Bratva Bride (Bratva Series Book 1)

Okay, keep calm. Don’t lose it. Smile. That’s it. Just. Be. Cool.

Gabriella’s stupid face held a certain smugness, like the fact Arturo didn’t tell me about her presence was a good thing for her and a crappy thing for me.

It probably was.

Lukyan clicked his fingers, giving me that ‘something just clicked in my brain’ look. “Oh, that’s right. Didn’t he mention that some bitch was staying at his house for a bit?”

Thank you, brother.

“Oh, yeah,” I smirked. “That’s right, I completely forgot about that.” I looked down my nose at her as I barged my way through the door, making her stumble. Lukyan, Adrian and my guards strolled inside and they slammed the front door shut behind them.

A tall older man dressed in a plain suit walked into the room and gave a small bow. “May I take your bags?”

“Thank you, Mr…”

He blinked, startled, like no one had ever asked him his name before. “Bernardi. Aldo Bernardi.”

I repeated my thanks, adding his name with a smile. He gave a shaky smile back.

“Get me a coffee when you’re done,” Gabriella barked rudely. “And be quick about it.”

Aldo jumped and nodded quickly. “Yes, Miss Gallo. Right away.” He hobbled to Adrian and took one of the large suitcases, heading for the staircase.

Annoyance flared to life inside me and I glared at Gabriella. I hated people who treated the working class like that, like nothing more than the dirt beneath their shoes. It may have been Aldo’s job to serve but that didn’t give her the right to treat him like shit while he was doing it. There was nothing wrong with serving others.

“Help him with the bags, Lukyan.”

My brother nodded and rushed to the older man’s side, taking the suitcase from him and hefting it onto his shoulder. “Lead the way, Aldo.”

A look of gratitude flashed across Aldo’s face and he led the way up the circular staircase.

I glanced around the foyer, taking in the opulence drenching from the house. The gold-plated antique frames with expensive oil paintings and the sleek Italian marble flooring screamed wealth and luxury.

“I hope you’re okay with me staying here. I know you and Arturo are only recently married but as I’m sure he’s told you, this was the only solution.”

I put on my best fake smile and turned to face her. I couldn’t let her see the jealousy raging inside me. I had to save face. “Of course, anything to help the famiglia.”

Footsteps thundered and a moment later Arturo burst into the foyer, Vincenzo hot on his heels. My heart thumped hard looking at him in his black tailored suit, his gorgeous sculpted face making my blood heat and fire scorch through my veins.

His eyes flicked to Gabriella and then to me, unease flashing across his face. He was waiting for me to explode.

Of course, I would. But not in front of an audience.

“Husband,” I smiled sweetly, moving towards him. “I’m home.”

Without missing a beat, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair. “I can explain,” he whispered, for only me to hear.

“Oh, you will.” I let the venom drip from my voice so he could hear it and stepped back. He didn’t let me go far, keeping me locked in his arms. I looked at Vincenzo over his shoulder and he gave me a warm, comforting smile.

“Welcome to the De Luca mansion. Glad to have you here.”

“Thanks, Vincenzo. Appreciate it.”

The De Luca mansion was a beacon within the Cosa Nostra, a symbol of wealth and power. It was where every leader of the famiglia lived during their reign, first Francesco, Arturo’s grandfather and his wife, then Alessandro and Isabella, and now Arturo and I. Arturo explained the mansion had been in their family for decades, that it was a tradition to live in it when you ruled the Cosa Nostra. And he planned to honour it.

Arturo looked down at me. “You’re early. I wasn’t expecting you for another few hours. I would have picked you up from the airstrip if I knew.”

“I know,” I said, placing my hand on his cheek. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“Consider me surprised.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my mouth.

I kissed him back for a second and then bit down hard, dragging his lips between my teeth. He hissed, eyes burning, as he glared down at me. The taste of blood ran over my tongue and I finally released him, smirking at the faint trickle of blood running down his chin. “Missed you,” I whispered.

He ran his tongue over his bottom lip and a truly dark and devastating smile graced his face. “Missed you, too.”

A loud clutter of something falling to the ground made us turn. “Whoops,” Gabriella said, looking down at a vase that had shattered all over the floor. “Sorry. Anyway, glad to have you here, Illayana. I can show you around if you like? I’m sure Arturo has lots of things to do,” she smiled innocently like she was trying to do me a nice deed, but I saw through it.

She was trying to put distance between Arturo and I. I was desperate to let her feel the cool steel of my blade. To carve that pretty little face up until she was begging me to end her life. I smiled at the thought.

“That’s not necessary.” Arturo looked at Adrian. “Welcome, Adrian. If you’d like to get settled, your room is located on the second floor. I can have someone show it to you if you like.”

Adrian nodded. “Much appreciated.”

Arturo signalled for one of the butlers walking past and told him to show Adrian to his room. Adrian glanced at me uneasily and I waved him away.

“I’ll be fine, go on. I’ll meet with you later.”

“Call out to me if you need me.” He followed the butler up the stairs, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

“Where is-” Arturo began, but a loud whooping noise made him pause.

