Page 42 of Virgin Bratva Prisoner

“What’s this?” she asks, pulling her chair out and sitting opposite me.

“This is something for you.”

“For me?” She reaches out to touch the box, curiosity traced over her face.

“You can open it now if you want to.”

She stands up and drags the box towards her side of the dinner table. “Oh, it’s really heavy.” Now she’s confused. This is actually fun.

She lifts the lid off the box and stares down into it and the neatly packed text books. Tilting her head and frowning deeply she looks up at me. “I don’t understand.”

“Read the letter.”

Opening the crisp white envelope, she unfolds the page and reads out loud.

“Dear Raisa, you have been accepted to study at our online university. You will find all the first semester study material delivered along with this letter, and should you have any questions at all—contact your assigned tutor.”

She looks up at me again with her jaw open, her perfectly shaped lips catching my gaze.

“I can study?” she asks, completely shocked. “You arranged it so that I can still attend university?”

“Yes, I wanted to make sure you could still follow your dream. This year would be online and after that we can look at how things have changed and you can continue online or attend university. For now, at least you are moving forward.”

Tears spill from her eyes, flowing freely down her face. She runs around the table and throws her arms around my neck. I sit in complete shock. I figured she would be happy about this but her reaction takes me by surprise.

“Thank you so much! Oh, my word. You have no idea what this means to me.”

I grin, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close to me to return the hug. “It’s my pleasure, Raisa. And in the future, if you want something or you need something, just ask me.”

“I will,” she says happily, then lets me go and returns to her seat.

Her entire mood seems lifted as she talks excitedly about starting her studies the very next day.

And she does.

She dedicates herself to those text books during the day and in the evenings, we sit together and have dinner, chatting, getting to know each other and having a laugh.

We have somehow developed a little routine that works for both of us with the evenings at dinner at being my favorite part.

Tonight, it’s Friday, and Raisa has completed her first assignment, which got submitted this afternoon. She is excited to see how well she did, and we have opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the start of her studies.

Raisa is on her third glass and her cheeks are glowing bright pink. She is giggling and looks relaxed.

“Anya told me that your brother Alexei is the naughtiest of the lot, and she said that you are the one who stays out of trouble.” She grins at me.

“And—do you think she’s right?”

Raisa nods with a little giggle. “I believe her. You do seem like someone people can depend on. It’s nice to feel that way about someone. My brothers are all pretty different, too. I mean—growing up, they would get into a lot of trouble—oh—this one time, we were all allowed to go to a carnival and we were supposed to stick together. But my sister and I snuck off because the boys only wanted to play the shooting games and we wanted to win teddy bears. Ruslana and I got distracted along the way and we went into a mirror maze. Oh. My word. We got stuck in there. Everywhere you turn, you can’t find your way out because everything that looks like a way out turns out to be a mirror. Ruslana started crying. Do you know what my brother Rodion did? He smashes down three walls of mirrors to get us out of there.”

Raisa is laughing at the memory. “It was such a mes,s but Ruslana was so relieved. They wanted to keep my brother there, but we all made a run for it and escaped the security guards. We could never go back to that carnival again even though it came through our little town every year.”

“You were very close to your family growing up?” I ask.

“Yes, we were close then and we are still close now. Even though I am not interested in the Bratva life—my family still means the world to me. I would do anything for them.”

“I’m the same. I’m also not interested in this Bratva life. I would have chosen something else for myself, but I do it because my family needs me,” I sigh.

She looks up at me, her bright blue eyes are so beautiful tonight. They seem to be glowing, perhaps it's the champagne, perhaps it’s the way she is smiling.

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