Page 8 of The Bratva King's Twins

When she finally approached, Vivian kept her eyes averted, unable to look at me as the officiant stepped forward and asked if we were ready. Her cheeks were flaming.

Keeping my chin up, aware that everything was going according to plan, I nodded, and the impromptu ceremony began.

Right in the dining room where De Luca was forced to watch every second of it, the officiant went over the usual lines, to which we repeated them back, even if Vivian needed some encouragement.

Wearing a smug smirk, aware of how torn up and defeated Edoardo seemed, I knew it had been an easy win. But a win nonetheless.

Word was going to spread through the city before long, and he’d have to bear the shame of being one-upped by a Levov, tormented and forced to watch the union of his precious daughter to one of his enemies in his own home.

While it wouldn’t get our money or product back, knowing he had no choice but to submit to me made it all worth it. The sweetness of victory was more than enough to have me grinning.

Foregoing the kiss and skipping right to signing our names, it was a done deal, and I officially had my bride.

“Be glad, Edoardo,” I said once it was all said and done. “Your previous attempt at forming an alliance may have failed, but at least now you have a child blessed with the Levov name. It’s a shame you won’t see a single benefit from it, though.”

De Luca was practically shaking with fury in his seat, but it was already too late.

Satisfied by the job well done, I reached for Vivian’s wrist to sweep her out of the house. “Come along, wife—”

But the moment I grabbed her, she winced with a nearly silent whimper and snatched her hand back.

My brows furrowed immediately at the reaction. She hurried to pull her sleeves down, but not before I caught sight of what looked like bruises tainting her skin.

A surprising anger filled me then, as I couldn’t help but wonder what it was from. But given how she shied away as I took notice of it, it was clear she didn’t want anyone to point it out.

Deciding it wasn’t the time or place, I put a hand against her back instead and led her toward the hall. Glancing back, I gave Edoardo a sarcastic wave.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, De Luca.”

The old man said nothing as he slumped into his chair, running a hand down his face in defeat.

On a victory high, I left my brothers and men to take care of the room while we exited the house, but I couldn’t take my mind off those bruises on Vivian’s wrists.

Something about it made me wonder if I was inadvertently doing her a favor by getting her out of there.

Regardless, I had made my mark on the De Luca family as I planned, and I intended to enjoy that win for quite some time.

Chapter 4 - Vivian

I had no words to describe the compounding shock and disbelief I was feeling.

My body was completely numb as the realization sank into my skin, and the scene continued to repeat in my mind over and over again. Haunting me, I couldn’t escape the memory of that ceremony.

More so, I couldn’t forget that smug smirk and just how brutal his ruthlessness had been in that moment.

I was so out of it that I wanted to believe it never happened at all, and that I had just imagined it. But a panicked voice seemed to be screaming in the back of my head like a cold reminder of what it all meant.

I had been married. I was married.

My last name was no longer mine, and I was married to a man I didn’t know completely against my will.

It didn’t make any sense. None of it did.

In the beginning, I'd enjoyed watching as my brothers were brought down a peg and forced to listen to someone of higher authority for once, but they weren’t the ones forced into a ceremony against their will.

Even if they were embarrassed by the ambush after the fact, they didn’t face the same consequence I did, despite not doing anything to deserve it.

I had been begging for a way out of my dad’s house, for the chance to start a life of my own, but that wasn’t what I had in mind. I was essentially changing hands, going from one prison to another.

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