Page 39 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

“What?” he says, leaning in to kiss my cheek.

Penny looks like she wants to squeal in delight, but I give her a very stern look, and she seems to calm down.

Kervyn looks at me. “How is married life treating you so far?”

“The real one or the fake one? ‘Cause I have technically been married for almost two months on paper.” I sip my wine.

Kervyn smiles at me. “The one where you had to spend time with my dipshit brother.”

This is a side of Kervyn I’ve never seen. It’s surprising. Penny doesn’t seem surprised, but she is whenever Danil touches me gently or leans in to kiss my head.

“What do you want, babe? To eat?” he asks, looking at me as the waitress comes to check on us.

I pick up my menu and scan it. “Oh, creamy garlic snails for starters and a steak with a side of mash and vegetables for the main.”

Danil smiles at me. “I’ll have the buffalo wings for starters and the same steak, vegetables, and mash as my wife.” He beams at me.

Kervyn and Penny order their food and we sit back and relax.

“Aren’t you lucky Mama Milov can watch little Sammy,” I comment. “Otherwise, you’d never be able to go out.”

“She can’t get enough of being a grandmother. I think that once Kervyn hit forty, she was afraid it would never happen.” Penny giggles, and Kervyn rolls his eyes, but he’s smirking.

“I knew it would happen eventually. Besides, Russian women are strong. They live forever.”

“Mama will outlive all four of her sons and probably Sammy,” Danil says. “She’s certainly drank enough vodka to pickle her insides for that.”

We all chuckle and Penny looks at me. “After this, why don’t we go check out the gallery? Kervyn says it’s open at night with a night shift.”

“Yeah, from what I can see, I’m only needed at night when big events happen.” I sip my wine again. “But it’s going to be a tough job.”

“Nothing like a confident, tough woman to kick some ass in that place,” Danil comments. He strokes my bare shoulder softly with his thumb.

By the look Kervyn is giving him, I’m going to assume this is definitely not normal Danil behavior, and for some odd reason, that makes me feel immensely guilty that I’m trying so hard to get a divorce. He seems genuinely committed to this relationship, and I just want to end it. I don’t understand how he thinks what he did was okay.

Kervyn meets my eyes, and I give him a warm smile. I can’t let on what the plan is. I don’t want to incur their wrath before I can escape safely.

It dawns on me that I may have to leave Penny behind, which makes me terribly sad. She’s my best friend, my sister from another mister.

I push the thoughts out of my mind and focus on the topic of conversation. Danil is telling Kervyn about the Italian men we bumped into. Apparently, he knows them.

“No business at dinner,” Penny admonishes them. “You can talk about it in the morning.”

“Or over a smoke,” Kervyn says, standing up. “We’ll be right back, I promise. This is important.”

He kisses Penny’s head, and they leave to smoke in front of the restaurant.

I look at Penny. “Men!”

“You know those two might be forty, but from the sounds of it, they both have the stamina and drive of a newly minted teen who’s hit puberty.”

I smile. “It is nice to be wanted and hounded after. The attention is nice. Had this been a different situation, I probably would have enjoyed it.”

“So you didn’t enjoy your little afternoon tryst?” she whispers.

“I’m not saying that,” I smirk. “I mean, it was pretty… we’re already trying different things, but I find I can’t enjoy it after the fact because I remember he forced me into this relationship. It just ruins the whole thing for me afterward.”

“I get it. I was like that with Kervyn. Once we did it at the Russian theatre. Okay, I say once; we’ve done it there a few times, but this was the first time, and I have to say, everything changed after that. He was just so…”

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