Page 9 of Brutal Bratva King

I couldn’t be happier learning that I was wrong. All of her coy, bitchy coldness was just a game. She was playing hard to get.

What a pleasant surprise this is.

The boardroom is heavy with tension, though and her brothers are furious. They are all standing up and getting ready to leave. The conversationisover.

“Thank you for the meeting,” I say. Alexei glares at me with anger. Oleg has his back to me, and Leon clenches his jaw tightly.

“Indeed,” Leon mutters, turning his back on me and walking out.

He’ll get over it.

So will the rest of them. Just like my brothers and I had to get over it when Oleg married Raisa. We still suspect that she wasn’t keen on him from the start—that something happened there that we would not have been very happy to find out. But I guess it doesn’t matter at this point because it ended up with her being very happy.

And nowI am about to get what I’ve wanted for a while.

Anya Dubrov is going to be my wife.

Her brothers leave one by one and Anya remains standing at the table. She waits, patiently, until we are the last two left in the boardroom.

I grin at her, standing opposite her at the table.

“And here I thought you didn’t like me,” I say, walking around the table to stand next to her. I look down at her with a different perspective on who she is. There is so much more respect now.

Her bright, caramel eyes glare back up at me and I narrow mine towards her. But why does she look so pissed off?

“I don’t like you, Rodion. I’m certainly not doing this foryou,”she snaps, just as heated as she was with her brothers.

“What? Why did you agree to marry me then?” I say, shocked.

“Because it is,unfortunately, fair. And you know as well as I do that you are going to continue being aroyal pain in the ass, throwing your little tantrums and making it difficult foreveryoneuntil you get something you want out of this—somethingyoubelieve is fair. Which is apparently to marry a Dubrov.”

“Excuse me,” I snap. “Tantrums? Who the hell do you think you are talking to, girl?”

I was clearly wrong about her. She doesnotlike me. She was not playing hard to get. She’s just a spoiled brat who needs to be put in her place.

“I think,boy, that the sooner you understand that I’m doing this for my family—and for Raisa—the easier it is going to be for both of us. In public, I assure you things will be smooth and appear legitimate. But behind closed doors, I actually want nothing to do with you. I don’t care about you at all. I don’t care what you do. This marriage will be entirely for show.”

I feel anger brewing in my chest, growing and overflowing into the rest of my body. My fists clench at my sides. My jaw muscles feather.

“No wonder you’re still single. With an attitude like that, no one would want to be around you. You don’t even know me, Anya, yet you want to treat me like trash. You and the rest of your family—you look down on everyone that isn’t your own blood. The world isbiggerthan your family.”

“No, you’re wrong. My family means theworldto me. So, after this wedding, I expect you to start treating them better. You are so busy worrying about your insecurities that you project them onto us—youthinkwe look down on you. We don’t. It’s just your perspective and it results in you being a totalassholemost of the time.” Fuck, she’s feisty and full of it and still so fucking sexy.

My fists are clenching and unclenching at my sides as I try to disperse some of my frustration. She is so cocky and full of fire. I have never had to deal with a woman like her before. What have I really gotten myself into here?

I’m starting to wonder if I should regret my decisions—but even in the middle of this very tense argument, my entire body is alive with potent desire.

Her long, dark lashes frame those fierce eyes perfectly and her luscious pink lips, even turned down at the corners, are made for me to press my mouth over.

I want to grab her right now and bend her over this boardroom table. It’ll help her understand who is going to be in charge in this marriage—because she is going to be very surprised to find out that it’s not her.

I realize how close I am standing to her when she places her hand on my chest and pushes me away. “And there will be nointimacy,” she says, but her eyes trail up and down my body.The way her breathing hitches betrays her words and I can see shewants me. Maybe she just hasn't realized that what she feels towards me, this anger, this tension—it’s hercravingme.

“We’ll see about that,” I chuckle and it rolls from my lips like a dark taunt.

She shakes her head, sighing heavily.

“I’m leaving. Please, get out of my way,” she snaps, short and abrupt.

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