Claimed Bratva Virgin (Yezhov Bratva #4)

Chapter 17 – Rafayel

I gripped the steering wheel tighter as I spotted her car ahead.

I’d always known you couldn’t trust a woman. But we didn’t listen to our heads, right? Sometimes, we’d see the burning orange and yellow flames and still dive right in.

Tikhon wanted to tag along, but I shut down his request. This was my shit to handle. Mine and mine alone. If anyone had to deal with her, it was me. And despite the pressure sitting on my chest like a boulder, I was going to snap her fucking neck with pleasure.

Did she honestly think she could slip away from me? Didn’t matter what she thought at this point; I wasn’t letting her out of my goddamn sight.

The taillights of her Audi glinted under the streetlights as she weaved through minimal traffic. I kept my foot on the accelerator to match her pace, maintaining enough distance not to catch her attention immediately.

I had blood roaring in my ears and intoxicating adrenaline rushing in my blood, like a juvenile on fucking meth. I couldn’t tell what pissed me off more, accepting that Ivan and Andrei were right or not understanding why her betrayal felt like a fucking dagger had gone through my chest.

It burned.

Then, at that distance, she accelerated, as if sensing my presence.

A grin tugged at my lips. Fucking underestimating her. Leonora knew I was here. Good. Let’s see how far she thought she could run.

I slammed my foot on the gas, feeling the engine roar to life as I surged forward.

I expected her to be as good as the blogs and headlines on the news gave her credit. I’d seen for myself her strength and bloody hellish skills on the track. So, when she darted through cars, taking sharp turns, I stayed right on her tail. My car’s tires screeched as I followed her down a narrow side street, and the rest of the city blurred around me.

She was fast. And her fucking speed always had me impressed; I’d give her that. Not this time, though. I wasn’t about to let her slip through my fingers again. Not like last time. She’d won that round, but this one? This one was mine .

I stayed close, following every turn she took. I was there, and I was going to stay there until I had her. She tried to lose me in a maze of alleyways, but these California streets were more than familiar. They were almost home.

“Nice try, Leonya.”

There was no radio communication this time to tell her just how excited I was to be gaining up to her. I closed in on the distance.

Her car swerved into the highway, and a few moments later, she was zigzagging off. A distraction that wasn’t going to work, as she pushed her speed to the limit. I didn’t hesitate; I kept my hand steady on the wheel.

I hit the gas, pulling ahead of her car as the deserted road stretched out in front of us. The need to confront her was slowly biting in, overtaking every ounce of logic. The headlights from her car flared in my rearview mirror, but I didn’t care.

I veered sharply to the right, cutting her off. Her tires screeched as she slammed on the brakes, the car skidding to a stop mere inches from mine. The silence that followed was deafening, with only the faint sound of engines purring in the stretch of darkness.

I stepped out of my car, slamming the door behind me. The night was sharp and cold, but I barely noticed.

Leonora got out, too, furious and radiant under the faint glow of the moonlight. She looked ready to kill me as much as I wanted to kill her.

I forgot my fucking blade. Else, her throat would have had it first, and I’d have finally finished what I fucking started when Ivan brought her in that night.

Her fiery glare cut through the shadows as she stalked toward me.

“What the fuck is this, huh? What are you doing?”

I didn’t answer. Words weren’t enough for what burned inside me. Instead, I closed the distance between us in two swift steps. Before she could react, I grabbed her by the wrist and pushed her back, pinning her against the rough bark of a nearby tree. A gasp escaped her lips as her back hit the trunk, her body tensing beneath my grasp.

Her eyes widened, anger flashing as she tried to shove me away. “Get off me—”

“The question should be, why were you running?”

“What—”

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out?” I growled, cutting her off. My grip tightened on her wrists as I pressed them against the bark above her head, my body caging hers. “You thought I wouldn’t know?”

“Know what? You chased me down the road and now have me pinned to this stupid tree like a psychopath ready to snap my head off, and yet, I don’t fucking know what the hell is going on!”

“Enough with the fucking games already!” I slammed her hard against the bark, reveling in the groan of pain pouring out of her lips. “You fucking betrayed me!”

Her eyes widened in slight shock, and I knew she’d caught on. Her chest rose and fell like she’d run a marathon. She could try to run and escape me, but she couldn’t escape the truth.

It fucking burned when I thought I saw guilt. Or was it fear? Either way, it wasn’t enough.

