“That’s good.”
This made me frown. “I don’t understand.”
Ive tapped his fingers on the table and looked straight ahead, before finally turningtoward me. “My father was a vicious fuck. He liked young girls, younger the better, but he also liked power. I was his only son. At least, the only one he acknowledged as his own, but there was a tiny problem.” He paused. “I couldn’t read or write.” He ran a hand down his face. “He tried to get teachers or his soldiers, anyone he could pay, to teach me, but nothing worked. He tried beating me, that didn’t work. He didn’t want a dumb son. A dumb son to him meant weakness. So he got one of his soldiers to drive me out to the middle of nowhere, and his job was to kill me.”
“What happened?” I knew he’d not done the deed, because Ive was my husband and verymuch alive.
“He couldn’t do it. I think he had a son himself, or whatever the fucking reason. So he left methere and made sure I could fend for myself. I guess he told my father he killed me, because when I went to swear my loyalty to Ivan Volkov, I met him again.”
“To swear your loyalty, did you have to kill your father?”
“Yes,” Ive said.”We had to wipe out our families, and as for my father, he was a piece of work to begin with. I had no love for the man.”
“Can you read and write now?” I asked.
“I could help.” I wanted to help him.
He held his hand up. “Ivan made sure I was able to do everything I could to take over as a Brigadier.”
“He surprised you?” I asked.
“Yes. There are men that work for him who were far more capableof taking a territory.”
“But you took it.”
“I did.”
“You proved to him that you could.”
Ive nodded. “No one else knows this. Just me and Ivan.”
“And now me.” I smiled. “I won’t tell anyone. You know all my secrets. You know I came from a father who wantedme dead.”
He reached out and took my hand. “He’s gone.”
“Iknow, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? He’s long gone but the sting of what he did lives on. He didn’t want me and the truth is, you guys made a mistake.”
“Stop it,” Ive said. “You’re not a mistake.”
“You could be married to Cassie right now.”
“Fuck, no.”
This made me laugh even though I felt like crying. I hated the thought of Cassie being in my place. I loved my sister and I knew she tried to help me growing up, but I didn’t want her to have him.
“You would be,” I said.
“No, Ivan intended to useCassie. When he saw it was you, his plans changed. Your father would have still been alive if we’d gotten Cassie, and we would have figured out a way to bring the club to our side. We had the leverage.”
“My father wanted me dead.”
“Yes.”
“You know, all I ever wanted was for him to love me,” I said. “How stupid is that?”
I let go of his hand and press my own to my face. I hate that I feel this way. It’s messed up and wrong. So very wrong.
Arms surround me, and I love his embrace. I don’t want it to stop.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “And your dad was a total dick for not loving you.”
No one had ever loved me. All my life I’d wanted my father’s love, but that had been replaced, because now, all I wanted was Ive’s, and I had no idea how to get it.
Ive
Charlotte doesn’t know how to play.
Charlotte deserves a puppy.
All she wants is love.
Staring across the dining room table, I watch as she cuts into the steak that is beautifully prepared byMichael. I missed my chef’s food. Michael had been a star find. I knew how to cook, but I fucking hated it. When I purchased this place, the first thing I did was find a chef, and Michael had been working for me in one of our top restaurants. The only problem was he got bored easily and the guests liked to have the same menu for a great deal of time. Michael liked to change it up all the time. No one appreciated his gift, but I did. So I offered him the job. He was in control of my kitchen. He cooked for me and the staff, whatever the hell he wanted to. No one got to tell him what to cook.
He had already sworn his loyalty to the Volkov Bratva, and it wasa pretty good deal. The food was top rate. There were a few times when food had been served to me and I was about to eat it, and he’d storm into the dining room, take my plate from me, and declare it was shit. He would then go and make me something else. I adored him. At least he’d never given me food poisoning and I’d done that to myself, plenty of times.
“Michael is the best,” Charlotte said.