Page 15 of Arranged to Marry the Bratva

Once in the car, I instruct my driver to head to the Zolotov headquarters. When the guard told me she’d left for the day, I didn’t need to ask where for. I’ve had surveillance on Anoushka, along with the other Zolotovs, for over a year now, and I know that Anoushka is always out with her family or a selected handful of friends.

At this time of the day, there’s only one place she can be.

We pull up outside the office, and I stride right in. Here, I feel momentarily lost when I enter the elevator, realizing that while I know Boris’s floor, I don’t know where Anoushka’s office is. After confirming with the people next to me, I exit on the fourteenth story and ask around until I reach her office.

Outside, a secretary sits.

“Hello,” she smiles at me. “Do you have an appointment with Ms. Zolotov?”

“Is she in a meeting?” I ask abruptly, annoyed with the interruption.

“No,” the secretary says. “But you need to have an appointment.”

I need to have an appointment? Someone needs to send her staff a goddamn memo.

Without saying another word, I stride past the secretary and barge open the door. Inside, Anoushka looks up from her desk, the annoyance at being interrupted now replaced with surprise and mild… rage?

Her blue-green eyes dart arrows at me as she stands to face me, placing both hands on her desk and leaning slightly forward. “What the hell, Nikolai?”

In this moment, I can’t help but notice just how damn sexy she looks. She’s got on an emerald green silk button-down blouse tucked tight and neat into an A-line pencil skirt. She doesn’t notice, but the top button threatens to break open. I avert my gaze away from that dangerous neckline, when I hear the secretary’s whiny voice behind me.

“Miss. Zolotov,” she pants, catching up. “I tried to stop this man—”

“She’s Mrs. Orlov to you now,” I bark at the woman and notice Anoushka frown. “And I am her husband. Mr. Orlov.”

The woman gasps, cheeks reddening as she looks between Anoushka and me.

“Oh dear,” she mumbles. “I… I’m so sorry Ms… Mrs… ”

“Leave us,” I command, without bothering to look at her, my eyes still glued to my wife.

I hear footsteps, and the door clicks shut behind her.

“I’d rather appreciate it if you didn’t barge into my workplace and bring such chaos in your wake,” Anoushka hisses at me, sitting back down in her seat.

“Oh really?” I ask, sauntering over and bending over the desk, glowering at her. “And I’d rather that the people you worked with know who you’re married to!”

Anoushka narrows her eyes at me, her jaw clenched in frustration. “You have no right to come here and cause a scene, Nikolai. This is my workplace, my sanctuary.”

She pushes back her chair, standing up to face me directly, her height not quite matching mine, but her fiery demeanor making her seem taller. “What do you want now?” she demands, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

I lean closer and bend lower until my lips threaten to almost graze against her. She, however, doesn’t shift back, her pride too large to show weakness.

“What do I want? I want a wife who acts like one,” I almost whisper. “I want a partner who doesn’t treat me like an inconvenience.”

For a few moments, there’s an intense silence, and then, she pulls away. She slams shut her laptop and steps away from her desk. “You know what, Nikolai?” she says, walking past me. “I really have to work, and if you’re not leaving my office, I sure will.”

I watch, exasperated, as she strides out of the office. But little does she know that this conversation isn’t quite over. I’ve caught up with her antics by now. It’s her pattern to run, and run, and run. But this time, she’s cornered.

I catch up with her, and walk stride for stride, her quick pace just a simple breeze for my legs.

“Please, Nikolai,” she bristles. “We can talk later tonight.”

“Like I haven’t heard that before,” I say with an underlying anger bubbling over from all the mornings and afternoons I’ve heard that same line before. Without thinking, I grab her arm and gently hold her in place. She steps back from the shock of my unexpected dominance, her back now against the wall. I place my hands on either side of her so she can’t find a free spot to run away from. She clutches her laptop to her chest, and it takes every bit of honor in me not to let my gaze drop to how her breasts spill out from the top of her blouse with the top button now popped open.

She scoffs, leaning back wholly against the wall. “That’s not how this works, Nikolai,” Anoushka retorts, her voice low but laced with frustration. “You can’t just bully your way in here and throw your weight around because of who you are.”

“And what exactly am I supposed to do, Anoushka? You’ve been avoiding me for weeks now. We are married, for God’s sake. Don’t you think it’s time we act like it?”

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