danger from the bookstore has only grown, making the pastry turn and twist like lead in my stomach. Every laugh around us sounds amplified, and every slamming door makes me flinch.

Unable to take it anymore, I manage to swallow down a few bites and force a tight smile, lying to Ashley that I completely forgot I have an outing with Lukyan and have to leave early.

She gives me a disappointed look but wraps me in a tight goodbye hug. I promise her we’ll meet up again soon, desperately trying to mask the tremor in my voice.

We part ways, and I practically sprint back to the waiting car, never feeling more eager to get home and be within Lukyan’s safe, towering walls. I slide into the leather backseat, the heavy click of the car doors locking giving me a temporary wave of relief.

One minute, I’m pulling out my brand-new phone, a small smile touching my lips as I start to type a text to Lukyan to tell him I’m on my way back.

The next second, the world completely shatters.

A massive, deafening crunch echoes through the frame as a heavy vehicle rams into our side with brutal, bone-jarring force. The impact sends our car spinning wildly, tires screeching against the asphalt before we crash violently off the road, slamming to a halt.

A sharp scream tears from my throat, but it completely freezes in my lungs when the air is instantly filled with the deafening, rapid cracks of gunshots.

“Get down! Keep your head down, ma’am!” one of the guards barks, his voice full of adrenaline.

The two soldiers on either side of me immediately throw their bodies over mine, using themselves as human shields to block the glass shattering all around us. They yank out their weapons and open fire through the ruined windows. I can’t even see what’s happening outside. I’m pinned beneath their heavy vests, my face pressed into the leather seat, my ears ringing from the absolute chaos of shouting men and relentless gunfire.

In the middle of the terror, a horrific realization crashes over me.

Lukyan was right.

When he told me he married me for protection, when he warned me about the dangers out there, a part of me thought he was exaggerating. I thought it was just an excuse to keep me locked away. But it’s true. It’s all horribly true. People are actually after me. But why? Who the hell am I to deserve this? Are these the exact same men who brutally murdered my father?

Before I can even process the thought, the gunfire suddenly stops.

The two soldiers shielding me go completely rigid, then suddenly slump heavily against my body, their dead weight pinning me down. A sickening, terrifying warmth floods across my skin.

It’s blood.

Before the panic can fully swallow me whole, the passenger door is violently ripped off its hinges. Rough hands grab my shoulders, shoving the limp bodies of my guards aside. I look up into the cold, fabric eyes of men wearing tactical masks.

A thick, gloved hand claps brutally over my mouth, cutting off my scream before it can even leave my lips.

Shit.

I fight, kicking and scratching with everything I have, but it’s useless. I am ruthlessly dragged out of the wreckage and thrown into the back of a waiting getaway car, the doors slamming shut to plunge me into absolute darkness.

Chapter 16 – Lukyan

I’m still in the library, a heavy stack of historical texts open on the table in front of me, when the doors burst open. Ben walks in. The second I look at his face, my chest tightens. He looks completely forlorn, the color drained from his skin.

“Boss,” Ben says, his voice cracking slightly under the weight of his words. “Sofia’s car was just ambushed on the way back from downtown. She’s been kidnapped.”

The controlled, logical structure I have spent my entire life maintaining fractures instantly. The world around me blurs into a red haze, replaced by a sharp, lethal, and focused urgency.

Every calculating thought about ciphers, codes, and Creed’s secrets vanishes from my mind. All I can think about—the only thing that matters now—is getting her back. No matter what. No matter how much blood I have to spill, or how many people have to die to make it happen, I will tear this city apart brick by brick until she is back in my arms.

“What information do we have on the attackers?” I demand, my voice dropping into a terrifyingly calm, dead register.

“One of the guards with Sofia managed to send a quick photo of the car’s plate number right as the ambush started,” Ben answers, his hands gripping his weapon tightly. “But that’s all we got. They’re both dead, Boss.”

I nod once, the cold fury settling deep into my bones. “To the office. We have to track that car right now.”

Ben nods grimly and follows a step behind me as I sprint down the hall, ready to wage an absolute war for my wife.