The Bratva’s Auctioned Bride (Levov Bratva #10)

Chapter 7 - Lara

I didn’t want to admit how comfortable the bed was, but given the long, terrifying, and infuriating night I had, I couldn’t help but fall asleep as soon as I felt far too exhausted to put up a fight.

Not a single dream crossed my awareness all night, and I had no idea how long I had been sleeping, but the moment I opened my eyes, I couldn’t stand the feeling of that dress against my skin any longer.

With everything hitting me at once, from being abducted at the gala, auctioned off in some grungy club, and trapped in Alex’s house, that anger and resistance came back to me all at once. Of course, I couldn’t ignore the streak of fear that accompanied those feelings.

I had no way of knowing what would come next for me.

While Alex seemed mostly docile and not as aggressive as he could be, I knew not to underestimate him. He obtained his money and status somehow, and I had the feeling it wasn’t from being a saint.

I knew better than to assume that, and regardless of how much I wanted to disobey him at every turn, I had to be careful. I had to be smart, even if it felt impossible to know how to navigate anything thrown at me at that point.

Sick of lying in bed and feeling completely helpless, I pushed myself up and adjusted the front of my gown before I approached the closet, wondering if I might find something else.

Sure enough, as I slid the door open, I was met with a walk-in closet full of clothes.

At first, my brows furrowed in confusion, left to wonder if those clothes belonged to someone else, if Alex had a wife or someone he was hiding me from. But as I went up to a rack of garments, I reached out and took a black tag between my fingers. It was brand new.

I glanced at the others, only to find them all still covered in tags. It was as if he bought them all at once and had them waiting for me.

A chill moved through me as I considered it, eyes shifting over the wide array of clothes.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say he had been planning the whole arrangement. But that seemed crazy to even think about, that he would have premeditated it all and was prepared.

How would he even have had time to prepare if I was captured the same night he won me at the auction?

The thought lingered in my mind for a moment as I glided my palm over the rack of clothes, stopping on a gray, relaxed-looking crewneck to pull it off the rack.

But again, I knew better. It didn’t matter that he had a short time to prepare himself to keep me stowed away at his house. The time crunch was irrelevant when he had lots of money, and surely had people doing things for him behind the scenes.

The idea of him planning it all made me incredibly angry, but the feeling of still wearing that gown infuriated me even more.

I forced out a breath, pushing the thought away as I slipped out of the gown and put the crewneck and a pair of leggings on before I spent some time in the bathroom, trying to feel vaguely normal.

He may have had me locked away, but I wasn’t going to let him take my dignity. That was for certain.

After leaving the bathroom, I paced the room for a moment. I was more than aware that I still didn’t have my purse, wallet, or phone, which meant the likelihood of being able to contact my family was at zero, and them being able to track me was also very unlikely.

I had nothing to work with, and that left me feeling even worse than before.

Once I'd had enough of being in that room, trapped with the idea of being completely cornered and alone, I went to the door and turned the handle. My brows went up in surprise as it moved with ease. With a small push, the door opened, and I could hardly believe it.

It was unlocked.

Despite the initial rush of triumph, that feeling immediately fizzled out when I realized that was likely intentional. He wouldn’t have been so careless as to leave it unlocked…right?

There was no way.

Regardless, I was tired of being in that room, so I opened the door further and stepped out.

Even if I was still technically trapped in the house, it was almost freeing to get out of there and walk down that hallway.

The more steps I took, the more anxious I was for the chance to leave. To find an escape and run away as fast as I possibly could. With every movement, my mind began to spin with the idea, and I couldn’t stop myself from trying to formulate some sort of plan.

I needed to slip by undetected and find another unlocked door, or even a window I could climb out of. Maybe then I’d have a fighting chance.

Yet it was easy enough to realize the windows would likely either be locked or trigger an alarm, and I had the feeling the way down wouldn’t be an ideal drop for me. I had to look for a door.

Carefully, I reached the stairs and slowly crept down them, keeping my eyes peeled for any movement. Hyperaware of my surroundings, I kept going, afraid he might appear around the corner or step in front of me.

Luckily, the stairs didn’t creak even as I reached the ground floor and glanced around, not seeing him anywhere. Pulling in a breath, I rounded the railing and saw a door not far from me, just down the hall. As I set my sights on it, my heart pounded in my ears.

“Going so soon?”

My skin went cold all over, and I froze where I stood, eyes closing instinctively as if that would help matters at all. Glancing to my right, I saw Alex standing in the kitchen, bare back turned to me. I sighed.

I was caught and lost my chance at being sneaky.

As I straightened myself out, I approached the kitchen, knowing I couldn’t avoid him forever. Plus, whatever he was cooking caught my attention more than I cared to acknowledge. It had been hours since I last ate.

Alex threw a glance at me over his shoulder before returning his attention to the frying pan in front of him. He towered over the stove with gray sweatpants hung low on his hips. “Get in here. This is almost ready.”

I hated how long my gaze lingered on him, and I also hated how compliant I was as I entered the room and took in the tempting smell of breakfast.

