Owned by the Badman (Russian Bratva #1) Read Free Page B

nods, the displeasure somehow drifting away as he contemplates my carefully chosen words.
    “Do you know what it is that I do?” he asks, cocking his head to the side. I shake my head, again.
    “What do you know of me?” He questions.
    Apparently, this is question and answer time . I decide to oblige because I want to know everything I can about this man, my husband.
    “I was only given your name, Maxim Lasovska, and that my mother chose you to be my husband,” I admit looking around and noticing that we are not headed toward the reception. I frown in confusion, turning to face him.
    “We will not attend the reception. We are going home. Your home now too, I suppose,” he informs me as if he can read my thoughts.
    I suck in a breath; this is not how I pictured this day going. I thought I would have more time to mentally prepare for my wedding night. I thought I could somehow charm him into giving me more time . I thought wrong.
    “I have my mother’s bracelet still and my grandmother’s necklace. She told me I wasn’t to leave the reception before giving it all back to her.” Panic begins to claw up my throat, and my shoulders start to tremble. My mother is going to kill me.
    “Dimitri can take it to her after he drops us off,” Maxim offers. I look up at him in complete shock.
    No, Dimitri cannot take it to her. She will come over to Maxim’s house and beat me just for taking it off without being in her presence. I should have never accepted the offer to borrow them.
    “She ... I can’t … I need to be the one to give it to her,” I finally say, practically begging and pleading.
    Maxim’s intelligent gaze washes over me, reading me, understanding me. His large hand cups my cheek, and then he speaks so very softly, his voice deep and low—almost a growl.
    “She will not touch you, Haleigh. Nobody will touch you but me. Dimitri will take the jewelry to her, and if she has problem with it, she can come to me about it.” He grins and I gulp, nodding as I feel the car slow down and then stop. My eyes focus on my lap. This man is promising to stand in front of me and protect me if my mother comes barreling through here, ready to attack. I don’t understand it.
    I look up from where my eyes are trained on my lap, afraid to look into Maxim’s sparkling blue eyes. Instead, I train my gaze on what will now be my new home. I gasp as I take it in. It is nothing short of a mansion.
    My parents live in a huge apartment. It is three stories high and three thousand square feet. This home, however, makes my parents’ look like a hovel. It looks like a castle with nothing surrounding it but trees. It is hauntingly beautiful and so very remote.
    In the back of my mind, I know that this is where I am going to be kept, hidden away , shown off for business dinners and parties the same way my parents sent me to the stage just to show me off.
    Will I ever be more than something to look at? Will I ever have true worth?
    I won’t hold my breath for that day to come. I decide, at this moment, that I am going to make the best of my new life.
    This is a different show. The players have changed, but it’s a show just the same, and I am to be the female lead character just as I always have been.
    I wonder just who Maxim Lasovska is?
    Why did my parents readily hand me over to him?
    Then I wonder what exactly is he going to do with me?
     
     

    The little dove looks terrified . I can see the fight or flight reaction storming behind her lovely green eyes. Never did I imagine I would hold a wife as classy, beautiful, and well-bred as Haleigh. Growing up in the streets of Moscow, I figured the woman I would have as my wife would be some whore or junkie—if I ever decided to take a wife.
    I made my way through the ranks of the Bratva, and now, I am second in command of my area, Brighton Beach. It’s a predominantly Russian area of New York City. So Russian that, in fact, English is not even understood in the streets. I don’t