Page 143 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

“Or a bath?” June asks.

Arya ruffles her hair. “Or a bath. Bubbles and all.”

It’s strange to see Arya with these people. I don’t know them. Neither does she, really.

But love doesn’t always make sense.

I know that as well as anyone.

50

Arya

True to his word, Dima takes us all to a cluster of cabins on the far side of the lake. He pulls out an enormous roll of cash and hands it over to the attendant with a rumbled warning that I can’t quite hear. If I had to guess, I’d say it was something along the lines of, “If you tell anyone we’re here, I’ll slit your goddamn throat.”

And true to my word, June gets a bath. Bubbles and all.

Dima goes to the store while she’s bathing and comes back with armfuls of junk food. We gorge ourselves on Cheetos and microwave chicken nuggets.

It’s the nicest dinner I’ve had in a long time.

Afterwards, Ernestine retires early. She and June curl up in one of the queen beds. They’re asleep within minutes. I can hear the little girl snoring gently. It warms my heart.

Dima and I make our way to the master bedroom shortly afterward. We don’t say anything or plan it—we just make the move there. Like this was always how things were meant to go. Like we’ve been doing it our whole lives.

I change into a pair of pajama shorts and a loose t-shirt and slide under the covers. It’s chilly outside, but beneath the duvet, I’m cozy.

Dima turns out the light and joins me. The bed creaks under his weight.

I sit there for a while. Neither of us talk. We just breathe and listen to the crickets outside.

“This is nice,” I whisper eventually.

Dima murmurs wordlessly.

“We should stay here forever.”

He grunts.

Suddenly, I sit up and look down at him. The moonlight slanting through the window is just enough for me to make out the glint of his eyes meeting mine.

“Could we?”

“I only paid for one night.”

“No, I mean, could we stay somewhere like this? Outside the city? Away from… everything?”

Dima frowns. His forehead is creased. “What do you mean?”

I sigh and flop back against the headboard. “I don’t know. Going back into the city seems like a risk, right? People want to kill you and take over your Bratva. It’s all pretty dangerous, so couldn’t we just… leave?”

Dima slides his arm out from under me and sits up. “You want me to leave my Bratva.”

He’s serious now. Not angry, but cold.

“No. Well, I guess, yeah, actually. It’s just that a normal life with you could be so great. We could spend the days together. Raise Lukas. Be safe.”

My heart is hammering in my chest so loudly. I wonder if Dima can hear it.

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