Despite being aware I was technically his hostage, and he’d have to feed me if he wanted to keep me alive, I was surprised to see both plates sitting on the counter as he filled them both with bacon, scrambled eggs, and a stack of pancakes.

Standing by the island somewhat awkwardly, I watched as Alex grabbed a plate and put it in front of me on the quartz countertop, eyes lingering on me for a moment. They flickered down briefly to check out the clothes I had on, and the corner of his lip turned up slightly.

“You found the closet, I see. That’s good,” he said with a quiet hum, gesturing to the plate. “Go ahead. You likely need it.”

As much as I didn’t want to accept anything from him, I knew I couldn’t withhold food from myself forever. I sighed and sat on the stool and got started.

Wordlessly, Alex grabbed his plate and dug in as he leaned against the opposite counter.

At first, the kitchen was quiet aside from the sound of cutlery against our plates. The silence was uncomfortable, and while I didn’t expect him to be overly chatty, he seemed a lot more subdued than the night before. It made me wonder if he was on the quieter side and if his demeanor the previous night had simply come from his excitement about winning the auction.

Regardless of the silence, I ate what had been put in front of me and didn’t argue about it. I felt like I had been starving, and I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. I braced myself at the same time, since I couldn’t help but wonder where we would go from there—what he wanted from me.

I had a sinking feeling as I finished the food, and it wasn’t from the awkward silence, or from being tense having him so near. A sense of dread surrounded me, and I didn’t appreciate how it made my stomach ache.

“I didn’t know what you’d want to wear, so I got you a bit of everything,” Alex said, circling back to the topic again. “Hopefully, whatever’s there is suitable.”

“It’s fine.”

He nodded at my response before he finished the last of his breakfast and put the dirty dishes in the sink. “Good. If you need anything specific, let me know.”

The offer caught me somewhat off guard, but at the same time, it seemed half nice, at least. I nodded.

Alex leaned back against the countertop again, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m sure all of this must be hard to grasp, but I assure you, I want you to be comfortable enough. At the very least, I can get you what you need.”

Taking him in again, I couldn’t help the strange concoction of feelings that moved within me. The offer seemed suspiciously kind, along with him taking it upon himself to make me breakfast.

I hated feeling paranoid, but at that moment, I couldn’t help it. I needed to be guarded. He was still a stranger, after all, even if he was stupidly attractive.

If anyone were to eventually get me out of there, I had to keep myself alive in the meantime. I didn’t know what he was capable of, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

“Can you blame me for not being all that comfortable right now?”

He let go of an amused sound and shook his head after considering it. “No, I suppose I can’t blame you. But that’s why I’d like to make it a bit easier if I can.”

Once again, it was strangely considerate of him, and I couldn’t deny how it started to feel a bit more reassuring. At the very least, my defenses were relaxing slightly.

A beat of silence lingered between us as I nodded and tried to navigate my uncertain thoughts. Eventually, I let go of a breath. “What do you want with me?”

Alex met my gaze at that, and the slightest grin pulled on his lips. “You’re very important to what I have planned, Lara…do you really want to know?”

While I didn’t like the implication of that, I blew out another breath and nodded anyway. “I do.”

“Alright then,” he began, standing from his slouched position as he put his hands against the island, gaze never leaving me. “Before the weekend is over, we’re going to be married.”

His words reverberated in my mind as I tried to digest them, completely halted in my tracks. At first, I thought I misheard him, but the longer I looked at him, the more I realized just how serious he was.

My words came out weaker than I intended, hardly able to form them. “…What?”

Alex wore a reassuring grin, as if that would help me in the slightest. “That’s right. You heard me. You’re important, and for you to be as useful as possible for me, we have to be married.”

I blinked back at him, head still reeling. “Why?”

He exhaled as he continued, “You see, Lara, my family is a lot like yours. We run a similar business, and we more recently moved from Canada to take advantage of the opportunities here. That being said, even with our previous success, breaking into the space can be incredibly difficult. Beyond that, being recognized as a strong, notorious family is even harder. Which is where you come in.”

At that moment, I couldn’t focus on anything but what that meant for me—how he intended to force me to marry him despite being perfect strangers. He bought me from the auction just to marry me due to my name.

“What…to connect you with my family?”

Crossing his arms over his chest then, he nodded. “Something like that.”

Feeling refusal rising within me, I shook my head in disbelief. “You…you’re misunderstanding how my family works. If you want an alliance, forcing us to get married isn’t how you should go about it.”

“No? How do you think I should go about it, then?”

Swallowing hard against the building, dread within me, I tried to keep myself calm. “Approach them about it. Surely, they have other alliances and deals. Just…talk to them about it. You don’t have to go through with this.”

But he only sighed then and shook his head. “You make it sound so simple…but I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. They’d never accept something like that—especially not now.”

The thought of being married to a man I didn’t know against my will only made the panic grow within my gut. Worse than that, I was trapped in his house, and he most definitely had the means to keep me here.

“Please don’t do this…”

While I saw the faintest flicker of sympathy in his eyes, Alex shook his head. He wasn’t convinced. “Sorry, Lara. This has to be done.”

More than ever before, I wanted nothing more than to run, to flee as fast as I physically could. But at that moment, my legs felt like they were full of lead.