Ever since I’d been told Andrei was to be my husband, we’d not spent any time together. I’d been called to my father, where I’d been told what was going to happen. I was not sure whether others thought I had an opinion about what was going to happen in my life. That never happened. I wasn’t asked.
No, I was told by my father with Andrei present and another man who made my blood run cold. He looked so terrifying. Ivan Volkov. Head of the Volkov Bratva. My father’s new boss. My new nightmare.
I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about him. I gave nothing away to my husband who stood way too still. He didn’t touch me. Other than the kiss in church and the few times he’d taken my hand, he never touched me. He often avoided it.
This was great. My husband detested me without even knowing me. This was how my life was going to end up. It probably didn’t help that I might have flinched in church. He’d grabbed my arms and pulled me close.
The kiss was dull. My very first kiss hadn’t made my heart sing or cause me to instantly fall in love with my husband. If anything, it made this whole marriage thing seem even more of a farce. There was no love between us. There was no anything.
He didn’t touch me, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the knife he’d pulled out. Fear raced down my spine. I didn’t have time to run or move. He slid the blade between the center of my back and the dress. One tug, and that was it, the dress gave way and I had no choice but to hold it against my breasts to gain any modesty.
Tears filled my eyes and I hated them. I’d never been the kind of woman who constantly gave in to crying. I am strong. Being around Andrei, I felt anything but.
Without looking at him, I charged toward the bathroom, slamming the door closed. There was no lock. Nothing to protect myself.
I didn’t have long before the door was pushed open. I stepped away from it before it could hit me in the face. Spinning around, still holding the dress in my hands, I backed away. Andrei advanced toward me.
He looked … dangerous. Not in a good way. He still held the knife in his hand. Without even looking at it, he flicked it away.
I kept moving back until the wall stopped my escape. Stupid wall.
His hands went either side of me, trapping me in place. “Don’t ever run from me again. You won’t like it.”
“I … I didn’t mean to run.”
“Then don’t.”
He stayed like that, staring at me.
I couldn’t keep looking into his eyes. They were a deep brown, all-knowing, penetrating. At times, I had to wonder if they were mostly black. He wasn’t a good man.
“I won’t. I promise.” I’d do and say anything to get him the hell away from me.
He didn’t leave right away.
Time seemed to stop for me the longer he just stood there. Did he like how he scared me?
I waited. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone, but in the end, he was the one who left. I just had to wait and I suddenly realized this was what our marriage would be like. No matter how uncomfortable I was, Andrei had all the power. He would do whatever the hell he liked and to hell with the consequences.
I didn’t like this at all.
Andrei
Most men the day after their wedding are probably comatose from all the fucking they got done. Not me. Nope. My little virgin bride was still fucking pure.
She’d been shaking like a leaf when I finally finished in the bathroom last night. The bed had shaken like it was on vibration or something.
Raping women was not one of my skills.
I didn’t want to start my marriage off by forcing my wife to take my dick. Even though Ivan expected it.
He was my boss, my Pakhan, the leader of the Volkov Bratva-the reason I’m one of the six men he trusted to control this State. Running a hand down my face, I stare out the car window, heading right back to my place where I had business to deal with.
Ivan had been present at my wedding. Of course he had. He’d been the one to change Bethany to Adelaide. There was no way I could have gone against him, even though Adelaide wasn’t fit for this world.
She didn’t understand the life she’d just entered. Like last night, Bethany would have enjoyed me fucking her. She’d have relished being part of the Volkov Bratva, the most feared Russian mob ever to rule the States. Ivan had taken us all into a new era. He changed the rules, adapted them to suit himself. It made me smile just thinking about it.
Life as a brigadier wasn’t easy. Ruling over a state came with a great deal of problems, and enemies. My life was constantly in danger. It’s why I had soldiers all around me. Every single one of us brigadiers had to. There were too many men and women who wanted us dead.
A little sniffle drew my attention to my wife. Adelaide was pressed as far away from me as any woman could get. I’d been the perfect gentleman to her last night, apart from the knife I’d used to rid her body of that awful dress.
At times during our wedding, she looked like she couldn’t breathe, the poor thing. Her tits looked close to bursting out of the dress, but then our wedding had been designed with me and Bethany in mind. Not much had changed.
It would have been like swapping the bride only, which was what happened at Ivan’s request.
Bethany had been a slut, she still was a slut. I’d not been marrying her for her purity. Ivan had seen an opportunity with her parents, and, well, a union seemed to be the most ideal. They wanted money and power. Ivan had both in plenty supply. A deal was struck and the cost was a daughter, a marriage, a union that couldn’t end in divorce.
Glancing over at Adelaide, I wondered if she realized her purity days would be over soon. Not only did I have her hand in marriage, but Ivan, the bastard, had informed me today that part of the agreement was a child within two years. She had to have a son or daughter inside her within two years to start the next generation of the Volkov Bratva.
I didn’t need to point out to him that for the line to continue, he needed to father children. There was a great deal I didn’t know about Ivan.
Unlike Slavik, one of the few brigadiers I knew, I’d not grown up with him. I wasn’t entirely sure of the history, but Ivan and Slavik grew up together. I’m not sure where or how, seeing as both men were cast out of their families in some way. Like myself. My father couldn’t stand to have me around. Ever since I was a boy, my father hated me. He would find any reason to take the belt or the boot to me. Many a night I was curled up on the floor, alone and bleeding at the mercy of the elements because he couldn’t stand me.
After a severe beating, he’d toss me into the kennels where he kept the dogs. They were just as abused as I was, and so never attacked me. Sometimes he’d starve them and then go after me, making me bleed, in the hope of them eating me.
It never happened. Why? I fucking fed them, the stupid cunt. I was stupid. My father hated that about me. I figured out his plan to try and get rid of me. If I died because of the dogs, he could pass it off as some freak accident, kill the dogs as if to avenge my death, and he’d be fine and in the clear. Even before Ivan took over, the previous Pakhan didn’t like when his brigadiers murdered children without his permission.
With the starved dogs failing, I overheard the plan he had. He was going to throw me into the dog kennels, and then one of his soldiers would take me out in the woods, force me in the dead of night to dig my own grave, and then kill me. If I disappeared, it could look like a kidnapping attempt.