Chapter 12 Cristian
CRISTIAN
I keep my gun hand steady despite wanting to paint Maksim’s hedges with his brains.
The tactical part of my brain calculates variables—four Bratva guards within earshot, two more at the perimeter.
My SUV is parked ninety seconds from our current position. Maksim's security response time is likely under thirty seconds.
Not great odds.
But looking at Valentina, her face pale, eyes wide with fear she's desperately trying to hide, I'd take worse odds any day.
"Let me make something clear," I say. "Miss Dante agreed to marry you. She didn't agree to be mauled before the wedding. Alessandro's orders were explicit about protecting her virtue until your wedding night."
Maksim's shoulders tense under his expensive suit.
I can practically see the calculations running through his mind—kill me now and risk open war or swallow his pride and bide his time.
Maksim's face shifts, the murderous rage morphing into smug amusement.
He lifts his hands in mock surrender and takes a single step back from Valentina. "Such dedication to your job. The Dantes train their dogs well."
I keep my weapon steady.
If I pull this trigger, I'm a dead man, but so is he.
It might be worth it if I knew Valentina could get out of here unscathed.
"My apologies for the… enthusiasm." Maksim straightens his tie. "I simply got carried away at the thought of my wedding night. You can hardly blame a man for wanting to sample something that looks so delicious, no?"
My finger twitches against the trigger.
The casual way he speaks about her like she's a meal makes my blood simmer.
"A virgin bride is rare these days," he continues, as if we're discussing the weather. "Alessandro assured me she's pure. I trust that's still the case? You've been doing your job properly, yes?"
I force my face to remain neutral even as I picture putting a bullet between his eyes. "Miss Dante is a lady and she'll be treated as such."
Maksim laughs. "Of course. A lady now…" His eyes rake over Valentina's body. "And whatever I want her to be after our vows."
Valentina's jaw tightens, her eyes flashing with defiance even as her body remains rigid with tension.
My hand twitches.
This motherfucker must die.
She gives me a small head shake to warn me off. "I appreciate your enthusiasm for our upcoming marriage." She smooths her dress, a casual gesture that radiates dignity as she steps away from the wall. "But I'm afraid I need to leave now. My brothers are expecting me home."
Maksim's eyes narrow.
I can see that he wants to assert dominance, but he's smart enough to know that antagonizing the Dantes unnecessarily is dangerous ground.
"Of course," Maksim finally says. "Family is important. Soon enough, you'll be observing Bratva traditions instead."
Slowly, I lower my weapon, sliding it back into my shoulder holster.
My hand stays close, the jacket open enough for quick access.
"Shall we?" Valentina extends her hand to Maksim.
He takes it, pressing his lips to her knuckles, and the urge to shoot him surges again. "I look forward to our next meeting, my dear."
“Let’s go, Cristian.” She leads the way out of the garden, me following behind, wishing I had more eyes as I scan every possible way to make sure we won’t be killed or stopped on our way out.
As we exit the garden and walk toward the SUV, Maksim watches us, his predatory gaze following Valentina's every movement.
I position myself slightly between them, my hand hovering near my weapon.
Only when we're safely inside the vehicle with the doors locked do I allow myself to breathe.
The air between us is electric with tension as I start the engine.
Valentina's composure finally cracks.
Her hands tremble in her lap.
"Thank you," she whispers, voice barely audible over the engine.
I whip out of the drive and make it several miles down the road before I pull over and kill the engine.
Rage boils over.
It’s all I can do to keep from turning around to put a bullet in Maksim's skull, consequences be damned. "He won't touch you like that again."
"You can't always be there." Her voice breaks on the last word.
I turn to face her properly. "Watch me."
Our eyes meet. That crazy connection we have, the one that will get us killed, passes between us.
"Are you okay?" I ask, trying to resist the urge to pull her close.
Valentina's trembling intensifies.
She presses her hand against her heart.
I can only imagine how fast it’s beating.
"His words… they're still in my head. The way he talked about what he plans to do to me. Like I'm not even a person."
The fury that surges through me is primal, visceral. I've killed men for less than the fear I see in her eyes right now.
"Valentina…"
"I can't do it." Her voice breaks completely now, tears spilling over. "I know what my duty is. I know what I promised Alessandro. But I can't…" She shudders. "I can't bear the thought of him touching me. Of being trapped with him for the rest of my life."
The pain in her voice guts me.
I reach across the space between us, unable to stop myself from taking her hand.
Her fingers are ice cold.
"I won't let him hurt you." The promise escapes my lips even though I know it’s a vow I have no power to keep.
Her eyes meet mine, searching. "How can you stop it? How can anyone? Once I'm his wife…"
The unfinished thought hangs between us. We both know what happens to women who displease Maksim.
