Page 24 of The Mistake

Ivan took the cup from my hand and then I turned to the table.

“What do I do?” I asked, hating the slight quiver I heard inmy voice. This wasn’t fair.

“Eye a ball, take aim, and shoot. We’re not playing an actual game of pool tonight. Youcan just aim at the balls.”

I stared at the balls and then leaned forward with the stick in hand, copying what I saw Ivan do, and what I’dseen on television. Taking aim and hitting a ball was hard. I missed three times, and then finally hit a ball.

Ivan took the stick from me and sunk a ball. Then it was my turn again. We worked our way around the table. Ivan sunk every single ball and I just hit them. Some I managed to do with a little more force than others. It was a lot of fun.

I expected us to go to bed after that, but Ivan must have had trouble sleeping as I did.

We moved onto the air hockey. Nowwith this game, my heart raced and I couldn’t help but laugh as Ivan shot the hockey puck across the table toward my goal. I was useless but knew I was so going to get Hubert to play with me. I preferred this game to the pool table. I did get a few pucks into goal, but not a lot.

My drink was long finished, and we ended up playing on two of the arcade games. One was a fighting game, and another was being chased by something that ate you—I don’t exactly know what they were. Then, one glance at the clock and I saw it was a little after three in the morning. Crap. With Ive home, this wasn’t good. I had to be awake and alert around him.

“I’ll walk you to your bedroom,” Ivan said.

Did he know me and Ive had separate bedrooms?

“It’s okay, Ive is a heavy sleeper.”

“You and Ive are not sharing a bedroom, Charlotte. You do not have to lie to me. Do you enjoy being married?”

“I, er, yeah, it’s been fun.”

“Because your husbandis never home. You are not truly married. Tell me, Charlotte, would you like a large family?”

I open my mouththen close it. How do I answer that? Is there a right or wrong answer? I didn’t know what to do or say.

Ivan smiled. “I want you to think about it.”

“I don’t really know what a family is. I mean, there was always Rage and my sister.”

Ivan put a hand on top of mine. “But they could only do so much. They were not a true family to you.”

Every time he talked about my fatherand my past at the Evil Savages MC, it was like he had firsthand knowledge. The rumors about his early start in life had to be true. He spoke with real knowledge and understanding of my own life.

“I don’t know what a family really means,” I said. “I’ve watched it in movies and seen, you know, stuff, but I don’t know what a mother is supposed to be like or a father. My father hit me. Is that what Ive would do if he and I ever had children?”

Ivan shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t. Your father didn’t deserve to have that title, Charlotte. Oneday soon, you’re going to realize that you’re free.”

I wasn’t free. I was Ive’s wife. I’d sworn my loyalty to the Volkov Bratva. One misstep and my life could be ended. I was not important. Not back at the MC and certainly not now. I was never going to start believing that I was more than what I was.

Chapter Six

Ive

I got the call from Vlad. All necessary businesses werehit last night. Hank and Benjamin were going to have no choice but to come out of hiding, and I also had the location where the missing women were being held.

As soon asI dealt with Ivan, I was either going to take him with me or leave him here. Time was of the essence. Vlad was convinced they’d be moving the women very soon.

Ivan hadn’t been interested in talking about actual business last night.I still didn’t know the candidates for taking the sixth brigadier’s position. Right now, I had too many problems to deal with the sixth place. No one could tell Ivan who should replace Oleg. He knew what he was doing, and most of the time we only knew of his plan when he was good and ready.

I made my way down to the dining room. There was no sign of Ivan or Charlotte. I heard them last night. First I heard Charlotte walking downstairs, and I did follow her, keeping to the shadows to see what she was doing. I wondered if she was going to attempt to contact Rage or the Evil Savages MC.

They had been silent sincethe wedding and I didn’t like that. According to my spies, they hadn’t left the compound, and I knew that was not like the club to miss opportunities to make money. I had to wonder if they had a hand in the missing women or were helping Hank or Benjamin. I’d not found a single connection so far. If there was one, I’d deal with it.

After taking back the kidnapped women, I had several visits to make to my prisoners about other issues.

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