Page 34 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

“Did that really just happen?” I asked, because they were both acting like a warehouse hadn’t just exploded in front of us.

“Oh, hi,” Dima said to me. “I remember you.” Then he turned to Max and explained what had happened as if I wasn’t there.

It turned out he was lured there with the intent to make a deal with the cartel, just to work out some boundary lines. My mouth dropped open. The cartel? The people who chopped off heads? And they were going to work out a deal with them? Who was I actually married to? Yes, they were going to meet at that place because it was neutral territory, although both Max and Dima laughed at the idea that anyone would show up unarmed.

“Anyway, nobody was there when I arrived,” Dima said, leaning into the front between us as we slowly made our way back towards civilization. “I poked around and figured out pretty fast that the place was wired to blow, and it was a big setup.” Neither of them gasped except for me. “Since I haven’t had a chance to disarm a bomb in a while, I decided to give it a shot and see if I could save the place. But, as you saw, it was too late.”

Max whacked him across the head. “Always trying to show off your skills. You should have just gotten out. It wasn’t even our building.”

“He should have just gotten out even if it was your building,” I piped up, marveling at how calm they were.

Dima took getting hit in the head by his older brother in stride and turned to me. “Good to see you again, but why are you here?”

We both turned to Max because I certainly didn’t know how to answer. Max searched my face and I couldn’t quite make out what he was thinking. I braced myself for whatever lie he came up with, wondering why I thought it was going to sting. Who cared if he hid the fact we were married? It wasn’t like it was real, or that it was going to last forever. That sweet one month anniversary gesture had seemed real, though, and now here I was in the middle of some kind of family business that had gotten a building blown up. It seemed pretty real.

To my utter shock, Max blurted out the whole story. He went easy on the part where I was drugged and kidnapped by the world’s biggest movie star, but at the mere mention of Luca’s name, Dima’s face twisted in disgust. Okay, that was another person who saw through the shiny mask.

“This is our one month anniversary,” Max finished with a hint of pride in his voice as he smiled at me. Relief filled me that he hadn’t come up with some elaborate lie, and I told myself it was just easier to tell the truth. He scowled back at Dima. “Swear you’ll keep this a secret,” he warned.

Those dark eyes of Max’s made me realize the cartel had been smart not to show up for the meeting, and would probably come to regret their cowardly attempt to end one of the Fokins. That was who I was married to.

Dima took the warning in stride. “Sure, I love a family secret.” He reached over to squeeze my shoulder. “Sorry to break up your party, sis.”

“It’s no problem,” I said, feeling a rush of warmth at his easy acceptance.

Sis. I’d had so many foster siblings, and some I’d actually grown attached to. It was always so painful to say goodbye when we were inevitably separated that I worked hard not to getinvolved. It must have been wonderful to grow up with a family that couldn’t be divided or torn apart.

“Why don’t we just keep the party going at my place?” Dima suggested. “The hotel has a great bar.”

“Hell no,” Max growled, and I whipped a hard look at him until his shoulders dropped. “We’ll go back to our house. I can cook up some steaks on the grill.”

I beamed at him, and he reached for my hand. I was in such a daze from everything I’d just seen and heard that all I could do was go along with it. Back at our place, I insisted on checking Dima over for injuries, wanting to be useful and feel like I belonged. Ignoring Max’s scowl, his brother whipped off his shirt and sat patiently while I checked for bruises and dabbed ointment on a few scratches.

Max pulled cuts of meat from the always well-stocked fridge, and they alternated between erupting into joking squabbles and seriously discussing the events leading up to the explosion while they grilled. I looked up how to mix margaritas online and brought out a pitcher, where I was greeted like I was one of those game show hosts who’d just revealed the grand prize.

Dima was much more relaxed than anyone had any right to be after almost being blown to bits, and kept me riveted with some far-fetched stories about bombs he’d been able to dismantle in the past. Or maybe they weren’t so unbelievable after what I’d seen. Max teased him mercilessly and Dima kept up, flinging back mild insults while simultaneously somehow propping up his older brother. It was clear how close they were, and I began to really like my new brother-in-law, who I’d only met once before, but now he treated me like an old friend. Or, like family.

I settled into a lounge chair, happy to dip out of the conversation and sip my drink with the cool ocean breeze wafting up to our back deck. It was strange to watch them interact, strange but nice, bringing on the old longing for a big, close-knit family of my own. Where everyone teased each other and had inside jokes, and most of all, where everyone had each other’s backs.

Chapter 21 - Max

Sitting outside in the cool night air, with an ice-cold drink in my hand, I was glowing at how well Brooke and Dima were getting along. That shouldn’t have been anything to get worked up about, since Dima was so easygoing that almost everyone got along with him. That is, until it was time to crack some heads, then my younger brother was one to stay away from. But there was no reason for Brooke to ever have to see that side of him, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she was so charmed by him. And she was clearly charmed by him.

Ah, hell, was I getting jealous of my own brother? I didn’t want to admit it, but that first tense knot in my gut started when she had him peeling his shirt off to tenderly check for bruises. It was getting worse the better they got along, with Dima goodnaturedly drawing her into every conversation and Brooke laughing at all his stupid jokes.

“Enough,” I bellowed, finally snapping when he suggested we turn on some music. My brother loved to party, loved to dance, and just couldn’t take the hint that I wanted him to leave when dinner was over. “You’ve crashed my anniversary long enough. Get the hell out.”

He was as stoic as usual, taking my bluster in stride and making me look worse in comparison when he didn’t fight back as he calmly left.

“What was that about?” Brooke asked as soon as he was gone.

“I was getting sick of him,” I admitted.

“He was almost killed tonight, and he’s probably traumatized,” she huffed, looking at me like I’d just kicked a dog.

I had to laugh at that. “We’ve all been through much worse. You saw for yourself he wasn’t hurt.” I scowled at the memory of her dabbing medicine on the few scratches he got while escaping the blast. Then I forced myself to calm the fuck down. She wasn’t actually flirting with Dima, and he wasn’t doing anything untoward. She just made me so damn crazy. “I don’t want to fight on our anniversary,” I said.

“It’s not like it’s a real one,” she scoffed. “It’s not even a real marriage.” She turned her chin up, and I could see her fighting within herself to hold something back. Being Brooke, she couldn’t do it. “And you need to let me go before the fall semester starts. I have to be able to register for classes and actually go to them, too.”

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