I pull her into my arms without thinking, needing to take away her fear but feeling wholly inadequate. "Listen to me, I know you're scared. You have every right to be."
She fits perfectly against me, her head tucked beneath my chin.
The scent of her fills my senses, making my head swim.
"I can't stand by and watch him hurt you."
Valentina pulls back just enough to look at me, her gray eyes filled with tears.
One escapes, tracking down her cheek.
I catch it with my thumb, the simple touch sending electricity crackling between us.
"What are you saying?"
I'm saying too much.
Risking too much.
But with her looking at me like I'm her only hope, I can't stop.
"I'm saying there are always options. Always choices." My hand cups her cheek, an intimate gesture I have no right to make. "I won't let you face him alone."
Hope and disbelief play tug-of-war in her eyes. Her hands clutch the front of my shirt. “How can that happen? He won’t let you—”
“I don’t know yet.” Right now, my choices are to kill Maksim or run away with her.
I could do both.
Maybe I could convince Alessandro to back out of this part of their deal.
I look deeply into her eyes that have haunted my dreams for weeks now.
The fear in her eyes shifts, and I’m glad for it even as I understand what’s changing is equally as dangerous as defying Maksim.
The intensity between us crackles with forbidden energy.
Her lips part, and God help me, I'm falling.
Falling into her, falling for her, with nothing to break my fall but the hope that she might catch me.
"Will you…" Valentina's voice trembles, her fingers tightening their grip on my shirt. "Now that you know what awaits me, will you take my virginity, Cristian?"
My body responds before my mind. Heat rushes through me straight to my dick. My heart charges at breakneck speed.
"I can't bear giving that part of myself to him," she continues in a rush. "Not knowing what he'll do to me once I'm his. I want it to be with someone who…" She swallows hard. "Someone who sees me as a person. Someone gentle. Someone I choose."
God help me, I want to say yes.
Every cell in my body screams to claim her, to mark her as mine in the most primal way possible, to show her what it means to be touched by a man who worships rather than possesses.
I cup her face in my hands, our foreheads nearly touching.
Her breath is sweet against my lips, and I'm dizzy with want.
But it’s more than a physical desire.
The raw vulnerability in her request tears at me.
I’d give everything for her.
My life, even.
But this… giving her a night of true passion shared between two people is the one thing neither of us can afford to give.
"Valentina… You don't know what you're asking."
"I do." Her voice grows stronger. "I've never been more sure of anything."
My thumbs trace the delicate curve of her cheekbones. "If I took you, if we crossed that line, do you understand what would happen? Maksim could know on your wedding night. He might know you weren't pure."
She flinches slightly but doesn't look away. "So?"
"So? He'd kill you. Not quickly. Not mercifully.
And before that, he'd make you tell him who took what he considers his property.
He'd come for me too, which I could handle.” Bring it on, I think.
“But your brothers would be dragged into it.
The peace would shatter." Personally, I think the price being paid for peace is too high.
But it will be for naught if they go through with this arrangement only to have Maksim feel slighted and start the war all over.
I drop my hands from her face. I need to create space between us.
Tears spill down her cheeks now, and it takes everything I have not to brush them away.
Not to pull her back into my arms.
"So, I'm just supposed to sacrifice myself? Hand my body over to a monster to keep the peace?"
The anguish in her voice cuts me to the bone.
I've killed men without hesitation, faced down enemies without fear, but watching her pain and being unable to take it away is a torture beyond anything I've experienced.
"No," I finally say. "No, that's not what I'm saying."
I take her hand, pressing it against my heart. "I'm saying we need to be smarter than that. What you're asking for, what I want more than my next breath, it can't happen. But I won’t let Maksim hurt you.”
Her eyes search mine, and I see a faith in me that I don’t feel worthy of. "How?"
"I don't know yet. But I swear to you, I will find a way to protect you from him. No matter the cost."
“But you won’t be with me.”
“Valentina—”
Her hands slip from mine.
The disappointment in her eyes makes me hate myself.
"So your loyalty to my brother outweighs everything else. Even me.”
My chest tightens. "It’s to protect you that I’m saying no—"
"Don't." She turns toward the window. "You've made yourself clear."
The silence between us stretches.
She's right there, close enough to touch, yet the distance between us now might as well be miles.
I grip the steering wheel, fighting the urge to pull her back into my arms and damn all consequences.
But I can see the future too clearly. Maksim discovering she's not a virgin, the torture he'd inflict to learn who touched her, the bodies that would pile up in the resulting war.
And at the center of it all, Valentina, paying the ultimate price for my weakness.
I start the engine, the sound of it filling the silence.
As we pull back onto the road, I glance over at her.
A tear tracks down her cheek, and she makes no move to wipe it away. I’m as big of a motherfucker as Maksim.
I've protected her body, but I've wounded her heart.
And I have no idea how to make that right without getting us both killed.