Page 82 of Savage Bratva King

“What’s going on?” Ivana grabs my arm, but the expression on my face must change her mind, because she drops it almost immediately.

“Ask him.”

I keep walking, but not before I hear her say, “What the fuck, Andrej. Why don’t you fucking grow up?”

* * *

I spend the rest of the afternoon in the garden with the dogs, waiting for Leo to come home. I try to focus on Marvel and Lucky, but it’s hard with my thoughts whirling around inside my head.

Elena was Leo’s fiancée.

Leo cheated on Elena while she was wearing the same ring that’s on my finger.

The wedding is part of the plan to trap Xander.

I want Leo to come home and clarify that it isn’t how it sounds. Because Tamara might have the hots for my fiancé, and Andrejmight be the demon younger brother, but when I remind myself that Leo had me drugged and abducted from an airplane, they all start to add up to a shit-show that I want no part of.

What if he comes home and denies cheating on his first fiancé?

I know I should believe him over Tamara. I can’t imagine life without Leo, and when he asked me to trust him, I did so willingly. I know that what I should do is forget about the conversation in the kitchen and think about the wedding gown that I haven’t yet found, but it’s hard with Andrej’s voice playing on repeat inside my head.

My brother is marrying you because it’s part of the trap to snare your precious brother-in-law.

What would Mel do? I’ve hardly spent any time with her since she married Xander, but she’s still my big sister. She knows how it feels to be so in love that it consumes every waking moment. Her advice would be to quit over-thinking it and speak to Leo.

The exact opposite of what she did when she was pregnant with Lucian.

Mel couldn’t bring herself to speak to Xander about the pregnancy. Then, before she could change her mind, our father and Xander’s father convinced her that it was best if she went away to have the baby. To give Xander a chance to focus on being the new head of his family. The new don. No distractions.

So, she went to Montenegro and kept his child a secret from him for six years, bottling up her own pain at the same time.

I don’t think I could do that to Leo.

But what if he has been lying to me all along?

Ugh!The questions in my head are deafening.

So, when Sergei approaches me with a travel cup filled with coffee, I accept the distraction gratefully. “You looked like you could do with some refreshments.”

I sip the scalding coffee and grimace. This won’t help quell the anxiety tearing through my body, but it might help to clear my head. “Is it that obvious?”

He smiles. I haven’t spent much time with Sergei, but looking at him closely, I realize that he has kind eyes. His face is round even though he carries no surplus weight, the kind of face some kids might associate with the grandpa in a story book if he grew a white beard and moustache.

“You normally smile when you’re out here with the dogs. Today—” he shrugs “—something is missing.”

I swallow another mouthful of coffee. I’m not so naïve that I believe I can discuss Leo’s brother with one of his men. “When will Leonid be home?”

He turns his face towards the sky that’s already showing hints of pink and lilac as the sun melts into the horizon. “Late. He’s at the casino.”

This sends another surge of panic through me. What does he do at the casino? Does he mingle with the guests or watch them from the comfort of a glass-walled office? Is he a gambler? A slot machine fanatic? Or is poker his game? I know so little about him, but I’m prepared to marry him without my family’s blessing.

Am I being played for a fool or is it real?

“He did ask me to give you this though.” Sergei slides a phone from his pocket and hands it to me.

Myphone.

I haven’t seen it since I boarded the flight back to Chicago.

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