“This is why you wanted to meet with me?” I asked. “To tell me you’re having an affair with my husband?”
“Yeah, and I felt so bad about it. I was thinking we could come to some arrangement with him.”
The waiter returned to offer us the menus, but Bethany smiled. “I don’t think we’ll be needing these.” She handed over her card. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”
I shouldn’t have come here. I was an idiot to have thought for even a moment that Bethany wanted to have any kind of relationship. Staring at her now, I never thought I could hate a human being as much as I hated this woman. My sister-the woman I should be more than happy to die for, but I couldn’t stand. She had a cruel edge about her that knew no bounds. This woman was vile.
My marriage … there was no marriage, and knowing Andrei was having an affair, well, there was no way it was going to work. Not now. Not ever.
“Are you going to cry?” Bethany asked.
“I have no reason to cry.”
Bethany chuckled. “You don’t have to be big and brave for me.”
I shook my head and smiled. “You see, Bethany, you think this matters to me. Do you think I care what you and Andrei are up to? You’re a perfect match for each other, but me, I was the one good enough to be married to.”
The waiter came back. “I’m sorry, Miss, but your card has been declined.”
I snorted. “That’s okay, Leo will pay the bill. After all, you may have Andrei’s dick, but at least I’ve got his money.”
I didn’t care about his money or his position, but I knew it would piss Bethany off, and I had to get out of there with my head held high. Even though all I wanted to do was collapse into a ball and sob.
****
Andrei
Leo had given me the update. He’d told me about the meeting with Nathan, and then the lunch Adelaide had with her sister. I should have known Bethany would be on some kind of warpath and Adelaide would be her target.
Standing in the penthouse suite, I waited for her to return. Rubbing my thumb and fingers together, I didn’t know what I expected, but as Leo and Adelaide entered, she looked calm and collected. Her eyes gave her away, though. They were full of so much emotion. The moment she caught sight of me, I knew she felt pain. Bethany had hurt her.
“Leave us,” I said.
Leo didn’t say a word, just opened the door and left.
Adelaide looked at the closed door before turning her gaze back on me.
“I should have known you’d be here. Was this to get a kick out of seeing what she’s done?” she asked.
“I have no idea what Bethany has done, but I can guarantee I don’t find any of this amusing.”
“I want a divorce,” Adelaide said.
“Not happening.”
Once you were part of the Bratva, you were there for life. There was no easy escape. Signing a piece of paper didn’t beak away from the Volkov Bratva. Only Ivan could grant such a motion and as far as I knew, he’d never allowed a divorce to go through. No one had gotten away. Unless it was six feet under.
“Fine. Then we’ll go for an annulment. How about that?” she asked. “We don’t have to get a divorce. Sex has to have happened between two people for there to be a need for divorce. I know!” She screamed at me and I watched her eyes fill with tears, and I hated them.
“What do you know?”
“About you and Bethany. I know you’re sleeping with her. I know it’s why you don’t need to be with me. Is that it, huh?” she asked. “Is that why you don’t want me to touch you because you can’t stand the thought of these hands on your body? You’ve got Bethany, and I don’t compare?”
So that was what Bethany was trying to do. To drive a wedge between us. I was still having to deal with her drug dealer, but I had my men on the bastard’s tail. Now that Bethany had meddled like this, I wasn’t going to help her. That nasty fucking bitch was going to get what came to her.
“You know what, I don’t need to hear you say it. Do you think I don’t know that I’m nothing like Bethany? I’ve been told that all my life. She has taken everything from me. Anytime I had friends, she stole them away, turning them against me. I had no boyfriends because Bethany made sure to always be around. The only person I ever had was Nathan, and you keep trying to take him away from me too. What is your game? Is it to make me miserable?”
“I have never touched Bethany,” I said.
She shook her head. “Liar.”
I moved toward her, and Adelaide shocked me as she took a step toward me too.
“You don’t scare me.”
“You’re lying.”
“I want out of your life. I want to be as far away from you and this fucked-up life as possible. I hate it here and I hate you, and I want out.”
She went to hit me, but I captured her hands, holding them behind her back, causing her to be flush against me. She wriggled within my grasp, and this close, her body felt so good against mine. I didn’t want to let her go.
“Listen to me,” I said. “I have never been near Bethany. Even when we were engaged, I never fucked her. My dick has never been near her. I don’t like her. I can’t stand her. She’s a nasty fucking bitch.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“I know. The only woman I’ve been with in a long time is you. Just you. No one else.”
“You’re not with me.”