Page 112 of Bratva Bride

With a twirl, Tatiana put down the black sleek dress and picked up a skintight red one that showed a bit too much cleavage. She looked at Lukyan through the mirror and poked her tongue at him. “Ya big baby.” She held the dress to her body again, trying to imagine what it would look like on her, decided she didn’t like it and threw it back to where she got it from.

She huffed and made her way over to me, taking a seat on the floor and crossing her legs. She watched me struggle to zip up my suitcase. “I can’t believe you’re abandoning me.”

I laughed. “What did you think was gonna happen after I married Arturo?”

“I dunno. Not this,” she pouted.

“Think of this as a good thing. Now you’ve got a good reason to get out of Las Vegas and check out New York. And your dad can’t say no because you’ll be coming to visit me,” I winked.

Her face lit up. “You’re right!” she squealed. “Come on, let’s hurry up and get you packed!”

I laughed and tried to zip up my suitcase again, but it was too full. “Shit, come help me with this will ya, Lukyan?” I grunted.

Groaning, he rose from the bed and came to my side. He pushed down on top of the suitcase while I tried to zip it up.

“You’ve got too much crap,” he grunted, sitting down on top of it.

“Just shut up and help me.”

“I’m trying,” he snapped.

After a few more attempts, we finally managed to zip it shut. We sat it next to my other suitcases at the door.

I blew out a breath. I was excited to finally be joining Arturo in New York. For the first few days after the kidnapping, Arturo had stayed here in Vegas with me while his father flew home and handled transferring the leadership of the Cosa Nostra over to him.

Even though I told him repeatedly that it wasn’t their fault, he decided to use our boxing ring to punish Christian, Luca and Lorenzo for failing to keep me in the house. He fought them all one on one, taking the time to hurt them all in excruciatingly slow detail. By the time he was done, Christian had a broken nose and three broken ribs, Luca was bruised from head to toe and had a dislocated shoulder and Lorenzo had a shattered femur.

I felt fucking horrible. It was all my fault but no matter how much I begged Arturo, he didn’t stop hurting them until he was sure his point was made. That his orders were to be followed without hesitation. All three of them ended up going back with him when he left for New York. He left another three men here to guard me until they were all back on their feet.

I wasn’t meant to be here for as long as I was, but it was hard for me to leave when things were up in the air like this. We started a war with the Chicago Outfit when we took Nero out and their new Don would need to set an example, start out strong by avenging their former leader.

There were rumours that Nero’s younger brother, Franco, stepped up after his death - and that he was ten times better fitted for the position. He had already mobilised the men and cemented his leadership by taking out an entire MC gang that had encroached on their territory during the transition.

Then of course, there was the Los Zetas. There was still a large number of them spread throughout New York and Chicago and their reasons for following Nero’s commands were still up in the air. Would they look to avenge his death, too?

Surveillance on them was needed to find out exactly what was going on. The entire thing was worrisome and it made me hesitant to leave my family behind when they might need my help. But the same went for Arturo.

He was my husband now. I couldn’t just stay in Vegas and leave him to face his troubles alone in New York. I had to make a decision, even if it broke my heart to choose between them.

“Any more news about the woman Aleksandr took?” I asked, wiping sweat from my brow.

“Whoa, hold up. Aleksandrtooka woman?” Tatiana asked, her nose scrunching up. “I never pegged him for the kidnapping type.”

“She was at the house Nero kept me in when they came to rescue me. I think he’s trying to find out what she was doing there.”

Lukyan nodded. “Yeah, but she still isn’t talking.”

“Seriously? He losing his touch or something?”

“Ha, as if. More like he’s gone soft.”

I scoffed. “Aleksandr? Soft? No way.”

“No, seriously. When I offered to help, he got all pissy and told me not to go near her. It was super weird.” He picked up the bouncy ball again and started bouncing it against the wall. “Even threatened to break my fingers if I touched her.”

Frowning, I grabbed the ball before it bounced back to him. “You’re kidding.”

“I swear! Got all grouchy and growly. More so than usual.”

---