Page 38 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

We hopped back in my car and drove to a neighborhood with a good mix of small businesses, schools, and community involvement. The kind of place that wouldn’t appreciate a heavy-handed criminal outfit coming in and trying to take over.

After chatting with a few local bar and restaurant owners, I was convinced. Sure enough, within the last week, they’d started being harassed by thugs wanting protection money. It put my mind at ease a fraction, because it could have just been a coincidence. A new group trying to gain control, and not there to stalk Brooke for Luca.

“You’ve always hated coincidences,” Dima reminded me when I shared that opinion.

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “I’ve never been one for wishful thinking, either.”

We kept talking to people, getting further into the neighborhood's outskirts where we heard even more disgruntled rumblings. News of some Russians poking around must have gotten back to our new objects of scrutiny, because as we were leaving one bar in a lonely, rundown part of town, we got jumped by two big guys with baseball bats, of all things.

I took a pretty good hit on the shoulder, just because I was caught off guard. Dima was behind me and was able to duck the other one’s blow, whipping out his gun and cracking him in the side of the head with it. The man’s head must have been made of cement because he only blinked off the shock and barreled forward to take my brother down at the knees.

I hurled off an insult in Italian, pretty much the only words I knew in that language, and the one who’d managed to hit me snarled in rage, answering something I couldn’t understand. But at least I’d determined where they were from, if not who they were working for.

These idiots had to be armed, and just weren’t using lethal force because they didn’t quite understand who they were working with. As I took my gun out, I heard a vicious cracking sound behind me, turning just long enough to see that the otherguy had somehow gotten the upper hand on Dima, and was smashing his elbow into the middle of my brother’s back.

No time to wince, I turned back to see a fist flying toward my face. Shifting in time to not get a broken nose, the boulder of a hand scraped the side of my jaw, hurting plenty but not doing any real damage. These fuckers were huge, and absolutely fearless. I’d have had a grudging respect if the pain in my jaw didn’t piss me off so bad.

“Enough,” I shouted. The click of my gun froze them. “Bad idea,” I said when the one still grappling with Dima rolled away and reached for one of his own.

“We can’t kill them here, too many people around,” Dima said, somewhat breathless.

“We can kill them somewhere else after we get answers,” I said.

My words were meant to scare them shitless, but I really just wanted information. However, these two were like machines, with no sense of self-preservation. The one I had my gun trained on did a roundhouse kick aimed for my hand. I swept it out of the way, but then they were off in a blur, surprisingly fast for how bulky they were.

“Shit,” Dima said, more impressed than angry. “Please don’t say we’re running.”

I was pissed, but he’d had the wind knocked out him and was in no shape to put up a good chase. “They’re probably just muscle anyway,” I said, letting my anger go for the moment. “We don’t really need to beat the shit out of them to know who they’re working for.”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed. “Who’d have thought that weaselly actor could cause so much trouble.”

We headed back to the hotel he was staying at so I could make sure he didn’t have any broken ribs. I wanted to let the swelling on the side of my face go down before heading home so it wouldn’t alarm Brooke, too. Like any time after a fight, with a good or bad outcome, Dima was in a rip-roaring good mood. He wasn’t likely to start something, but he never backed down, and he’d go until the bitter end for any of us.

He insisted on getting a massage at the hotel’s spa since his back hurt, and instead of teasing the shit out of him, I decided I may as well get one, too. It shouldn’t have been surprising how much tension I had in my shoulders. After our massages, Dima insisted on drinks in his suite while we went over what we should do about this new problem.

Of course, we had a few too many and ended up way off track. I was close with all my brothers, but Dima and I always got along remarkably well, always forming alliances against our sometimes-tyrannical older brothers, Aleks and Lev.

“Ah, hell,” I said, noticing the time. “I don’t know how I’m going to make it home.”

“Nah, don’t go yet. Just stay for dinner. They grill a mean filet in the restaurant downstairs,” he said eagerly.

I shook my head. “You already ruined my anniversary. I’m going home to have dinner with my wife again.”

Laughing in shocked disbelief, he gave me a long look. “It was a one-month anniversary. Who even does that except maybe high school kids? You’re in way too deep, man. Way too deep.”

I clapped him on the shoulder and got up, ignoring his jibes. “You just haven’t found the right woman who makes you want to dive in yet.”

Chapter 24 - Brooke

I wasn’t one to give into hopelessness, but when I woke up to find Max wasn’t home again, I had nothing to distract me. It was difficult not to lapse into despair when there was a clock hanging over my head, counting down to the looming fall semester. I was on the verge of missing out on my classes, losing my scholarships, and watching my dreams go down the drain.

Around lunchtime, Max’s assistant Olivia came over, laden down with a brand new selection of clothes, shoes, and jewelry for me to go through. As she set them all out, draping things across the bed and over every available chair, my mind shot back to Max tearing my clothes off my body. I got too warm in my flowy summer top and swingy short skirt as I remembered everything about last night.

He’d promised he’d buy me a new outfit, but this was going overboard. “He can’t just give me his credit card to buy something online?” I asked.

Olivia waved her hand at all the new goodies. “I think he wanted it to be like a shopping experience. You know, so you could have some fun.”

I grumbled. “He could actually let me go shopping, then. As if I’d try to run.”

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