Page 19 of Brutal Bratva King

I never had to deal with men, I never had to work, I never had to make big choices.

I was pampered and taken care of, and in all honesty, it has made me naive and unaware of how things work.

So, no, I don’t want Oleg to know I have regrets. But I do need to speak to someone.Raisa is that someone.

I message her to check if she’s home and if my brother is there.

Me: Hey girl. I want to come for coffee. What are you two up to today?

Raisa: Oleg is out until lunch. It’s just me here. You can come around now if you want. Otherwise if you want to see Oleg too, then come for lunch?

This is perfect.

Me: I’m on my way now.

I grab my handbag and rush out the door, excited to be getting out of Rodion’s space. I need air, to think and breath and clear my head.

When I get to Raisa’s house, she comes outside to greet me and hugs me tight.

“How was your first night? Did everything go ok?”

“We had a big fight. It wasn’t easy,” I sigh, biting my lip.

She leads me into the house. “I’ll make coffee. We can talk.”

Sitting on the high chair at the kitchen counter, watching her make coffee, I start to feel the tension leave my body. She is chatting about how everything went on the first night of her arranged marriage. It’s nice to hear her talk about it because I know that their relationship started just as rocky as mine—and look at her now.

They are so happy together. They ended up finding their soulmate and now they are having a baby, and everything is perfect.

She pushes the coffee across the counter towards me, then leans on it with her elbows resting and her coffee in her hands. “It gets easier.”

“I don’t know—it seems impossible. I want to believe that I can be as lucky as you—but right now, it seems unrealistic.”

She laughs lightheartedly. “You sound just like me. Be grateful you weren’t kidnapped.” She laughs even harder.

“Do any of your brothers know about that yet?”

She rolls her eyes. “My brothers don’t need to know everything about my life. Besides, I am so happy it all happened the way it did. My life feels perfect. I would not ever have wished for anything other than this.”

She seems to be content and confident in her words. I want to feel that happy too.

Right now, I just feel like I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life and I can’t escape it.

“Raisa?” A deep voice drifts through from the foyer.

Immediately, my entire body goes rigid.

“We’re in here, Rodion,” she calls out. Then she mouths the word ‘sorry’ to me.

“I didn’t know he was coming,” she whispers.

All I wanted was to get away from him for a while—and now he’s managed to follow me here.

My back is facing the door and I don’t turn around when I hear him walking in.

Raisa smiles beautifully and rushes to say hello to him. He hugs her tightly, lifting her off the ground and spinning her. She laughs and squeals for him to put her down.

I knot my brows together. Since when was Rodion ever playful? His rigid, tense, controlled mannerisms never once came across as playful.

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