Broken Bride (Belaya Bratva 2)

CHAPTER 24

Naomi

I pulled the blanket tighter around me as I watched the sappy movie on TV, hating the way I was feeling. It seemed that no matter what I watched, my emotions always got the better of me and I ended up crying.

Stupid hormones. If they were already this bad, I couldn’t even begin to think what they would be like in a month or two.

Glancing over at the clock on the table, I frowned. It was well past midnight. Gavril had promised that he would be back in an hour or two, but it had been well over four already.

Had something happened?

I drew in a breath, trying not to think in that manner. At some point, I needed to get used to the fact that Gavril was always in some form of danger.

That thought inevitably brought me to thinking about our future together. After the last couple of days, I felt like something was finally coming together. Even despite the terrifying display of violence that Gavril had shown me in the training room, I still cared for him.

I loved him. I hadn’t lied to him when I said that I ached for how he had been betrayed by his love.

His life and past were brutal. What his mother had done. What his first love had done. Gavril knew little about love, and when he thought he found it, it was in the hands of an assassin who nearly killed him.

Could Gavril ever love again? I didn’t know. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame him if he never did again. The things he had been through would be enough to convince anyone that love was impossible.

But a part of me wanted to believe that he could.

I rubbed a hand over my stomach, thinking about the child that could love both of us unconditionally. Both Gavril and I were broken individuals, and this baby was going to be the only one to overlook that.

Could we somehow fix each other?

Suddenly, the door opened, and as I scrambled to a sitting position, the very object of my thoughts stormed in.

I knew immediately that something was wrong the moment my eyes collided with his harsh face.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

Confusion settled into my bones. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

He stood at the end of the bed, his hands balled into fists, and he looked like an avenging angel that had fallen from heaven or clawed his way out of hell.

The look on his face hardened. “Jon Hampton.” The name came out angry, almost biting.

I swallowed hard.

He knew. He knew the secret I had held back about Jon. It was one of my worst fears, especially after the things that he had shared with me. I had held back this one thing from Gavril, not bothering to give him the same courtesy.

It was the one regret I had with Gavril, other than falling in love with a man who could never love me in return.

“Why does it matter?” I asked softly, wanting to know what Jon had done to piss him off so much.

There was nothing I could do about it but hope that it was Jon’s parting blow at me and that he was moving on. Selfish as it seemed, I wanted him to leave that wound alone and move on.

Gavril’s beautiful eyes were the color of a summer storm, dark and gray and full of emotion that I didn’t want to decipher.

“What you have kept from me,” he finally said, “is a threat to us both.”

My stomach twisted, knowing that I should have told him when Jon first made his appearance back in my life. I just didn’t know what I was thinking.

“Jon is an FBI agent,” I started, my voice sounding weak and unsure to my own ears. “He’s one of the best in fact. First in his class. Rose through the ranks faster than any other agent had in quite a while.”

Though I hadn’t wanted to see Jon, I had kept my own tabs on him over the years, and when I had found out, a whole new fear had settled inside my soul. It had come by way of a link sent to my private email, one that I had taken great pains to keep hidden, never using it for anything.

I probably had twenty email addresses that I used for my accounts and such, trading them out every few years to try and keep Jon from learning my personal business.

It hadn’t worked.

The moment I had clicked on the link, I had known he had sent it to me.

It was a workplace picture, one taken by HR for a badge photo, but the letters underneath the photo had been enough to chill the blood in my veins.

***

“Come on,” Ilsa begged, tugging on my arm. “I’m hungry, and you are blocking me from eating!”

I laughed as I inserted the key into my door, pushing it open with one shoulder. “I have to put these groceries away first. Give me like two seconds, will you?”

She grumbled but let go of my arm, and I stepped into the dark apartment, my foot crunching on something as I did so.

The mail.

Sighing, I walked over to the counter to drop off the bags I had been carrying before I reached down to grab the stack of mail waiting for me. After a long day of work, my stomach was grumbling like my friend, and all I could envision was tacos and margaritas.

Ilsa flipped on the living room light. “What are you doing?”