Page 12 of The Bratva King's Twins

Something about that thought irritated me, knowing he had other plans for her when I was curious about her.

At first, I was simply intrigued by her photo and wondered what she was all about. But the more I dug into the family, the more attracted I became.

It may have seemed like I married Vivian only because of wanting to humiliate her father, but truthfully, I had my eye on her long enough to want her for myself. There was something so interesting about the mafia princess, and I needed to get to the bottom of it myself.

All of that determination landed me exactly here: sitting in the living room alone, sipping whiskey, and forced to listen to her never-ending protests.

Really, it had been a flawless plan, except for the fact I didn’t consider that part. I never stopped to think about what would happen once I got her home and had to face what I had done.

It was hard to say if the trade-off was worth it just yet.

As irrational as the move had been, all things considered, I didn’t want it all to be for nothing. I really did want to have a genuine connection with her, even if it took time to get there.

We were certainly very far from making that happen, but I wanted to be optimistic. I wanted to believe I didn’t make an excruciating mistake all for the sake of revenge.

As the whiskey pooled in my gut and made my system feel more sluggish than it had before, something in the back of my mind manifested like an annoying sound that I couldn’t shake. It pulsed, growing louder and louder until it seemed to fall into step with Vivian’s shouting from upstairs.

That little voice in my head was nagging me, letting me know I'd gotten myself into a bigger mess than anticipated.

The lengths I would have to go through just to prove to Vivian I wasn’t only a cruel man who stole her away from her family suddenly felt too monumental to ignore. It was a more daunting task than I planned for, and it made my stomach churn to think about.

Staring into the electric fireplace in front of me as my mood dropped more with every passing minute—and every curse and scream Vivian could hurl at me—the tantrum started to grate against my head to the point of making my blood boil.

My cell ringing shattered my clouded thoughts, making me jolt from my seat.

Glancing down, I caught Ben’s name as it lit up my screen. Easily enough, I grabbed it and answered the call.

“How are things over there?” I asked, noting how defeated I sounded despite my victory.

“According to plan. We left De Luca to regret ever striking the warehouse, that’s for sure. We’re on the way back now,” Benedikt replied, sounding chipper about getting to go home. “More importantly, how’s your creature doing?”

I scoffed. “She went from fawn to bobcat.”

“Really? I wouldn’t expect someone like her to put up much of a fight.”

Holding the phone away from my ear, I let it pick up her distant screaming. Putting it back again, I murmured, “You’d be surprised.”

Ben chuckled from the other end. “Good luck with that one. Once we get back to the warehouse, we’re going to head out for the night. Let us know if you need anything else.”

“Will do,” I said with a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Tell Luk to keep an eye out for any kind of retaliation. Edoardo is likely beaten down for now, but we won’t know how he might react after the fact. I don’t want him assuming the ball is in his court now.”

“You’ve got it.”

After we said our goodbyes and I ended the call, I forced out another breath.

My heart seemed to synchronize with Vivian’s heavy steps upstairs, along with her never-ending howling. As I focused on it, my pulse quickened to the point of making my skin crawl.

Unable to take it any longer, I tossed the phone to the side and forced myself out of my chair.

Even if I understood why she was causing such a fuss, I didn’t want to listen to it anymore. I wanted to bask in my triumph, but her noise was keeping that from happening.

I refused to sit there while she disturbed my peace.

Put on edge with the booze in my gut, I went upstairs, hoping it wouldn’t take much to put her back in her place.

Regardless of how angry I was, I didn’t want to be too forceful. She would likely doubt that, but it wasn’t fun for me.

I had no issue yelling at my men or brothers when they screwed up, but women were a completely different matter.

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