Page 30 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

She always was the smart one.

"You will care for him and for any other children I have."

Her head whipped up.

"That’s right, Daisy, you will care for Alec and the children I have with my new bride."

Until that moment, I had never even thought about getting married. The only person I had ever wanted was standing in front of me with tears in her eyes. It was those tears that egged me on. It hurt her to think about me with someone else.

Good.

I wanted her to hurt because she had hurt me.

"You will stay here in my home and watch me build a family with another." I pointed to the elevator. "Or you will leave right now. And never come back. I won’t hesitate a second time. I will kill you."

I let the words hang in the air so she knew I was serious.

"What is it going to be, Daisy?" I asked finally. "Do you love your son enough to watch him be raised by another woman? Do you want to be in his life enough that you—"

She didn’t let me finish. A sob ripped its way out of her throat. But it was a sob that sounded like a yes.

Chapter Eleven

Daisy

"Yes." The single word ripped its way out of my throat before I had even made the mental decision. Tears ran down my face, and I didn’t lift my hands to wipe them away. I wanted Ilya to see them. Hell, it probably gave him some sick, twisted gratification to see them. He probably got off on my pain.

And I was in pain. I had been for six years. Back then, I hadn’t been given a choice. I could either leave or take a bullet. Sometimes I thought I should have taken the bullet. It would have been less painful, and Alec wouldn’t have thought—I paused. Alec had thought I was dead anyway because that’s what he had been told by his father.

That’s how much Ilya hated me. He had wiped me out of my son's life like I had never existed.

I had met Alec now. I had seen just what an amazing young boy he was. I was never going to leave him again.

Sniffing once, I straightened my shoulders and tilted my chin up to meet Ilya's eyes. Bright blue and as cold as glaciers, they stared back at me. Almost like he was shocked at my agreeing to it.

"Yes," I said again, more firmly.

"What?" Ilya's eyes darted down the length of my body and then back to my face like he couldn’t believe what I had just said.

"I’ll stay." With each word I said, I felt myself grow stronger. "I won’t let you take me away from my son again, Ilya. So I’ll stay. I’ll watch Alec grow up." My nose wrinkled as I sneered up at his shocked face. "I’ll raise my son," I stressed the word 'my', and his face darkened. "And you can go and marry whatever skank is stupid enough to fall for you and your lies."

I’d never called another woman that word before. I was, or at least I tried to be, a girl's girl. But anyone Ilya chose to share his life with was either in it for the money or completely clueless.

I’d taken maybe a step around him and was heading towards my room when he grabbed me by the arm, spun me around, and slammed me into the doorjamb with enough force that the air was pushed out of my lungs with a whoosh.

Stars erupted before my eyes as my head made contact with the wood.

"You," he spat, "don’t get to talk to me like that. Alec is my son. You don’t have any claim on him, Daisy. You forfeited that right when you abandoned us." Grabbing both of my wrists, he pinned them on either side of my head and leant closer. "And any woman I bring into my life," he sneered, "into my bed, is no concern of yours."

I answered his sneer with a smirk of my own, because would I hell be cowed by him.

"Oh, believe me, I’m not concerned," I retorted. "I know the only women who share your life are the ones that you have to pay for."

For a second, his eyes darkened so much I wasn’t sure if he was going to kiss me or hit me, and I swallowed hard, holding my breath.

Then he laughed, throwing back his head. "Oh, believe me, the only women I pay for are hookers and—" reaching out, he dragged his knuckles down my trembling cheek, "broodmares. Crappy in bed but good for a little stress relief." Back and forth he dragged his knuckles across my skin. "Not wife material, though. Not even mother material. Just a warm hole and a ripe womb."

I swallowed hard. Fuck, he was an asshole.