Page 8 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

He repeated himself, assuring me he had our new, fake identities taken care of and that the person on duty at the small airport we’d be landing at wouldn’t look too closely at them. Papa would be working in his cousin’s bar over there in return for Abram’s help. I almost tossed the phone down and took off running as he laid out the plan. So much for San Francisco.

Even though it was my heritage, I didn’t speak more than a few words in Russian, and those were just the insults my father slung at me from time to time when he was so drunk he forgot what country he was in.

I was a California girl at my core and hated cold weather, shivering uncontrollably when it dropped below sixty degrees outside. Worst of all, I’d be utterly alone, with no one but my father and people I couldn’t even communicate with, if they even seemed friendly at all.

I managed to thank him and hung up the phone, then sat there as still as a statue, trying not to panic or throw up. Russia,and not a big city where international people might help me if it came down to it. A tiny, secluded village in the remote, vast forests there. How long would it take for Papa to alienate the man he was supposed to be working for? What would happen then if we were turned out into the cold?

My father always had an inflated sense of his self-worth, believing that his big break was always just around the corner and he’d be catapulted into the lifestyle he truly deserved. This once nice, pleasant home, with a daughter who worked hard for top grades, and a loving wife who doted on him, was never quite enough. He wanted what men like Aleks Fokin had but didn’t have the tenacity to stick with anything long enough to achieve such success.

He’d never be able to put up with being someone’s bartender for long and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to be useful without knowing the language. We could be destitute in a cold, unforgiving land in just a few short months. No, this wasn’t a good plan at all, but what was the alternative? Staying here and being hunted down by Rurik Kuzmin.

Shame, the last shreds of family loyalty to my mother’s memory, and the fact that the only people who could help me would soon be joining Kuzmin in that hunt, were the reason I hadn’t begged my once understanding boss for help. The Fokins liked me now but once they thought I was part of my father’s betrayal and theft, they’d show no mercy.

How long would it take for them to find out and come after us? There was no place on this earth they wouldn’t search.

The doorbell rang as if someone was leaning on the button, and I jumped, hurrying to peek out through the drawn curtains. I motioned wildly for my father to stay quiet, nearlydropping from a heart attack when I saw who was standing on the front porch with a fierce glare on his face.

It was too late to run.

Dima Fokin’s brows furrowed as he ignored the bell this time and went straight to pounding on the door.

Chapter 5 - Dimitry

The curtains parted only a few seconds after I smashed the doorbell. I was expecting her father to be there, but there was a slight flash of dark curls from behind the fluttering curtain at the window. Now, I turned and recognized Olivia’s nondescript car parked on the curb.

“I know you’re in there,” I called. I stopped knocking furiously and crossed my arms, staring at the slight opening in the curtains.

A moment later, the door swung open, and there she stood in all her glory, hair flowing over her shoulders in a wild tangle I longed to run my fingers through. But first things first. She smiled breezily, or attempted to, and acted like nothing was wrong.

Did a piss poor job of it, too.

“Dima?” she asked, looking at me and then the sun, which had barely reached the tops of her neighbor’s houses. “What brings you here at this hour?”

“Cut the crap,” I said, raising my eyebrow at her.

She was dedicated and seemed to love her job. She was friends with Max’s wife. Maybe she would have decided she wanted something new and resigned, but leaving without saying goodbye? Something was definitely not right about that, and I was irritated at Max for not seeing through her odd behavior before it came to this. I felt like a caged tiger, ready to strike, but had no idea what I should be striking at.

When had I gone past having a mild interest in this woman, to actively wondering how I could get her professionalfacade to crack, to winding up with this fierce protectiveness over her? As if she was my own to keep and care for?

Sure, I cared about all my friends if I thought they were in trouble and needed my help, but this was something else entirely. This was bordering on crazy.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, stepping halfway out the door and blocking my view inside the house.

The look on her face as she tried to keep me outside on the porch, all while desperately attempting to come up with a story I’d believe, told me I’d made the right decision to drop everything and come to her father’s house. Her eyes were dark and heavy with worry, and every line of her body screamed that she was about to break under some untold pressure.

Having enough of her acting, I pushed past her into the house. The place was a shambles and there was evidence of a shoddy packing job underway. Her father, Benedikt, whom I’d met on a few other occasions when working with my brother Aleks, was slumped over his breakfast at the kitchen table, with a nearly empty bottle of vodka. Before I could say a word, he snarled angrily at Olivia.

“You worthless little—”

“Watch it,” I interrupted.

He barely fixed his drunken gaze on me for a second before focusing back on his daughter. “You told him? I always knew you had no honor, but ratting out your own father?”

While I didn’t know Benedikt very well, I couldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment, because I didn’t like the way Olivia shrank from him, trying to appease him with her comforting tone as she tried to assure him she didn’t tell me anything.

What was there to tell?

Benedikt didn’t seem to believe her, and was out of his mind in an instant, going from slumped over and slurring to jumping up and shoving past me to raise his hand to Olivia.

---