Page 23 of The Bratva's Arranged Virgin Bride
Chapter 13 - Kolya
I barely made it back to my bedroom, feeling like I’d been thrown over a cliff. Another second of having Nat in my arms, her lips on mine, and I would have taken her right then and there on the kitchen table. That I would not do. It wasn’t just that she was so young and innocent.
I still wasn’t sure of her motives. Where she used to be like an open book to me, now she was hiding something. I could still tell when she outright lied because she was horrible at it, but I wanted to know why she’d pissed off her family so badly to be the one to meet me at the end of the aisle. It couldn’t be as simple as her being unable to bear the thought of me being with another woman, even though my ego might have loved that.
I wanted her much too badly for her not to feel the same. As long as I suspected she had ulterior motives, she was off the table, literally. And off the bed, not that she’d find her way back here on her own. She was probably already hiding in her guest room, seething about why her plan to twist me around her little finger didn’t work out.
Let her come to me begging for more if that was what she wanted. Though that might be a very cold day in hell.
After an icy shower, I was able to think straight again, though knowing Nat was in the same house made it difficult. Firing up my laptop, I worked on the new gallery, my latest hobby, to take my mind off real business. The art scheme would rake in a lot of money, but it was still nothing more than a distraction from more boring, necessary work.
For the most part, it was going well, except for a few small wrinkles that needed to be smoothed out. It was certain to work out fine, better than any other gallery I’d set up in the past, sinceso many people in this city were obsessed with status. Having the best things. Things their friends and neighbors couldn’t get. My artists were already hard at work slapping together those elusive, one-of-a-kind pieces that they’d be tripping over themselves to pay top dollar for.
Maybe it was crazy to set up this scam in a place I wanted to settle, and if Arkadi knew about it, he’d blow his top, but he was the last thing on my mind at the moment. As well as Nat’s family, who probably wished me dead even more than she did.
If she still did?
I pulled up my graphics program and began designing posters for the new gallery opening. I was never quite happy with my work, always adding or taking something away, adjusting colors and sizes. It had been a while since I had done anything artistic, and despite the futility of chasing perfection, it soothed the tension of the day away bit by bit as I planned a rough first design. I didn’t get a chance to indulge much in just messing around with colors and shapes, too busy trying to build a bridge to my brother as well as building an empire.
Ultimately, I wasn’t worried about the posters or the opening, no matter how I fussed over them like a favorite child. I’d always had great luck with the scheme before—well, not always, but I knew what went wrong the last time. I got too involved with the pretty curator. There was no chance of that happening this time because I wasn’t letting Nat anywhere near this new operation.
An annoying buzzing I’d been working hard to block out finally made me slam the computer shut. I had been ignoring my phone all day, not giving a shit what any of the Fokins had to say to me since everything had been cleared with the head honcho. Even if Matvey had been left in charge, Aleks’s word was still lawfrom thousands of miles away. He had given his very begrudging blessing to Nat’s and my union, so why waste my time reading their curses or listening to their shouted messages?
Now it was going off like something important might be happening, and I found it where I discarded it on the bedside table. I swiped away all the older messages I was expecting from Nat’s furious family and got to the most recent one from my nightclub manager.
It didn’t seem to be too big of a deal, but I should probably put in an appearance, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea that I didn’t watch over what was mine. If someone who meant trouble was sniffing around my place, I’d let them know in a hurry that they were wasting their time.
Quickly changing, I went in search of my new bride, quickly finding her camped out in the guest room I’d had to lock her in before. I noticed with a smile that she had found a toolbox somewhere and had dismantled the doorknob so it would no longer lock from the outside.
Clever and capable, my wife.
After a brisk knock, I opened it before she had a chance to invite me in. I was setting a precedent, and one look at her grouchy face told me she knew it. Lounging on her bed with a magazine from the media room, she wore a plush white robe, probably one that had been put there by the person who stocked the house with necessities before she moved in.
Her long legs were smooth as silk and called to me to run my fingers up under the thick, terry cloth fabric. As soon as she noticed where my gaze was settled, she whipped her legs close to her, tucking the robe around her ankles like a prim Victorian maiden.
“How about a night on the town?” I asked. “I don’t think you’ve ever been to my club.”
It was a struggle for her to keep her sour look. The mention of the club perked her right up, and she couldn’t help but agree. She always did love her nightlife.
“But I don’t have anything to wear,” she said, pointing to the open closet where her dress was hanging on the door hook. “Except for my wedding dress.”
I smiled at the sarcasm in her voice. For a wedding dress, for any occasion, the dress was simple, but it looked fantastic on her, all the same, hugging every rich curve of her luscious figure.
“That’ll be fine. You’re so gorgeous, you’d shine in anything. Wear the robe if you’d like.”
Her eyes brightened at my sincere compliment, but the crack about the robe made her scowl. “Get out, I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”
I raised my brow at her imperious tone to hide how much I liked it. Too much. I was on the verge of joining her on the bed and ridding her of the robe myself. Then her face crumpled, and her shoulders slumped.
“I wonder if I should be seen out with you, though,” she said slowly. “I don’t know if my uncles will like it.”
I sighed. “The whole point of this arranged marriage was to let the world know about our family alliance. Why do you care, anyway? You don’t have to answer to them anymore.”
It almost seemed like she liked that for a second until she looked at me with a challenge in her eyes. “Who do I answer to, then?”
I only chuckled and left the room so she could change.
We took a driver so I could send a few messages on the way to the club and give my attention fully to Nat once I was done. She practically clung to the door on her side of the car, staring pointedly out the window at the dark ocean until we turned onto the highway heading into town.
