Arranged Bratva Love

Ive

I’d heard many rumors about Ivan over the years. Especially when it came to Slavik and Andrei’s marriages. I’m aware we all had spies in each of our territories, and Ivan, well, he had eyes on everyone. It was why he knew everything about each of us. Ivan interfered with their marriages as well. Of course, there are always two sides to every rumor. The truth and fiction.

I believed the rumors ofSlavik and Aurora’s as well as Andrei and Adelaide’s loving relationship. They hid their feelings well, but there was no mistaking how they felt for each other. I’d seen it at my own wedding.

Ivan was attempting to do the same thing with my wife, and I didn’t like it. Charlotte was young. Way too young. Even though I saw the darkness in her eyes that suggested she was a lot older than her years, I still didn’t like it.

My father, the sperm donor, had a penchant for young girls. I remembered them coming and going before I’d been removed from his home. I’d tried to save them, and in doing so, I’d incurred his wrath. I never thought of my time with the previous Bratva. The one Ivan invaded, killed, and took complete control of, and made his own. I’d gotten a beating for helping one of my father’s favorite girls escape. I hadn’t been able to walk for weeks, nor sit down. He’d taken a belt to me, a stick, and then he’d nearly grabbed a sledgehammer.

My father had been a disgusting pervert. Is that why Ivan had given Charlotte to me? He didn’t think I fell far from the tree. I didn’t like that thought. I never had anything to do with underage girls.

Ordering us both steaks with a spicy tomato sauce and some roasted seasoned potatoes and bread, I hand the menus back to the waiter, and look across the table at my wife.

Charlotte is beautiful. Shedoesn’t see it, but she is a natural beauty. The kind that gets overlooked. Even though she had experienced a great deal of pain during her life, I saw the kindness in her gaze.

She took a deep breath and I saw the hint of her tits as they pressed againstthe bodice of her dress. There were no straps, so it was held up by a few buttons at the back, and some tightness. The moment she came out in the dress, I’d been stunned in my seat. The red really made the sparkle in her eyes shine. What the fuck was I talking about? I didn’t give a flying fuck about eyes sparkling or any of that kind of shit. This is what having a wife did to you. They made you weak, and I wasn’t weak.

Picking up my glass of wine, I took a large swig and hated the taste. I wasn’t a wine drinker.

I watched as Charlotte lifted the glass to her lips, and I noticed the shaking of her wrist. Before I could stop myself, I reached out and grabbed her.

“Why are you shaking?”

She tried to pull her hand away but I wouldn’t let her. I wasn’t going to let her go.

“I … I don’t know.”

At first, I had to wonder what she was hiding. Charlotte nibbled her lip and I was about to go on the attack but her next words surprised me.

“I’ve never, er, been on a date. I know it’s totally lame and this isn’t adate. We’re just following orders from our boss, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to call him your boss, but I’m nervous. I know you don’t want to be here. Who would want to be here with me?” She forced a smile to her lips. “I would understand if you want to get our food to go, and go back to your apartment, or your home.”

She’d never been on a date before. I thought about the scars on her back and even though I didn’t like it, I understood. She was young. Nearly nineteen. No date. Didn’t girls have prom and shit? Again, I didn’t know how to respond. I was her first date.”Have you ever had a boyfriend?” I asked.

“No.”

I didn’t ask this before, and I felt stupid for asking itnow. “Are you a virgin?”

Her cheeks went bright red. She opened her mouth, closedthem, and then nodded her head. Ivan had told me she was a virgin but I hadn’t believed him. Virgins were rare.

I wasn’t old-school. I didn’t believe women had to be pure on their wedding night, but I liked knowing she was a virgin, or at least claimed to be one. I shouldn’t like that. I know that. Nothing changed for knowing she hadn’t been with a man. I wouldn’t do anything about it.

“We’re going to enjoy this meal in thisrestaurant. Unless you want Ivan to kick my ass for ruining his plans.”

