Page 124 of Reclaimed By My Ex’s Bratva Brother

"You've been learning fast lately."

"Gleb's suggestions are terrible."

I laughed. Varlam didn't. He just looked at me, his gaze so deep it made my chest ache.

"I know how to protect territory, how to make traitors pay, how to make decisions when everyone else panics." He said. "But I don't know how to love someone."

My smile faded. The cable car passed over tall pines. Sunlight flickered across the glass, sweeping over his face in patches of light and shadow.

"Brinny once made me think feelings were just duty and commitment," Varlam said. "That maintaining surface order was enough."

His gaze returned to me.

"Until I met you."

My breath caught.

"You get angry, you question, you force me to face truth when I least want to hear it. You refuse to live according to anyone's arrangements." His mouth moved almost imperceptibly. "Including mine."

His thumb slowly traced across the back of my hand.

"I'm not good at romance, and I don't know how to make you happy the way Makar does. But I love you."

No extravagant promises. No carefully prepared words. Just those three words, falling from a man used to hiding weakness.

More moving than any declaration.

"I love you, Briony." He repeated it. "Not because of the baby, not because you need protection, not because I can't bear to lose. I love who you actually are."

His Adam's apple bobbed.

"If you want to work, I won't stop you. If you want to make your own decisions, I'll respect that. If you need time, I have the patience to wait. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

"Including letting me go?"

His hand suddenly tightened. Pain flashed through those steel-gray eyes. Quick, but not hidden.

"If that's what you truly want," he said.

His voice was calm. But the hand holding mine betrayed everything. Palm burning, fingers rigid, like just imagining me leaving had already exhausted all his control.

The hard knot in my chest suddenly loosened a little.

This was the answer I'd been waiting for. Not whether he could kill enemies for me, not whether he'd protect me with his life. He'd already proven those things. What I needed to know was whether, when protection became possession, when the line between love and control blurred, he could respect my choices.

Even if that choice would hurt him.

"I was wrong too," I said.

Varlam frowned. "You don't need to take responsibility for my mistakes."

"I'm not taking responsibility for you."

I placed my other hand over his.

"I knew what kind of person you were. I knew you were used to control, knew you didn't trust anyone. But I kept hoping you'd just understand what I wanted."

I took a deep breath.