Page 93 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

She let out a hissing breath, her eyes wildly roving over my face.

"I have been in love with you for over six years, Daisy." For a second I closed my eyes. Because next to the fear of almost losing them, this was the scariest thing I had ever done in my entire life.

I wasn’t the kind of man who laid his heart out. Most people would say I didn’t have a heart, and for a long time I had believed them. It was Daisy who made me realize that I could love.

She deserved to know that I loved her so much that at times it felt like I was drowning when she wasn’t near. In the years she had been gone, I had been half a man. A ghost. Alive but not living. And each minute without her had felt like I was suffocating.

"But—"

Leaning forward, I pressed my thumb against her lips. "I know I don’t deserve a second chance," I whispered. "I believed the worst in you, instead of what I knew you were like. I thought you had run from us." My breath shuddered in my chest. "I thought what we had meant nothing to you. After you left, I was in so much pain that I almost wanted to kill myself."

Daisy's eyes widened. "But I didn’t—" she hiccuped softly. "I didn’t run. I didn’t leave you, Ilya. I wasn’t given any other choice."

"I know," I murmured softly. "I know that now. I know my grandfather forced you away. I know he threatened you. I know everything, and I am ashamed."

"You hurt me," she whispered. "Maybe not physically, but emotionally. You’ve punished me for something I never did, Ilya. I don’t think I can go through that again even if I do love you."

"It won’t be like that," I promised, almost jumping from the seat to the edge of the bed so I could pull her into my arms. "I swear, Daisy. It won’t be like before." Suddenly I paused. Pullingaway slightly, I searched her face as I realized what she had just said. "Wait, did you just say—"

Her eyes darted away.

"No." I forced her to look at me. "No, you don’t get to hide from what you just said."

"It’s not important."

"You said you love me." I kept my gaze locked in hers. "Didn’t you?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"And is that how you really feel?" I didn’t want to give myself hope if there wasn’t any. Like Daisy, I couldn’t go through the heartache again.

"Do you love me, Daisy?" I asked softly. "Because I love you."

Her eyes darted up to meet mine.

"I am so fucking in love with you," I admitted, and the words flowed. "That it’s hard to breathe when you’re not in the same room. I have been in love with you from the moment I first laid eyes on you."

"Yes, Ilya. I love you. I always have."

At first I didn’t believe my ears, and then I realized she was looking at me expectantly, and my lips found the corner of her mouth. Just the smallest press of my lips against hers.

"Stay here," I murmured against her lips. "Don’t move."

"Where are you going?" she asked, sitting up straighter in the bed. She looked so tiny sitting there amongst all the pillows.

I didn’t answer her; moving into the other room, I headed towards the safe.

When I came back, falling onto one knee at her bedside, there was a blue leather box in my hand. I flicked it open.

For a second, Daisy's eyes darted down to the antique sapphire and diamond ring nestled against the fabric.

"Ilya?" she whispered, her eyes darting from the ring to my face in quick succession. "What is this?"

"An engagement ring, Daisy," I said with a chuckle.

"When did you—" She kept looking at the ring like she recognized it. "That’s not the ring you gave—"

I cut her off before she could finish. It was insulting that she thought I would give her the same ring as that snake.