She whispered, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t. Look, I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t—”

“Lies,” I snarled, slamming my hand against the tree beside her head. She flinched, her breath hitching, and it only stoked the fire burning in my chest. "You thought I was a fool, didn’t you? Smart Leo thought the big Russian was going to fall into her fucking trap and eat out of the palm of her—”

"I didn’t fucking know, Rafa," she cut me off. And when I peered deeper, I saw her eyelids shimmering with unshed tears.

Leonora’s voice quivered, and her hands came up, trembling, as if to plead with me. "I fucking swear it. Papa—my father…he didn’t tell me what he was planning. I didn’t know Luca was in the picture all along, Rafayel. You have to believe me!"

I wanted to.

God, I wanted to believe her. But the doubt coiled around my heart like a snake, tightening with every word she spoke. I stepped closer, caging her in, my body inches from hers. Her scent filled my lungs, intoxicating and maddening all at once.

"And you expect me to just take your word for it?"

Her lip trembled, and for a moment, she looked so fragile I almost softened. Almost. But then she dropped her gaze, and I knew she was hiding something. My hand shot out, gripping her chin and forcing her to look at me.

"Tell me the fucking truth, Leo," I demanded. "Every. Last. Word. Else, I am going to fucking snap your neck right now like a psychopath.”

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over as her composure cracked.

I hated it when she cried. Her tears upset me, made me want to hurt every damn person that hurt her. But now, I was the one hurting her, and while I still felt like a piece of shit, I needed to fight those unexplainable emotions and look past them.

“ Uno Italia, ” she said, looking up at me to clarify. “One Italy. Papa wants a Colombo-Rossi alliance. That was the plan all along. He…he set me up to marry Luca, to secure our legacy—”

My mouth crashed onto hers, taking what was only fucking mine, punishing and raw. My blood roared like a fucking pressure cooker, red-hot fury consuming me at the mention of that bastard’s name.

I cupped her jaw, my fingers tightening to pry her mouth apart, giving way for my tongue to plunge deeper. She tasted just as sweet as I remembered, and for some reason, that irked me more.

I tilted her face up, growling against her swollen mouth, “You’re mine, Leonya. Only mine,” before diving in again.

She gasped against me, her hands gripping my shirt as if she didn’t know whether to push me away or pull me closer. I didn’t care. I deepened it, nipping harshly. Possessive, I claimed her in a way words never could. She was mine, and I needed her to feel it, to know it in her bones.

When I finally pulled back, her lips were pink, her cheeks flushed, and her breath came in short, uneven bursts. She looked up at me through tear-filled eyes.

Shit. She was crying again.

“I didn’t want it. I didn’t choose it. He’s using me, just like he used me to get to you. But I swear to you, I would never—” She paused. Then, she burst into full-blown tears, like she did back at my house when she hugged me. “Rafa, I’m pregnant.”

The announcement hit me like a blow to the chest. I froze, my mind racing to process what she’d just said.

The silence stretched between us.

“What did you say?”

Her hands moved to her stomach, a gesture so subtle, so instinctive, that it made the truth sink in. “I’m carrying your child, Rafayel.”

I wanted to believe her. But doubt lingered, festering like an open wound. I narrowed my eyes at her flat stomach.

“How long?”

“Seven weeks,” she responded in a heartbeat.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

But the answer stared at me in the face before she answered. “I found out today. The lone hospital trip? That’s where I received the diagnosis. Honestly, the signs were there, but I didn’t want to believe it. Coupled with that, you kept your distance. I couldn’t just come running to tell you I was pregnant now, or could I? Would you have believed me?”

It made sense. When she said she was scared, I hadn’t understood her fear better until now. Leonora was a smart woman. Betraying me and getting married, though accidentally, wouldn’t have been a mistake she would have made at the same time. She would have geared up, equipped, and prepared herself to sever all ties with me when the time came.

That was the most logical reason I could come up with because if I didn’t, my head would explode with all the uncertainty.

A thousand emotions surged through me at once.

Shock. Anger. Confusion. Protectiveness. They clashed, vying for dominance, leaving me standing there, staring at her like the ground had been ripped out from under me.

I looked at her, truly looked at her. For the first time in what felt like forever, I saw her vulnerability, fear, and hope. And I realized that whatever else I felt, one thing was certain: If she was carrying my child, I would protect them both.

Even if it killed me.