Page 83 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

Not that I would need to. I just needed to keep them busy for long enough for Alec to run.

Reaching behind me, I shook him as gently as I could, and he must have been on high alert as well because he bolted upright almost instantly.

"Mama," he croaked.

"Stay behind me. Run when you get the chance."

Marguerite's laughter cut me off. She came striding into the room, her designer heels click-clacking on the bare floorboards.

I stiffened, keeping one arm behind me to keep Alec where he was.

"You’re both awake." Marguerite came to a stop six feet from us, and from my place on the filthy, threadbare mattress, she looked impossibly tall. "I was starting to think you would just wither away and die in here." Her eyes raked up and down my torn, grubby clothes. "But you’ve never been one to go away quietly, have you, Daisy?" Not waiting for me to reply, she motioned towards the door.

I went rigid. "I won’t let you win. You won’t hurt him." Behind me, Alec was shaking.

I couldn’t even imagine the terror he was feeling. He was too young to understand why this was happening. Hell, I was a grown-up, and I could barely wrap my head around it.

A chair was carried in for her, and she fell into it, crossing her legs daintily at the ankles so I could see the red bottoms of her high heels.

"I’ve already won, Daisy." She placed her left hand on her knee, and the diamond of her engagement ring glittered.

Bile rushed up my throat. She still had her engagement ring on. That meant he hadn’t called it off. Ilya believed I had taken our son.

He would believe I murdered him as well.

"I won years ago," Marguerite continued. "You see, my engagement to Ilya was spoken about before you even came into the picture. His grandfather chose me." She smiled sardonically. "Of course, Ilya falling in love with you wasn’t part of the plan."

I stared at her in shock.

"Oh, he did love you," she continued. "He still does, even though he hates himself for it." She shook her head. "I thought we had gotten rid of you, so imagine my surprise when I turned up at his place and there you were. Living under his roof again. And even that fire didn’t kill you. He risked his life to save you."

Did she cause the fire too? God, she was a fiend.

She leant forward. "Tell me, has he been sharing your bed as well?"

I didn’t say a word. But something must have shown on my face, because her face twisted in rage.

"He was fucking you, wasn’t he?"

"Papa loves my mama," a small but strong voice said firmly from behind me.

My hand on his arm trembled as I tried to force him to stay behind me where it was relatively safe.

Marguerite's lips thinned. "Oh, I have no doubt about that, you snot-nosed little brat. But there’s a fine line between love and hate, and by the time I finish here, he is going to hate her."

"He won’t! He loves—"

I hushed him, trying desperately to keep my voice soothing.

"Do you think he loves you, Daisy?"

I stared at Marguerite with open hostility on my face. Did I think Ilya loved me? If I answered honestly, I didn’t know. Once upon a time, I had thought he did. The thought must have been clear on my face because her smile grew to epic proportions. No person should smile like she was smiling at me.

"He did, you know."

I blinked at her.

"Back when you fell pregnant, maybe even before, he had planned on marrying you."