Page 34 of The Bratva's Arranged Bride

The girls were lighthearted and easily joked and talked about whatever came to mind. Yuri, being Yuri, chimed in, not sparing anyone his teasing.

To my additional surprise, it was entertaining to watch.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes, and the girls were already hard at work planning our next meetup.

On the way back home, feeling lighter than I had in quite some time, I glanced over at Yuri while he drove.

“You know, your brother would’ve hated to see you be so shameless back there.”

Yuri lifted a brow at that before relaxing it again and chuckling to himself. His smile gave away that the thought was at least somewhat pleasing to him. “Oh, I know. But it’s all good fun, no? I’m sure Val will get over the fact that he has nothing on me one day.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t hold back the faintly amused grin on my own.

It was easy to see that Yuri was the life of the party, and his confidence seemed to guide him without any resistance. He was laid-back and easy to talk to, but something about that still didn’t sit entirely right with me.

It was the effortlessness of his charm that actually made me feel a bit grateful that Yuri wasn’t the one I ended up with.

Even if it was annoying, he was smooth—a little too smooth, and while his flirting was mostly harmless, it felt a bit shallow at times.

But Val…he was smug in his teasing, and it irritated me, yet he was more sparing with it, which seemed to make those moments more effective.

There was something deeper to his poking and prodding. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.

After a moment of watching the city move by us, I glanced out the window, catching the small figure of a dog curled up and shaking on the sidewalk ahead.

It looked thin and completely alone without a collar. The sight was enough to pull at my heartstrings.

“Yuri, pull over.”

He threw a questioning glance at me. “What for?”

“Just do it!”

Giving in, Yuri sighed and put his signal on before pulling up to the curb and throwing it into park.

“That poor dog…” I murmured, looking through the side mirror at it.

When I glanced over at him, Yuri looked surprised by the mention of it. “What, the stray?”

I nodded. “It looks like it needs help.”

He blinked back at me, and then after a moment, he smirked. “Wanna bring it home? I’m sure Val willlovethat.”

At the suggestion, I hummed. “In that case? Definitely.”

Without needing to be persuaded, Yuri willingly joined me, and we wasted no time scooping the little stray off the street.

It was a bit ridiculous, but after gaining its trust, we took it to a pet store and grabbed some supplies. It may have been overkill, especially if Val lost his mind over it, but something about it felt right.

Encouraged by Yuri’s sense of mischief, already far too pleased with himself, we drove back to the house, both looking forward to the outcome.

And to his credit, it seemed Yuri wasn’t the worst company, after all.

Chapter 13 - Val

I never thought Andrey would be much of a perfectionist, but I could only imagine it contributed to his success in some way, at the very least.

We had already hit up several prospective joints for the strip club, and while I could’ve been convinced to accept the first one, he had us moving all around the city.

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