Page 1 of Devil's Bride

Chapter One

Alexei

“I find everything about you annoying, Mr. Vadim.”

It’s strange I’d take such rudeness with Nina, but my lips curve as I tilt my head to the woman in front of me, my chest warming with amusement as I look at her heart-shaped face and stare into her fierce, sapphiric blue eyes. Her wavy, red hair falls to the side, casting a shadow across her face.

My gaze dips to her chest. I take in the full swell of her breasts and the way her nipples poke against the silk fabric of the gold dress she’s wearing. It’s simple and elegant, hugging tightly against her petite body and highlighting her soft curves.

Christ, she’s easily the most beautiful woman in this godforsaken gala room. I really can’t help the way my cock swells in my pants as I imagine fucking her pretty face.

As the head of the Bratva and d’yavol of New York, as my enemies like to call me, it’s not often someone dares to me rude to me. But this woman, Irina Volkov, only daughter of my sworn enemy, Matteo Volkov, dares to run her mouth in front of me.

Interesting.

I grab a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, twirling it in my hand. I don’t drink at parties. I have too enemies to relax and enjoy myself like everyone else. Still, it’s fun to hold a glass and wonder if any of the enemies around are holding their breaths, waiting for me to drink to my death.

“Did you hear what I said?” she asks, her face scrunching up. “I said I find you really annoying, and you look like a pervert just standing there and staring at me.”

“Is that so?” A full smile slips past my rigid control this time. I tuck one hand in my pocket, my interest piqued. I suppose her dislike for me has nothing to do with my enmity with her father. “And why do you find me annoying?”

She sighs, taking a sip of her drink. My insides twitch as her lips press against the rim of the glass. I wonder what they’ll feel like wrapped around my dick. “You’re asking the wrong question, but I’m happy to indulge you. You’re a monster, everyone in this room knows that you are.”

My brows quirk, but I let her continue.

“You’re the head of the Bratva, the most brutal crime family in New York,” she says, her eyes gleaming with nothing but hatred for me. “Girls go missing every day. Dead bodies keep appearing from who knows where, and from what I’ve heard, your territory has the highest rate of these…crimes.”

I tighten my abdominal muscles to stop my jaw from clenching because she’s right.

I climbed to the Bratva throne after Dominic, the Capo of the Cosa Nostra, killed my father ten years ago.

During my father’s reign as head of the Bratva, his territories were known for brutality, with a high crime rate, murders in broad daylight and many things much worse. His thirst for brutality was his downfall, and I hated him all my life. I still do.

My father killed my mother when I was five because she’d fallen in love with another man and wanted to leave him. In less than a month after he murdered her, he married Sasha who was already pregnant with my half-brother, Mikhail.

You’d think he’d be a better husband after what he did to my mother. He wasn’t. He abused Sasha and my two younger brothers, chased me out of the city when I turned eighteen because he was afraid I would kill him and take his place.

And he was right to fear me. I’d have killed him sooner if he hadn’t forced me from the city with no money. I moved to Albany where I worked for a drug cartel for six years before I decided to take my fate into my own hands. I was going to kill him, free Sasha and my brothers from him, and become the head of the Bratva.

But Dominic found me the second I stepped into New York and we made a deal. He’d kill my father and allow me to become the new head of the Bratva. In return, we’d become allies and I’d go to his aid whenever he needed me.

As much as I wanted to kill my father myself, I’d agreed. It was a good deal, and I wouldn’t have my father’s blood on my hands. That was ten years ago, and I’ve worked hard to reclaim the city, putting a stop to the kidnappings, murders and other things my father allowed. That was until a year ago, when a new organization found their way into my territory.

The Phoenix.

I have no idea who they are or why they’re so obsessed with claiming what is mine, but they blackmailed me into silence and are destroying everything I’d worked for.

While I may not be certain of anything for now, I’m sure of two things. Irina’s father works for this new organization, and I’m going to do everything within my power to bring them down.

A chuckle rumbles deep in my chest at her words. She definitely has no idea who her father is, not yet. “Is that what your father told you? That I’m a monster?”

She seethes and hisses, “I’m a grown woman, and I do not need my father to tell who you are. Everyone in this city knows about you and your brutality.”

I take a step toward her, expecting her to back down. Instead, she holds her ground, glaring at me with those fierce eyes. “Yet, you dare to speak to me like that?”

“I guess you’re used to everyone kissing up to you.” She places her glass on the table behind her and crosses her arms over her chest. “I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Devil, but I’m not afraid of you. I’ll stop at nothing to see that I drive you and your minions out of this city.”

A woman who makes threats. I like her already. I can imagine breaking her little by little. It will be fun. “And how exactly do you hope to do that?”

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