Page 33 of Bratva Bride

Tatiana stared at me like I was losing my mind. “You don’t want to plan your own wedding?”

“No. I don’t care about any of that stuff, T. The only thing I care about is wearing my mother’s wedding dress. Everything else is inconsequential.”

A flash of sadness streaked across her face and then she locked it away. She knew I didn’t like to talk about my mother or her death. It was a no-go subject for me. “Okay, do I have full reign over the wedding?”

I sighed. “Yes. Do what you want, just don’t make it tacky.”

She glared at me. “Tacky? Bitch, do you even know me?”

I laughed and finished off the rest of my coffee. Tatiana had impeccable taste and had a real knack for interior design. If anyone could make my wedding a spectacular extravaganza, it was her. Not that I wanted something big like that, but there was no way she’d let me have something small.

“You’ll have to coordinate with Nikolai, he’ll most likely be in charge of security for the event.”

Tatiana pursed her lips. “Do I have to?”

I shook my head, chuckling softly. “Yes. Something as big as a wedding between two mafia families has to have some top-notch security. That’s Nikolai’s department. You can’t plan it without running everything through him.”

She grumbled under her breath.

“Unless you just wanna skip the whole big wedding thing and do something small?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” she said quickly and sighed. “I’ll sort it out.”

The bell over the café door dinged, announcing the arrival of a new patron. Heavy footsteps thudded in the small space. The familiar hint of my brother’s cologne hit my nostrils a second before a shadow loomed over our table. I looked up and saw Nikolai.

Speak of the devil.

“Nik, hey. What are you doing here?”

Tatiana stiffened slightly and looked up from her phone, glaring at my brother. Nikolai locked eyes with her and sexual tension crackled in the air between them. I rolled my eyes. Neither one wanted to admit that they wanted the other. Instead, they played this ridiculous game of pretending that they didn’t like each other. But anyone who spent more than a second in their presence knew they were hot for each other. Everyone except for themselves.

They both looked away at the same time.

“Father wants you. I’m here to take you home,” Nik said, eyes on me.

“Uh, why? What’s going on?”

“He didn’t say. Just told me to come get you.”

“But I drove my car.”

“Leave it. We’ll get it later.”

I frowned. This was weird, but I knew better than to ignore a direct order from my father. I shrugged my shoulders and packed up my things, putting my keys, phone and wallet back into my purse and slinging it over my shoulder.

“Sorry, T. I’ll talk to you later?”

Tatiana smiled. “No worries, girl. I’ll call you after my run later tonight.”

Nikolai scowled at her. “You shouldn’t be running at night, it’s dangerous.”

Tatiana smiled brightly but it looked forced, fake. “And?”

“What do you mean ‘and’? It’s not safe, so don’t do it.”

“You’re not the boss of me, big guy. I’ll do what I want.” She waved us off and focused on her phone, effectively ending the conversation. “Off ya go, before Daddy gets mad.”

Nikolai growled deeply, his jaw clenched and teeth grinding against each other. “Tatiana-”

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