Page 70 of The Bratva's Innocent Forbidden Bride
I smiled warmly at Dima’s wife as she made way for me to carry Tati inside. She was treating Tati like she was already family, based solely on how I acted. Sometimes I took my huge, caring family for granted, and that was about to stop. I needed to spend more time with my LA relatives, and not just when something was going wrong.
The physician rushed out when he heard us, and ordered me to carry Tati to the newest hospital room he’d set up in one of the many bedrooms. All the commotion woke her up, and she struggled to get out of my arms.
Her strength was a relief, and the stubborn scowl on her beautiful face had me grinning as well as putting her down.
“See? I can walk. It’s not as bad as you think. The nap in the car fixed me right up.” But as soon as she took one step, she winced in pain and grabbed her ribs.
The doctor and I exchanged glances, and he snapped for his assistant to bring out the wheelchair. Tati balked and told him he better not.
“Tati,” I said warningly. “You don’t need to be strong anymore. Let the man take care of you.” I gently gripped her hand, realizing her struggle to stay in control was based on leftover fear.
She relaxed, but not by much, whipping her head around to look at me with wide eyes. “Did you say Papa was here? Or did I imagine that?”
Her look of hope made my heart twist. “He’s here,” I said. “But you need to get fixed up first.” I didn’t think it would do her much good to see Grigor in his current state, and hopefully, the doc had cuffed him to the bed to keep him from crashing around like a bull anymore.
I waved the doctor back to the room he’d prepared, and carefully took Tati in my arms. “Your father is fine, but he needs rest—”
“Why?” she interrupted. “Is it that bad?”
“It’s not good, but I promise you he’s fine. He’ll be back to normal soon enough, driving me up a wall.”
And walking you down an aisle. I shook the thought off as soon as it landed in my head, but it was determined to stay there. Would Tati want any part of me now, though, after all those weeks of not trusting her father, and by extension, her?
None of that was the most important thing at the moment. “Let the doctor look at you, and then I’ll let you see him.”
“Let me?” she scoffed, but it was with a slight smile. “You’re too bossy, and you worry too much.”
“Damn right I am, and yes, I do worry. How can I not worry about the woman I love?”
I slid my hands down her back, and she gasped, but not with pain. Her eyes were bright, and her smile grew wider.
“Kon,” she whispered, gazing up at me. The only thing I needed.
“I do love you,” I said. “I should have trusted you, should have done what you said, just with an army of guards surrounding you.”
She shook her head. “I should have listened to your reasons. You were the one who was right.” She reached up to rub the back of her head, but then let her hands fall onto my shoulders. “I prayed you wouldn’t go to that other place, but I couldn’t dare to hope you’d find me.”
“You’ll have to change your thinking about that,” I told her. “Because for one thing, you’re never leaving my sight again, and even if you do… Tati, I’ll find you. You’re mine. You’re—”
She raised up on her toes and pressed her lips to mine in answer. As much as I wanted to crush her closer to me, I didn’t want to hurt her. She seemed to forget her injuries as our tongues brushed against each other. Her soft sigh was warm against my mouth.
Finally, after hours of ice-cold fear and worry, peace settled over me as she held on tight. This was all I wanted. Nothing was truly settled; a war was still waging outside these walls, and much too close for comfort. But it didn’t matter with Tati in my arms. Everything bad faded away.
Until a hoarse shout broke us apart. On instinct, I jumped in front of Tati to protect her from this latest threat.
“What the hell is going on?” Grigor yelled, advancing on me as best he could. Once again, he tore out the tubes connected to his arm and tossed the rolling stand aside.
“Papa,” Tati shrieked, but his wild eyes were fixed on me.
He had already seen that she was alive and reasonably well, and also witnessed us in a passionate clinch. Not exactlythe way I wanted to break the news to him about my feelings for his daughter.
He was prepared to break my face, advancing on me with surprising strength. “I see what your so-called rescue was all about,” he roared. “You kidnapped her. Brainwashed her. Used her for your own ends. And now I see you’re all over her, too? You’re going to fucking die for this.”
As battered as he was, he found it in him to lunge at me with his bandaged hands upraised. I could hardly blame my old friend for his outrage. I would have done the same, and his reputation with women was far cleaner than mine. I did have a history of meaningless flings, but the operative word was history. That was all in the past. I was a one-woman man now, and that woman just happened to be Grigor’s daughter.
I had no words of apology, because while I might have changed a few things I did to get to this point, I couldn’t change my feelings for her. And I couldn’t be sorry about that kind of love.
But I could let him get in a few punches, and one of them fucking hurt. “All right, enough of that,” I said, blocking his next blow.