“Illayana!” Lukyan yelled, running down the stairs. “Dude, you’ve gotta come check this out! The bathroom is like something out of a SciFi movie! There’s an iPad in the wall that controls everything-” his words broke off as he noticed Arturo standing at my side and he glared, any trace of excitement vanishing in an instant.

“Hello, Lukyan,” Arturo said pleasantly. My brows raised at how civil he was being, considering my brother was looking at him like he just killed his dog. “I’m glad you were able to make it inside without any problems.”

Lukyan’s glare increased tenfold. “Are you?” he sneered.

“I am. Have you been shown where you’ll be staying yet?” Arturo wasn’t rising to the bait. Weird.

“No, I just dropped Illayana’s bag off in her room.”

“Ah, excellent. Here, let me show you.” He clasped my hand and led me down the hallway. I glanced behind me and shrugged my shoulders at Lukyan as I followed him. Lukyan trailed after us and we all left Gabriella standing in the foyer by herself.

Later, bitch.

Arturo led us past several rooms, a lounge room, a formal dining area and the kitchen, until we got to the backyard. Frowning, I followed him out onto the back deck and burst into laughter.

Sitting on the grass outside where two dog houses. One had the name ‘Brutus’ stamped across the front of it with a gorgeous German Shepherd sitting inside and the other had ‘Lukyan’ on it. When my brother saw it, he scowled.

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” he snapped.

Arturo smirked. “What? You don’t like it? I had the best carpenter in New York make this for you.”

“You fucking-”

I jumped in front of Lukyan as he came barrelling towards my husband, fists at the ready.

Vincenzo sighed. “I told him not to do it.”

“Come on, Lukyan,” I said, pushing him away from Arturo. “Even you can see this is funny.”

Arturo just kept that smirk on his face, thoroughly impressed with himself. I shook my head. If this was how things were going to be around here, I would end up killing one of them.

After finally managing to wrangle Lukyan away and back into the house, Arturo showed him where he would really be staying. It was a room on the second floor, next to Adrian.

Arturo gave me a quick tour, showing me the beauty of the house and everything it had to offer. It had recently been modernized, little gadgets installed throughout the house that did things for you. It was kinda cool and made me feel like I was living in the future.

Gabriella hung around like a bad smell, following us around and adding in her input when it wasn’t fucking asked for. She kept throwing in little phrases that showed she’d been here a million times like, ‘I’ve always loved this room, it’s my favourite in the house’, or ‘Isabella and I picked out this painting’. She was begging for a beatdown.

We came to a stop in front of a closed door and Arturo flicked his head to the side. “Off you go, Gabriella.”

She pursed her lips, her eyes flicking to the door and back. “I thought maybe we could all have lunch? I’m sure Illayana is hungry.”

“Illayana is fine,” I said, smiling. I wasn’t sure what was behind this door, but I could tell she didn’t want us going in.

“But-”

“Gabriella,” Arturo said sternly. “Go on.”

With a huff, she spun on her heels and stomped away.

Now that she was out of my sight, all the anger and rage I had felt seeing her here burst to the surface. The second we stepped into the room and the door shut, I stepped out of his embrace and punched him in the gut.

He grunted, taken by surprise, and doubled over in pain. But I wasn’t fucking done. I was so mad that he didn’t tell me that Gabriella was living here. That instead, he had left me to find out by having her answer the fucking door.

I moved to knee him in the face but he was prepared now, expecting another blow. He blocked, swiped my leg out from under me and took me to the ground hard, landing on top of me.

My breath whooshed out of me and I growled, pummelling his chest. “You fucking bastard,” I hissed, my anger rising.

He gripped my wrists and pinned them above my head, grinding his body into me to keep me immobile. I thrashed and tried to get free, but we both knew it was a wasted effort. I wasn’t going anywhere until he let me.

I stopped moving and glared at him towering over me.

“You done?” he asked, his voice deep and rough.

“What the fuck is she doing here, Arturo?” I snarled, baring my teeth.

“If you calm down, I’ll tell you.”

“Calm down? Calm down?! How would you feel if you walked into my home and my ex answered the fucking door?”

“I’d kill him.” He said it so casually, so blatantly, like it was the only logical course of action to take in that situation. “But this is different. For one, she’s not my ex-”

“You fucked her and she was offered to you to be your wife.”

“-and second, her mother died at your wedding and her father burned to death in her family home from an attack by Franco. She has no one now, no one to protect her until she can be married off.”

“She can’t protect herself?”

He gave me the side eye. “Our women don’t fight. You know that.”

“Maybe they should start. They’re only weak if they choose to be.”

“True, but it’s not our way.”

“Why does she have to stay here? Surely there’s somewhere else you can dump her until you find someone to marry her.”

He lowered his head into the crook of my neck and ran his tongue over my skin. “As Don, it’s my job to offer protection until someone else can. If I’m not seen protecting my people when they need it, it can come back to bite me in the long run.”

I shivered and wrapped my legs around his waist. “How long has she been here?”

