Page 55 of The Mistake

The Bratva had been contained to one city.To a few men and women, a couple of families. Now we stretched across several cities, and to the Volkov Bratva there were thousands of men and women, soldiers, wives, close associates, business partners. We were untouchable.

I remember when I met Ivan. These had been his plans from the start, and I had thought they were too far-fetched to be real. Ivan made them real. I’d believed in him, even if it had seemed unbelievable. He’d made it possible.

The waiter brought us our menus and excused himself almost immediately.

I couldn’t stop looking at mywife. The blue looked amazing on her.

“How was your day at the spa?” I asked.

She lifted her head and smiled. “It was lovely. You should try it sometime. I did struggle with the massages, though.”

“How is that possible?”

“I kept flinching every time theyrubbed my back.” Her face went bright red.

“Did they say anything about the scars?” I asked.

“No, no, er, I just … it was … new, you know. Don’t worry about it.” She looked down at the menu. “This is all in French.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t speak French. I have no idea what to order. Could you order for me?” She nibbled her lip again and I agreed to order for her. Signaling the waiter to return, I placed our orders in French.

“You speak French?” she asked.

“A little.”

“Also Spanish and Italian.”

I nod my head.

“I don’t speak anotherlanguage. I did okay in school, but, you know, it was difficult.” She sat back in her chair. Her hands dropped out of the way.

“I never finished school,” I said.

“You didn’t.”

I shook my head. “I don’t have a single qualificationto my name.”

“Why didn’t you finish school?”

“Bad shit went down with my father,” I said. “School was no longer important. He didn’t want me as his son anyway, so it was easy for him to discard me.”

“I’m so sorry.”

I held my hand up.“There was no love between me and my father, Charlotte. Please don’t feel pity for me.”

“I don’t feel pity. I guess I’m just sad. I always imagined you had this loving family.”

This made me smile. “You’ve never met my parents,” I said.

“What happened to them?” Charlotte asked.

“I had to swear my loyalty to IvanVolkov. They were in the way and we needed to make room.”

Charlotte’s eyes went wide and she leaned in close. “You…” She didn’t finish her sentence but she tilted her head to theside, stuck out her tongue, and closed her eyes.

I’m not going to lie, I thought it was adorable.

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