Page 13 of Bratva Queen

I didn’t have time to even consider how I might act around Stepan because no sooner had I asked why, there was a knock on the door. I stared at my mother with my mouth gaped open and my eyes wide as I tried to get my bearings. My heartbeat thrummed with an intensity I was finding hard to control.

Shaking her head at my paralysis, my mother answered the door. “Hello,” she said in a cheery tone. “You must be Stepan.”

On the other side of the door stood Stepan, dressed in black slacks and a neat shirt, wearing a leather jacket. His blond hair was swooped to one side in a clean-cut fashion. With a charming smile, his eyes met mine, making me wonder why I was even nervous.

I had to admit to myself that he certainly looked good. It didn’t matter that Aleksei made my insides melt and that I wanted to give up my virginity to him right there in the hallway, which was exactly the problem. He was too much. He made me lose my mind. He was a risk, a passionate, dangerous flame that would burn me given the chance! Hell, he already had.

Stepan was the safe choice. He made my heart flutter with that cute grin of his, and that was enough. I felt calm in his presence.

“I am,” he answered my mother, stepping through the threshold as she ushered him inside. “And you must be Isabel’s sister.”

Mama giggled, brushing her hair back flirtatiously. With a playful swat to his arm, she cooed, “Oh, you!”

Stepan winced when she nudged him, and she quickly recoiled in uncertainty. He forced a smile and said, “No need to worry. I’m just getting over a little injury.” Pulling his jacket to the side, he showed his sling.

“A little injury?” My mother stepped forward, inspecting his sling. “Oh, dear, this is more than a little injury! What happened?”

Nervous laughter escaped my lips, claiming both of their attention. I didn’t want him to talk about bratva business around my mother. I opened my mouth to come up with some excuse, but Stepan was one step ahead of me.

“I was in an accident. Nothing too major, but I did walk away with a nasty wound.” With a dashing smile, he managed to silence my mother’s questions. She simply nodded with a smile and invited him to sit at the table.

“Dinner is just about done. The potatoes need a few more minutes.” She pulled out a chair, telling him, “Sit, sit.” Then, she shot me a look, eyeing his jacket.

I helped him take off his jacket and hung it alongside mine at the door. Meanwhile, my mother was offering him every drink in the house.

“Water will be fine,” he said with a charming smile.

“Isa,meelaya, would you mind?”

She forced a smile, though I could tell she was gritting her teeth behind it. She always did that when she tried to be stern but polite. Like when my brother and I would misbehave in church. She didn’t want to yell at us in front of her fellow churchgoers, so she would force a smile and kindly tell me to behave, her teeth never separating as she spoke.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.” I grabbed an empty glass and filled it with water from the pitcher in the fridge. It was tap, but he didn’t need to know that. In my mother’s eyes, as long as the pitcher looked fancy, the water was too. As I filled the water, my mother mumbled from the corner of her mouth, “The man paid for our apartment, the least you could do is be a good host.”

She’d been dead set on me dating Stepan ever since the landlord told her about the purchase of the apartment. I assumed this whole dinner was her way of pushing me a little harder. I mean, she wasn’t wrong. Stepan was handsome, charming, and eloquent. He had money, which meant stability and security. Who wouldn’t be interested?

How could I deny myself the possibility of love from a man who looked at me like that? The way Aleksei looked at me must have been lust. That’s all that was. He wasn’t trying to win my heart, and he wasn’t even trying to get into my pants—anymore—he didn’t want to, not badly enough anyway. I couldn’t help the glaringly obvious fact that it was what I craved from him. I still dreamed of him. But he pushed me away, while this man, this handsome, wealthy, charming man was doing all he could to pull me closer.

Once the food was on the table, our evening was filled with conversation and laughter. Stepan charmed us both into blushing giggles. It was nice. It was safe. It felt right.

At the end of the evening, Stepan and I stood outside the door for a moment alone. It was nerve-wracking, standing in the exact place where Aleksei and I had lost control a few nights ago. Stepan brushed the back of his finger down my cheek and glanced longingly at my lips.

“I want to kiss you,malyshka, but I won’t. Not until you let me take you out.”

He was more of a gentleman than Alek ever could be.

I blushed, casting my eyes down before looking at him through my lashes. “Yes, Stepan. You’ve done so much, not only for me but for my mama as well. I guess… it’s safe to say you’ve earned that date.” I smirked, using a playful tone to show that I was keen, but not falling at his feet.

His grin was wide, elated. “Wonderful. I’ll arrange it.”

He swooped in and for a second, I thought he might kiss me after all, but his lips merely brushed against my cheek. I watched him walk away, biting my lip, and smiled when he glanced over his shoulder with a wink before disappearing around the corner.

* * *

A few nights later,Stepan handed me a bouquet of deep-red roses. With his charming smirk, he held out his hand to escort me to his car.

“You’re absolutely stunning,” he whispered in my ear, sending goosebumps down my arms. I glanced down at my simple black dress that hugged my hips and pulled in as a halter at my neck, accentuating my busty chest. Inessa and I spent hours finding the right dress at the shops the previous day; I used some extra cash I’d made from Stepan’s tips, and Essa even contributed, no matter how much I protested.

“This is the moment, Isabel! This is your moment to land the perfect husband!” she’d said. My excitement rose with every word and every minute that brought me closer to this date with Stepan.

---