Knocked Up By the Russian Boss by Bella King
Chapter 45
IVORY
I’ve never seen my father so aggressive in my life, and I’m petrified of how unpredictable this entire encounter has been. I could have never expected anything like this, even if I knew that the dinner would have gone poorly no matter what.
There’s no escape for me if Maxim doesn’t come back, but why wouldn’t he come back?! Who is this person I allowed to impregnate me?
“You’re coming with me,” growls my father as he wraps his entire hand around my upper arm, squeezing it like an overripe peach and leaving bruises to match.
Physical strength has never been something I’ve had very much of, but I feel completely powerless as he nearly drags me down the hallway back into the foyer where we came in. I’m convinced that even if I threw myself to the ground in protest, he would continue pulling me without missing a beat until my arm was torn from its socket.
I see Maxim from the far side of the hallway, and I try so hard to scream to him, but my words fail me, and my voice falters. All I can do to communicate with him is stare at him with my eyes wide as I struggle against my father’s unrelenting grip.
Suddenly, I’m deafened by the sounds of gunfire, and an infernal ringing replaces my inner panic.
While I can’t think, my father takes advantage of how stunned I am and drags me out the door while firing back at Maxim with a pistol he kept concealed the entire time. Had he been planning to hurt Maxim from the beginning?
The nearest vehicle becomes the target that my father rampages toward, throwing me into the passenger seat from the driver’s side door and shoving me to the side as he starts the car. He takes off speeding down the driveway, and I know that if I tried to open the door and escape, I’d be grated against the pavement in seconds.
The gates open without a problem, of course, and we take off down the road, leaving Maxim behind as he crashes through the doors a moment too late.
“What the fuck is going on? What’s happening?” I shout. My father is silent at first, almost as if he’s attempting to worsen my unease by withholding information.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on,” I demand. I’ve lost all sense of decorum, all of my careful feminine sensibilities, all of my respect for my elders.
“Ivory, you were about to involve yourself with a very dangerous rival of mine,” he responds casually, which infuriates me, given how mishandled I’ve been. “He was using you to obtain information about me and my campaign for blackmail, and you were stupid and naïve enough to let him do it,” he says.
I feel my cheeks lose their color as my stomach drops.
“And, by the way, I was the one who had Chad killed, sweetheart. He was trying to infiltrate our family just as Maxim has succeeded at doing, only because Maxim is older and knows how to appeal to the clueless romantic nature of young women. Chad was an idiot,” he continues, his tone steady and unbothered as if he’s telling me facts about the rain patterns in the Appalachian Mountains.
“Wait, what about … ?” I begin, unable to verbalize the next portion of my horror.
“The text messages?” My father asks with a laugh. “I had to keep you off my trail, obviously. Having your laptop stolen by the police was just another way to keep you fearful enough to avoid investigating further. It was really all for your own good, I assure you. You’ll understand when you’re older, and you learn how the world operates for people like us.”
I can feel my vision going spotty. This is all too much for me. One of the worst things about all this is that not one single person at my school told me that Chad’s death was suspicious. Not Courtney, not Spencer, not anyone. Everybody allowed me to feel like his death was my fault for denying his advances.
“What about the dead body? Did you send that picture too?” I scream at him, infuriated by what he’s done. I almost don’t believe it, but after what I’ve seen, I don’t have much of a choice. He’s telling it straight to my face.
“The dead body is Maxim’s brother, Sergei. I did do my best to avoid the execution route, sweetheart, but he refused to give up any information about Maxim. He would have run right back to him and squealed, putting myself and my family in danger. You need to be mature about this and understand that this is dangerous business,” my father explains, clearly frustrated by my lack of understanding as to why he’s murdered multiple people to maintain his political campaign.
“Anyway, I hope you understand that Maxim has committed a grievous offense against our family and reputation, and he has approximately as long as it takes me to find him before he’s dead in the water. You won’t say shit about it, either,” he says with a low growl in his voice.
At this point, I’d be willing to throw myself from the car if it weren’t for the baby. Whether or not Maxim’s intentions were good, I feel deep in my soul that he does truly care for me and that he wants to love this baby and me and keep us safe.
My father is a greedy, cheating snake of a politician. Why should I believe anything he says? I’ve seen the way he operates, and it’s no surprise to me that I’m the only person on the planet who loves him. Who is he to tell me Maxim is just using me?
I clearly have very few options at this moment in time, so for now, I’ll need to sit back and shut up while I think of a way to escape.