She chuckled. “Do you think Ivan would really kick your ass?”

“Yes.”He would do so. His word was law and I vowed to follow him and his directions. I was a loyal servant and Ivan had never done anything for me not to believe, not to follow. He was one hell of a boss and as head of the Volkov Bratva, he was fearless. He ruled with an iron fist. I knew that he’d sacrificed to be where he was today. I didn’t say any of this to Charlotte.

Taking another sip of my wine, I wrinkled my nose and she giggled.

“Do you notlike the wine?” she asked.

“I hate it.”

“Then stop drinking it. Even though Ivan made these arrangements, we don’t have to follow them, do we? I’ve never drunk wine before. It tastes like vinegar.” She took a sip and I watched her nose scrunch up. “It’s gross.”

This made me chuckle.”What would you like?” I asked.

“Just some water.”

“Not a soda?”

“I’m actually not abig sugar lover.”

“You’re not?”

She shook her head. “What about you? Do you like sugar or carbonated drinks?”

“No.” I signal the waiter and order a fine whiskey for myself and a glass of ice water for her.

The waiter looks a little perplexed but I knowhe’s new. It won’t take him long to figure out who he’s disrespecting. I watch him go to the bar and the barman leaned forward, whispering in his ear. One look from the waiter, and he appeared to shit himself. Good.

Returning my attention to Charlotte, I see the smile I’d placed on her lips had faded and she glanced down at the table.

“Did you have a nice day today?” I asked. Small talk was notmy forte. I’d never been interested in making conversation. Small talk was too much of a distraction and got in the way of most shit. I didn’t have time for that in my life.

Charlotte nodded. “You, er, you don’t spend a lot of time in your penthouse apartment, do you?”

“I spend as much timethere as possible.”

“But you prefer your country home, your estate.”

I nod my head.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

“And because I’m there, you’ve not returned to your home in a month.”

The waiter returned with our drinks. “I’m so sorry, sir. Is there anything more I can do for you?”

“Bring our meal over without spilling iton our laps.”

The waiter nodded and bumbled his way as he moved from the table. I noticed the tears in Charlotte’s eyes.

“Would you like me to leave?” Charlotte asked. “I couldstay in the small, erm, I think it’s like beach house at the bottom of the garden if you’d like?”

Hubert told me she’d been exploring the house and gardens. There was a small property at the bottom of my gardens where I liked to go to be alone. If she’d gone there, had she seen one of my secrets?

Away from the shit and chaos of my work, there was something I enjoyed doing. I liked to draw and paint. I hid it away and I kept it locked. No one, not even my guards knew what I did there. Whenever I went to my studio, no one was to come near me. It was one of the few places I had in this world that took me away from all the shit and allowed me to think. No one, not Hubert, not Vlad, and I don’t think even Ivan was aware of my secret.

“You will not be moving out of our home. Work has dominated my life the last month, which is why I’ve been needed here.”

“Oh,” Charlotte said. “So it’s not because I’m there.”

“No.” It wasn’t a total lie. Dealing with the Ivan death fallout had come with a great cost. I know we were all feeling it. Me, Victor, Peter, Slavik, and Andrei. Not to mention the knock-on effect of Oleg’s territory.

Threats to our lives came with the territory of being the sixbrigadiers in Ivan Volkov’s Bratva. We dealt with death every day, and those who would like to overthrow him. There were many who would like to see Ivan fall.

The bastard son, the one that was fucking stupid and incapable, the one that was thrown away, shouldn’t be able to rise up the ranks. Not only had Ivan become strong, he’d taken everything from his father, claimed the Bratva as his own, and changed it.

No one really knew what Ivan was capable of.

Some believed he was immortal. Some kind of super-being for what he did. I knew Ivan could bleed. I’d seen it, but I also knew when it came to pain, he rarely felt it. The man was a machine, a monster, and he feared nothing and no one.

The waiter brought our food over, and Charlotte gave me a smile. I likedher smile. I didn’t want to like her smiles, but I did.