Page 35 of Devil's Bride

“Shut your fucking mouth,” a deeper voice growls from the head of the table.

I turn my head to find Alexei wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Eat or go back home. The last thing I want to talk about is your mother,” Alexei says.

My mouth gapes. “You don’t have to be so rude.”

Nikolai shoots to his feet. “Right, we shouldn’t talk about dear old Mummy at dinner.” His scowl is directed only to Alexei this time. “That woman doesn’t deserve to be around this family, you know that.”

“She’s your mother.”

“She’s not my mother,” Nikolai retorts, his eyes red with rage. “She’s nothing but my father’s—”

“Before you call her names, remember she risked her life to give birth to you,” Alexei cuts him off before he can finish. “Disrespect her somewhere else, not in my home.”

“Fuck you.” Nikolai pushes away from his chair and strides out angrily.

“Follow him and see to it he doesn’t get hurt,” Alexei orders Mikhail. He’s back to his Pakhan self.

Mikhail nods at his brother and looks at me. “I’m sorry dinner was a disaster.”

I incline my head because I’m afraid only air will come out if I try to speak.

Mikhail scurries after Nikolai, leaving the feast of food on the table behind. Alexei just goes back to eating, which makes my nostrils flare.

“Your youngest brother is upset and you’re just going to go back to eating?” I ask, watching him carefully.

Alexei doesn’t as much as spare me a glance. “What should I do? Run after him?”

“You can choose to care.”

“I do care.”

Is he joking right now? “You don’t it.”

“I do, in my own way,” he says. He lifts a glass of water and brings it to his mouth. “Do not insert yourself in a discussion you know nothing about, Irina.”

My nose scrunches up. “Is that a warning?”

He stands and pins me with a glance I can’t read. I can’t decipher the blank mask he’s wearing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen his eyes so empty before. “Make whatever you will of it.”

With that, he walks out of the dining room.

My gaze follows him until he’s out of sight, then I sink into my chair, trying to keep out the sinking feeling that I really don’t belong here.

Chapter Twelve

Irina

Twelve girls have gone missing in the last couple of days, and the police suspect a drug cartel to be responsible.

I swipe down the picture of each girl, noting their faces and ages. The oldest among them is sixteen, the youngest is just twelve. Their innocent faces and smiles rile something in me.

I turn my phone over on the bed and close my eyes. It’s been four days since the dinner, Alexei has barely been home ever since that disaster of an evening. He usually leaves before I wake up in the morning and returns after I’ve gone to sleep. I don’t know what to think of it, but there are more pressing issues than a husband who is avoiding me.

The girls; I wonder if he really has something to do with it. I could ask, but I’ll only be wasting my time. It’s not like he’ll confide in his anti-mafia wife about kidnapping underage girls. The only way I can find out anything is getting access to his businesses.

A knock has my attention turning to the door. It creaks open before I can call for whoever it is to come in.

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