Page 20 of The Bratva's Virgin Bride

“Tomato soup and toasted cheese and garlic sandwiches.”

“No, I'm fine.” Anya sits next to Riley. “So, what do you want to know?”

Chapter 10 - Riley

I am amazed at Anya. I've met her before, but I haven't spent much time with her. It's been brief visits when she pops past Gwen's house to speak to Gwen or Roman. I never really got involved. But seeing how Anya riled up Viktor just made it so worth it to be friendly to her. I feel like she's going to be a hoot.

I sip my wine as Viktor sits in his seat again. “Anya, this really isn't the time.”

“Nonsense, there's always time for family,” Anya says as she pours herself some wine. “After all, that's what we all are now. We're family. Riley is my sister-in-law and I need to get to know her.”

“You can get to know her during the day, another time.”

“Viktor, don't be rude,” Anya scolds him. “It's only seven o'clock. It's not even that late.”

“It isn't safe to be out late; you should be at home,” Viktor says. “Also, who said you could randomly drop by my house, anyway?”

“I did,” Anya says with a mischievous grin. “It's not like the guards would stop me. They know who I am.”

“I will need to speak to them about banning you from the property,” Viktor scoffs. “Maybe then you'll learn not to drop by unexpectedly.”

“You better not,” Anya says seriously. “I will have Rigor after you if you even try to. I have so few friends in Las Vegas, I need all the family interaction I can get.”

“You could just make your own friends,” Viktor argues. “You don't need to hijack everyone's wives.”

“I don't hijack them…”

I listen to them bicker and I can't believe how normal they are. This is the most normal argument I've ever seen between siblings. Viktor seems to be very fond of Anya. He seems very protective of her, even though he is giving her so much grief. I wait until there's a lull before I touch Anya's arm. “Tell me about some of the things that he's done.”

“Oh, what hasn't he done? There's this one time when we were in Russia that Viktor decided that he was going to be the big man at my birthday party.”

“That guy was asking for it,” Viktor says immediately.

“There was a boy who liked me,” Anya continues. “And he was talking to me at the drinks table. We were getting ready to do some shots of vodka. He was so charming Riley, you would have liked him. Tall, handsome, my age. Yummy to look at.”

“He was an asshole,” Viktor interjects.

“Hush,” Anya says. “I'm telling Riley a story.”

“Yes, Viktor. She's telling me a story,” I say with a grin. “Go on, Anya.”

“Well, while we were doing the shots, this boy innocently placed his hand on the small of my back. No big deal. Suddenly, Viktor stormed over, grabbed the boy's hand, and twisted it back, breaking it. The boy screamed, and his father, a leader of a powerful family in our town, rushed over. Viktor hadn't known the boy was his son, but I doubt it would have made a difference.”

Viktor sighs. “It wasn't that bad.”

“Viktor got the worst beating of his life from the guy's guards and then from our brother Rigor for putting our status in the community at risk.”

I laugh and shake my head. “Really, Viktor. He wasn't even doing anything bad.”

“He should have kept his hands to himself.” Viktor snorts.

“Yeah, but you got beat to a pulp because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself,” Anya retorts.

“Tell me another one,” I say.

“Well, when we were younger, Viktor used to have this bike. He would cycle everywhere with it.”

“Oh, Anya, this is a boring story.” Viktor looks at her pointedly.

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