Page 24 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

Piper came into town for the wedding and is also over at Penny’s. I don’t think she’s figured out we’re a mobster family yet, and that’s okay. She seems innocent and sweet, and clearly, Asher doesn’t want her to know, so I won’t break it to her.

I feel like now it’s real. This is it. The paper was just a formality. Now I’m going to get married and dare I say it, there’s a slight part of me that’s excited.

The doors to my room open, and my brother Kervyn walks in, already half dressed. “Get up, or you’re going to be late.”

“Can’t have that. Late for my own forced marriage, how dare I,” I sneer.

“Don’t speak like that at the altar, or Mama will put a stop to this wedding.” He throws open the curtains, and I block the sun out by throwing my arm over my eyes.

“Come on, Kervyn, I’ve just woken up,” I grumble. I get up, though, because I know he’s not going to stop until I do.

“The girls have already had their breakfast, and the makeup artist is with them now. Penny is giving me blow-by-blow updates. So if I have to suffer, so do you. Come downstairs. I’ve already eaten, but Luka’s just gotten up. I’ll have coffee while you eat.” He marches out, and I sigh. I pull on a bathrobe and follow him downstairs.

Luka is sitting at the table in his boxers, eating a toasted bacon and cheese sandwich.

“Did Claire have to make that for you especially?” I ask. “Today’s not the day, moron.”

“I’m not a moron. I didn’t tell you to get married on the day I have a hangover.” He is grumpy, not only because he’s hungover, but because I’m marrying his best friend. He doesn’t like it.

He hasn’t said anything further since the day I moved her in, but I know he’s unhappy about it, even though I’ve made it clear he can still go partying with her. I don’t mind. I don’t expect her life to stop just because we’re getting married.

I gulp down my breakfast and take my coffee upstairs to get dressed. I’m buttoning up my shirt when my three brothers walk in, all dressed and ready.

“You’re getting slow in your old age,” Kervyn says, turning me around. He throws my tie over my head and starts to do it.

“I’m not five anymore, Kervyn,” I say as Arseny and Luka chuckle.

“Yes, but if Papa were here, he would do it for you, like you did at my wedding. It’s just what brothers do. Wait until Luka and Arseny get married. We can choke them with their ties.”

Our younger brothers chuckle as Kervyn flips down my collar. “Let me pin the flower to your jacket lapel. Come on, get your jacket on.”

He picks up the flower and pins it to my jacket. Asher insisted on it, no doubt to try and embarrass me. It’s a carnation, and it’s rather becoming, I must admit. I look at myself in the mirror and brush through my hair with my hand. I’ve had it cut neat for today; otherwise, my mother would kill me.

Arseny claps me on the back. “You’re going to do fine. Come on, let’s get to the church. Mama will come with Penny and Asher.”

I follow them to the limo that’s driving us to the church. Arseny pours each of us a whiskey, and we light cigarettes as the driver takes us there. Lord knows my mother won’t approve of me drinking before the wedding if she sees me.

“Kervyn, you need to convey how important it is that Asher looks like this is the best day of her life,” I say quietly to him. “Please. I don’t want this to be ruined.”

“Getting soft in your old age,” Kervyn murmurs. “But fine. I will impress on her the importance.”

When we arrive, Kervyn excuses himself, and we go to the front of the church, where everyone is milling in. They congratulate me as I pass. Always a fucking celebrity when you have power, that’s what I’ve come to learn. Everyone wants in my good books.

I see some older aunts and uncles, and I go to greet them, speaking to them in Russian. They ask me about my bride, and I promise them she is more beautiful than any bride they’ve seen before.

People start to take their seats, and Arseny leads me to the front of the church, where I wait. It feels like a lifetime that I have to stand there, just waiting for the music to start and the doors to open. Finally, everyone stands as the organ plays the wedding march. I turn to watch the procession—first, the bridesmaid, which is Piper. I haven’t quite figured out her relationship with Asher. Asher seems to take her role as a sister more seriously than most would. I wonder if there’s more to the relationship than meets the eye. They have more of a back story. I doubt Asher would tell it to me willingly. Maybe if I got her drunk.

Penny comes down, pushing our little ring bearer in a pram. She’s maid of honor, and just behind her, little flower girls walk, sprinkling petals on the red carpet.

Everyone is watching the door now, and two men open it to reveal Kervyn, my best man, walking Asher down at his arm. I have no words.

The dress is body-hugging with a flair at the very end. The bodice on top has intricate beadwork on it. I don’t want to know how much I paid for that. The veil has such a long train my mother walks behind her, holding it out. Her tiara is made of genuine diamonds. She is smiling brightly, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think this was the happiest day of her life.

She’s breathtaking: not too much makeup but a beautiful smoky look that brings out her eyes. When they reach me, Kervyn shakes my hand and warns me to take care of Asher. He then hands her over and we stand in front of the priest.

I can’t get over how beautiful she is as the priest leads the wedding, and I’m almost so besotted that I fumble with the rings. We both say ‘I do’ like we mean it, and then the priest announces us as husband and wife.

I kiss her deeply, dipping her slightly back but holding onto her so she doesn’t fall. She responds to the kiss, leaning into it. The fairytale almost feels real.

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