Page 56 of Caught By the Bratva Boss

My time with them was done. I’d miss them, but I wasn’t going to give Daniil any other excuse to humiliate me.

“Where is she going, Daniil?” I heard Anya say.

“I don’t know.” His voice was closer than I expected, so he had followed me out.

“Don’t let her just walk away, Daniil. Do something. Stop her.”

I picked up my pace. My arms tightened around my middle as I forced myself not to cry. I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t cry, and I wouldn’t beg.

“Lily,” Daniil shouted after me. “Wait.”

I dropped my chin to my chest and ignored him. He wanted me gone, so I would leave. Daniil had made his thoughts very, very clear.

Rounding the corner, I finally let a sob rip its way out of my throat and sucked in a deep breath.

Daniil hadn’t followed me. He hadn’t sent any of his men to either.

I was free.

“Lily.”

My head whipped around. Greg was in a car, leaning across the console to open the passenger side door. “Get in, I’ll drive us home.”

Hesitating just for a second, I glanced behind me and sighed. He wasn’t coming after me. Daniil meant every word he had said.

I slipped into the warmth of the car, and Greg pulled us into slow-moving city traffic.

“He’s right, you know,” he said softly.

I turned my head slowly. Too slowly. I didn’t even have a chance to bring my hands up to protect myself before his fist smashed into my face.

“You really are a whore.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lily

I stared at the bruises that peppered the side of my face, a blossom of purples and pinks that made it look like I’d been struck repeatedly in the face, which, of course, was exactly what had happened.

Greg had punched me mercilessly. The only saving grace and the only reason the beating hadn’t been worse was the fact that he had been driving so he could only use one hand. I was thankful for that small mercy.

No, I grimaced as I looked in the mirror in my bedroom. I wasn’t thankful at all. In all the years I had been with Greg, he had never once raised a hand to me. And now that he had, I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do it again.

Anger was never a reason to hurt someone, especially when the anger was of your own making. He had wanted me to spend my time with Danill. The whole situation was his idea. And he’d bought a new car, and God knows what else out of the money. So he wasn’t angry that I’d been intimate with Daniil. This was all about something else.

In the car on the way back, when he had finally finished, and I had curled myself up as far away from him as possible, he had spat at me, telling me I had ruined everything.

Which made no sense because he was the one who—

“How are you feeling?”

His voice made me jump, and I wrapped my arms around myself and backed away, keeping my eyes on him as he passed in the doorway.

Greg’s eyes scanned my face, and there was not one flicker of emotion in them.

“You’re going to work?” He asked. His eyes narrowed.

“Yes.” Keeping a wary eye on him because I didn’t want to be surprised by another attack, I pulled out my work clothes and then changed my mind and chose something else. There was no way I could wear what I usually did. They wouldn’t cover the bruises. I needed to be more covered up.