Bratva Bride (Bratva Series Book 1)

‘I really don’t think it’s a good idea.’ Illayana pursed her lips as she watched me with disapproval.

We had been arguing for the better part of an hour and we still weren’t making any progress. I wanted to join the hunting party tonight that’s going out to get our guns. She wanted me to stay here and rest, to let my body heal itself from the injuries I sustained after the explosion.

I could see her point, could see she was just concerned for me. But that was something she’d just have to get used to. I’d be head of the Cosa Nostra soon, which meant my life was going to be in constant danger. Better she get familiar with that feeling now as opposed to later.

‘I understand,’ I said, slowly unwrapping the bandage from around my torso.

I sat comfortably on the edge of her bed, Illayana sitting with her legs crossed on the floor directly in front of me. Her long, dark hair was up in a high ponytail and she was wearing a pair of black tights with a loose fitting top. She looked just as beautiful now as she did walking down the aisle.

Fuck, it’s my wedding night.

‘I don’t think you do. Your body has just gone through a major trauma. The last thing you need to do is more fighting.’

I groaned and had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Even I knew that rolling your eyes at a woman was just asking for trouble. ‘I know. You’ve said all this.’

I tossed the used bandage to the side and began applying more antiseptic cream to my wounds. In truth, I wasn’t that badly injured. Just some grazing and pretty intense bruising. My body ached whenever I move (not that I’d tell Illayana that) and I had a mild headache, but that was it. It looked a lot worse than it actually was. Which was why I think she was so determined to keep me here.

‘Then maybe you should fucking listen,’ she snapped.

I arched an eyebrow, secretly enjoying that sassy attitude more than I cared to admit. ‘Looks like someone put their cranky pants on this morning,’ I mumbled, wrapping a new round of bandages around my torso.

She scoffed, stretching her long legs out in front of her. ‘If you think this is me cranky, you’re in for a fucking surprise.’

Okay, that didn’t sound good.

The safest thing I could think of to do was change the subject. It was clear we weren’t going to solve this problem anytime soon. Unless she decided to finally listen to me.

Fucking doubtful.

We still had a couple of hours to kill before we were scheduled to leave. Nikolai and Lorenzo were monitoring the GPS feed in case they moved positions and we needed to readjust our plan.

I pushed off the bed, slinking down to the ground in front of Illayana and leaned back against the mattress. She watched me cautiously, her arctic blue eyes scanning my body for any sign of pain or discomfort.

Nice try, kotenok. I’m not going to make it that easy for you.

‘Tell me about Dominik. I know there’s an interesting story there.’

She laughed, her face lighting up with amusement. ‘That’s an understatement. It’s also an incredibly long story.’

I shrugged. ‘So what? We’ve got the time.’

She pursed her lips and frowned. I could tell she didn’t really want to get into it right now, but I couldn’t help myself. I was dying to know. She took a deep breath in and sighed. ‘Fine. But stop looking at me like I just killed your damn dog.’

I gave her a wide grin, flashing my teeth. She shook her head and chuckled, amusement dancing in her eyes.

‘It really is a long story, so I’ll just give you the short version.’ She took another deep breath before continuing. ‘As I’m sure you’ve figured out, my father is a twin. An identical twin. Usually, the role of the next Pakhan went to the first-born son. And even though Dominik was born two minutes before my father, my grandfather decided he wanted them to compete for the position. So, while they were growing up, he pitted them against each other, made them compete over anything and everything. My grandfather only wanted the best to walk in his footsteps. Over the years it became clear who the superior twin was.’

‘Your father?’

She nodded, pride shining in her eyes. ‘He was better at everything. Planning, strategizing, fighting, you name it. The better my father was, the more Dominik hated him. He held years of resentment towards him. He felt that the role of Pakhan was his birth right since he was born first, even if it was only by a few minutes. He hated the fact he had to compete for what he viewed was rightfully his. One day, my grandfather decided he wanted to expand into the States, but he also didn’t want to leave the safe confines of Russia. So, he decided to send my father to establish territory and begin the Volkov reign here in America. My uncle didn’t have a good reaction to that.’

