Page 62 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

"What the hell is going on in here?" Quickly, his eyes scanned the room, taking in her prone form and then where I was shielding Alec.

An uneasy silence fell.

"She was in here with—" I began to say and fell silent. The man was gone. I couldn’t even see him in the crowd. "She was in here with another man."

Ilya's eyes narrowed. "Who?"

I swallowed hard. I knew that quiet, calm voice better than anyone. It meant he was furious.

"She’s lying!" Marguerite screamed, pushing herself up from the floor to tower over me. Next to me, Alec shrank back, hiding his face in my leg. I tightened my arms around him, desperately trying to shield him from the ugliness that was about to come.

"I followed Alec in here. I knew you wanted him at the party, so I was going to bring him back, and then she came in and attacked me." As if to prove her point, she touched the rapidly forming bump on her temple where she had smashed her face against the bed frame.

"She told me to get out." Rushing forward, she tried to hide her face in Ilya's chest, only he stepped away.

"What do you mean she attacked you?" His eyes darted between the two of us. "Why would Daisy do that?"

"Because she wants you, Ilya." The angry words ripped themselves from Marguerite's painted mouth. "You have to see it. You can’t be that blind. She is in love with you."

Ilya's eyes darted towards me, an indent between his eyebrows.

"Daisy is not in love with me," he said with a sigh. But his eyes kept flicking towards me almost like he wanted to ask me if it was true. I kept my lips tightly shut. "She is Alexander’s nanny. An employee. Whatever you think you know, Marguerite, it’s wrong."

She lifted her chin, her shoulders straightening. "She’s not just his nanny, though, is she?" Her voice was rising to a fever pitch. "I had my father look into her when I first saw her here, and do you know what I found out?"

I could do nothing but stand there. My throat working as I tried to swallow down the bile rushing into my mouth. She was about to out me for the entire party to hear, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

"I thought it was strange that she was so comfortable around you both," she continued. "It wasn’t proper how she looked at you." Marguerite was on a roll now, her words meant for the audience that had gathered, and she was going for maximum damage.

"And you looked at her too." Her chin wobbled dramatically. "You thought I didn’t see, but I did. I could tell you wanted her." Theatrically, she wiped at her dry eyes. "I thought it was kind of clichéd, the powerful man lusting after the help, but she’s not the help, is she?" Not waiting for him to reply, she added, "She’s his—"

"That’s enough," Ilya snapped. "We can discuss this in private when our guests have left."

She flashed angry eyes at him. "She’s his mother. Alexander’s birth mother."

A gasp went up from their guests.

"She was paid to give birth to him and then left with a hefty check." Eyes darting to me, Marguerite scowled. "I know the game you are playing, Daisy. What happened? Did the money run out?" She took a threatening step towards me, and I pushed Alexander behind me. "Did you think you could come back in here and make Ilya love you?" She scoffed. "Ilya is my fiancé. Alexander will be my child. You’re nothing but a money-hungry broodmare who doesn’t care about either of them."

"I love—"

"Tell them I’m lying. Defend yourself." Roughly, she pushed at my shoulders. "I won’t let some jumped-up gold digger take what’s mine."

I shoved her right back. "What’s yours? You were in here with another man. Kissing him. I am Alec’s mother; I won’t ever deny that."

I desperately wanted to look behind me to see Alec’s reaction, but I couldn’t look away from the screaming hellcat in front of me.

"See, you heard it from her mouth. She’s been trying to seduce my fiancé. She’s nothing but a—"

I slapped her, straight across the face, rocking her head back.

"You all saw it. You saw her slap me." Hand to her red cheek, she lifted her tear-filled eyes to Ilya. "I want to press charges."

He didn’t say a word. He just stared at her, and then he shook his head. "No."

A murmur went up from behind me.

"No?"