“A few days,” he murmured, finally releasing my wrists to cup my breasts.

A few days?!

I flipped him onto his back with a quick gymnastics move, pulled out a knife and held it under his chin. “And I’m only just finding out about this now?”

Leaning into the knife, he gave me his signature smirk, the blade cutting into his skin. “Don’t tease me, kotenok, you know I like to play rough.”

Oh, I knew.

I leaned down and ran my tongue over his lips. “I like to play rougher.”

He rolled so he was now on top, my knife still at his throat and thrust hard, grounding his rock-hard cock in between my legs. He groaned. “Fuck, I want you.”

He swivelled his hips and pleasure shot through me.

Fuck, I wanted him too. So badly. But I was still so angry and I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook yet. I was going to make him work for it.

I headbutted him, smashing my skull against his, making sure to avoid his nose so I didn’t break it and shoved him off me with my legs, kicking his chest.

“Ow, fuck!” he yelled, landing on his back.

I scrambled to my feet and went to run but he was already there. He pounced on me, shoving me down so my cheek pressed against the ground. With a hand to the back of my neck, he held me down as he pressed his body against mine.

I could feel his cock against my ass and I shivered.

“Is that how you wanna play, kotenok?” he purred in my ear. “Fine by me.”

He took the knife still in my hand and used it to cut my clothes. With precise cuts that showed exactly how good he was with a blade, he slashed down the back of my shirt and ripped it from my body. He moved the cool steel of the knife down my skin until he got to the top of my jeans.

“No,” I gasped. “Not the jeans. They’re my favourite pair.”

“Should have thought about that before you decided to go all ‘Warrior Princess’.” He sliced down my Dolce & Gabbana jeans until they fell away.

“Argh! You asshole!” I thrashed and he pinned me down again with his body until I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“I’m gonna take you so hard it’s going to feel like I’m splitting you in two,” he whispered darkly, his breath hot on my skin. “And maybe then you’ll behave like a good girl.” He pulled my underwear down roughly until they stretched across my thighs. The weight of his upper body left mine and I sucked in a breath.

He reared forward and slammed the knife down into the ground so hard it drove into the floor right next t0 my head. The jingle of his belt buckle followed next and my blood heated in excitement.

My stomach tightened and I squirmed, aching for him. All that strength and dominance he was using made me so fucking hot I thought I would burn up. Lust coiled down my body right to my pussy, and I clenched involuntarily, desperate to be filled. I felt helpless under his gargantuan form – and I loved it. Loved knowing that physically, there wasn’t a single thing I could do to stop him.

In the back of my mind, I knew that if I really wanted him to stop, he would. But I didn’t. I wanted him to take me like he owned me. To fucking ruin me.

The thick head of his cock touched my entrance and without hesitation he surged forward, driving into me with such force that I jolted forward.

A cry left my lips at the pain and then it disappeared, replaced with sweet, sweet ecstasy. Searing pleasure rushed through me and I moaned, long and hard.

“Ah, there’s my tight little pussy,” Arturo groaned, thrusting into me. He kept one hand at the back of my neck, holding me down as he fucked me like he hated me.

All I could do was lie there and take it. And it was complete and total bliss.

I squealed. I moaned. I chanted his name over and over again like a prayer, all while he grunted behind me, fucking me harder and harder.

Pain flared from my ass cheek and through my pleasure-induced haze I realised that he had slapped me. His hand massaged the sting away. He did it again and again, and the sensation was too much. That mixed with his long, thick cock tipped me over the edge. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I screamed as the most mind-blowing orgasm ripped through me. The rough feel of his clothes against my skin, the thought of him fully clothed while I lied beneath him with barely anything on, made this whole thing so much hotter, so much filthier.

“That’s it, kotenok, come all over my cock,” Arturo hissed between his teeth, pounding into me with such savagery that I was sure I’d have bruises on my skin.

My body tingled and I felt his wet, cold tongue run over my skin. He sucked my earlobe into his mouth.

“You’re mine, aren’t you, Illayana? All that fire, all that spirit, this sweet fucking pussy, all mine,” he breathed against the side of my neck, his thrusts increasing.

“Yesssss,” I whined. “And you’re mine.”

“Always.”

His speed and power picked up and his deep voice growled in my ear. “Do you want my come, kotenok? Do you want me to fill you up until you’re dripping with me? Until my come is running down your thighs?”

I whimpered, my body convulsing as another orgasm hit me from out of nowhere.

That fucking voice.

“Yes, please, give it to me Arturo,” I begged, and he gave it.

He pressed his chest into my back, his hips smacking into my ass as his cock drove in and out of my tight channel. We slid across the ground with every thrust, and he roared, coming deep inside me.

His entire weight collapsed on top of me and I choked, the air rushing out of my body.

Not again.

I reached back and tried to push him with my hand. He rolled off me and slumped onto the ground next to me, his breathing hard.

“You gotta stop doing that,” I said breathlessly.

His lips tilted up in a smirk, but before he could say anything, Vincenzo’s voice came from behind the door.

“Are you guys done fucking now?”