‘Oh, I bet he didn’t.’ I interjected, immersed in the story.

‘He felt like he was being cheated out of what was his. A few nights before we were all set to leave, Dominik tried to kill my father. He figured the best way to show who was better once and for all was a fight to the death. He snuck into my father’s room late at night and tried to slit his throat, but my father had always been a light sleeper. He woke just before the blade pierced his skin and once he was awake, all hell broke loose. My father was so enraged by the fact his own brother tried to kill him that he beat Dominik within an inch of his life. We moved to Vegas the next day and didn’t speak a word to Dominik until he came to America years later.’

Daaaaamn. That really was an interesting story.

I couldn’t believe that for one, Dominik tried to kill his own brother and two, that Dimitri had let him live. He always struck me as an eye for an eye type of guy. So the fact that his own brother tried to murder him and he just let it slide was quite strange to me.

“My turn,” she said, adjusting her position and stretching out her legs. “Gabriella. I want to know what’s going on between the two of you.”

I frowned. “There’s nothing going on.”

“Didn’t look like it earlier,” she arched an eyebrow and I sighed.

“We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“Uh-huh, and?”

“And, that’s it. Everyone thought we’d get married; they actually kind of pushed for it. But we didn’t.”

“They?”

“My parents, her parents, a few of the other high-ranking families in the famiglia.” I shrugged. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we’re friends, but we’re familiar with each other.”

“Did you guys fuck?”

I winced. I was hoping to avoid that question. “Yes.”

“A lot?”

“Define a lot.”

She bit her lip, thinking it over. The action made me want to lean over and pull her lip from her teeth so I could take its place. “Once a week?”

“No.” I was really hoping she’d just drop this subject, but of course she didn’t.

“Once a month?”

“I don’t know the exact number,” I said, avoiding the question.

“It’s simple. Did you stick your dick in her at least once a month?” she snapped.

I narrowed my eyes. “Yes.”

“For how long?”

Groaning, I ran my hand down my face. “Can we just drop it? I mean this is a fucking stupid topic to talk about.”

“If you want, we can talk about you going off on the hunt later tonight instead?”

“I’d rather not, to be honest. What about your cousin? Dominik’s daughter? What’s the story there?’

To be honest, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about that slutty cousin of hers, but the subject change seemed to have distracted her from the argument we were having.

Anger flashed in her blue eyes. She scowled, her face scrunching up in displeasure. ‘I don’t want to talk about her.’

‘Aw, come on. I bet you’re just dying to bitch about her.’

She shook her head, her ponytail swaying in the air around her. ‘Nuh-uh. I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.’

‘And, what is it that I’m trying to do?’ I asked innocently.

She slapped me playfully on the chest, her smile lighting up the room. ‘Distract me. And like I said, it won’t work. I grew up with three brothers. I’ve seen all the tricks.’

I smirked. She hadn’t seen my tricks.

I slowly ran my fingers down her arm, enjoying the goose bumps that arose from my touch. She took a sharp intake of breath, her eyes blazing with fire and lust. Any thought of Gabriella vanished from her mind as I slowly trailed my hand lower, skimming across her stomach and stopping just above the waistband of her pants.

I watched her closely and all I saw on her face was a burning need. I dipped my hand down the front of her pants and the first thing I felt was lace.

I groaned, my eyes almost rolling into the back of my head. ‘Do you have any idea how long I’ve been dying to touch you like this?’ I whispered seductively, pulling her body closer.

She moaned, her head falling back as I cocooned her in a tight embrace.

‘So fucking long. Since that first moment I laid eyes on you,’ I breathed into the crook of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. ‘And now…now I’m going to fucking have you-‘

Knock, Knock

‘Apologies, Miss Illayana. Master Lukyan has sent for you,’ a soft, feminine voice said from the other side of the door.

I growled in frustration, my forehead burying into her shoulder. ‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,’ I growled.

She chuckled and ran her fingers through my hair soothingly, that one act causing shivers to run down my spine. I was a sucker for head scratches.

‘Let me see what she has to say, otherwise Lukyan could come himself.’

Oh, fuck no.

I gave her a little tap on the butt as she stood and made her way to the door.

‘Hurry.’

She tossed a seductive look over her shoulder, biting her lower lip and winking at me. It wasn’t helping the massive hard on I was sporting right now. I quickly grabbed a pillow from her bed and used it to cover myself just as the door opened.

The tiny woman on the other side kept her head down and hands clasped behind her back. ‘Apologies for disturbing you, Miss Illayana. Master Lukyan sent me. He requests your presence at the warehouse.’

“No, thanks!” I yelled from my position on the floor. “Tell him she’s busy.”

The woman’s head rose slightly, her brown eyes flicking to me, then Illayana. “Miss?”

“What does he want?” she asked, her head tilting to the side.

No way. This kid was going to cockblock me and he wasn’t even in the fucking room.

“I’m not sure, Miss Illayana. He was sparring with a Cosa Nostra man when he asked.”

Illayana nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

She closed the door and turned to look at me, excitement brimming all over her face. “I’ve just thought of the perfect solution to our problem.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t realise we had a problem?”

“You want to go on this ‘revenge hunt’ tonight. I want you to stay home and recover. Neither one of us is going to back down – hence the problem.”

“I don’t need to recover, I told you I’m fine.”

She raised her chin defiantly and narrowed her eyes. “Prove it then. Spar with me.”

I raised my brows in surprise, not at all prepared for that statement. “Spar…with you?” I asked incredulously.

She glared at me, her usually soft, delicate features turning hard and stoic. “Yes. With me.”

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “No, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Fuck. I could see the anger flowing through her like lava, her lip curling up into a very unladylike snarl.

“Be reasonable. I don’t want to hurt you.” I softened my voice in an attempt to calm her down, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Her fists clenched at her side, her entire body going rigid. Her face started to turn red, steam basically coming out of her ears.

Oh fuck, that can’t be a good sign.

“I see,” she said sternly, gritting her teeth.

Without another word, she spun around and walked out of the room.

“Illayana?” I called out after her, but she ignored me.

I sighed, dragging a hand down my face and cursed before following her.

I’m way too old for this shit.

“Illayana!” I tried again, but she continued to walk on as if she hadn’t heard me at all.

By the time I reached the stairs she was already halfway down. The air around her seemed to vibrate with anger with each step she took.

“I’m not chasing after you!” I yelled down to her.

She ignored me.

Again.

Okay, now I’m getting pissed off.

“Illayana!” I snapped.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and moved out of my field of vision without so much as a glance back in my direction.

Fine. If she didn’t want to be around me, why should I care? She’ll be back. They always come back.

And yet, the longer I stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for this wretched woman to come to her senses, the more uneasy I began to feel.

“If you think she’s going to come crawling back to you, you’re going to be waiting there a long time,” a deep voice spoke from the shadows.

I turned to see one of Dimitri’s men move into the light and stand right in front of me.

I shrugged and peered over the railing. “I don’t care if she comes back.” But even as the words left my mouth, I knew they were a crock of shit.

The man chuckled, shaking his head. “Right, of course.”

He went to slink back into the shadows, our conversation seemingly coming to an end, but I couldn’t help ask one question.

“Just out of curiosity, if I was interested in finding out where she was, and I’m not saying I am…but if I was…where would she be?”

I kept my gaze forward, refusing to look at the man. But even in my peripheral vision I could see the smirk on his face. I wanted to slap it right off him.

“Where she always goes when someone pisses her off.”

When he didn’t continue, I pinned him with a hard glare and arched an eyebrow. I didn’t care if he was a Bratva man. If he didn’t hurry up and talk, I really would slap it out of him.

“The warehouse.”