Page 32 of The Bratva's Arranged Virgin Bride
Chapter 17 - Kolya
With my mouth open in stunned silence, I watched Nat scurry away like she was running for her life. What did I do wrong? What the hell just happened for her to change like that? I had no idea, and I was still craving more of her. I could follow her and demand to know what was going on, but that wasn’t how I wanted to play it. She was mine, but I didn’t own her, not fully. Not the way I wanted to.
With a long sigh, I got up and pulled my pants back on. Was this going to be worth it? It had to be. Since it seemed like the fun part of my evening was over, I sent a message to Arkadi. I’d been trying to get him to respond to me since our meeting at the club, but he’d been ignoring me. I wasn’t holding my breath for a response, so I was shocked when I got one.
It seemed like my brother and his wife were living in their own little bubble again, and he only just found out that I was now a member of his extended and estranged family. He wasn’t happy about it either, based on the novel-length message that rolled in, full of threats and warnings.
Don’t interfere with the Fokins. What was my endgame in all this? Nope, I wasn’t reading all of it. I called him, and was shocked all over again when he actually picked up.
Shouting.
I waited him out with the phone held away from my face until it grew quiet on his end.
“I have no idea where all these bad thoughts are coming from,” I told him. “Could it be jealousy that I made an honest alliance while you had to kidnap your bride?”
He didn’t like that. I instantly regretted taunting him when my whole aim was to repair the rift between us, but the message and his tirade pissed me off as well as stung my feelings. As usual, Arkadi believed the worst about me, without even hearing my side of things. Once again, he didn’t trust me or think I was good enough.
“That isn’t true,” he hissed, even though it was. They might be blissfully in love now, but he had kidnapped Mila in the beginning. There were no two ways about that. “It also can’t be true that you’re married to Nat. What’s really going on?”
I grinned in silent triumph. He had just inadvertently admitted he still wasn’t in contact with any of the Fokins. He must have found out from his people and didn’t believe the news.
Despite my regret at goading him, I kept at it, like a bad habit I couldn’t break. “But it is true. I’m even invited to Sunday dinner. What, didn’t get your invitation yet? Don’t worry, I’ll put in a good word for you. Maybe someday.”
Hanging up before he could shout at me more, I tossed the phone aside in disgust. At myself as much as at him. How would I ever get through to my stubborn ass of a brother if he refused to listen to me? And if I couldn’t keep myself from fighting back.
The idea of being accepted into Nat’s family had dug itself in, and I went to find where she was hiding from me. She was back in the guest room she’d set up as her own. This was technically supposed to be a business arrangement, but hadn’t we just gone past that? I wanted to demand she move in with me, or convince her in a manner we’d both enjoy, almost forgetting the goal in front of me.
When I tapped on her door and let myself in, she was lounging on her bed in her fluffy white robe, poring over the old diary, and I had just about given up the promise of my organs to acquire for her. She looked up coolly and raised her brows in question. If she was still upset about anything, she wasn’t showing it.
“I want to be invited to one of your family’s dinners,” I said.
She laughed, a good, honest belly laugh. “Okay, and I want a car and to be able to go wherever I want.”
I shrugged. Why shouldn’t she have that? And why did she think I’d use it as some kind of bargaining chip? “Done,” I said.
Her laughter ended abruptly. “I was only joking. I’m not going to be invited to a family dinner for a good long time after what I did.” She sighed, carefully placing the diary on the bedside table and looking at me more seriously. “You might think it’s awesome that I drugged my cousin and knocked out a guard so I could be in this lofty position, but they don’t.”
“Try anyway. If you can swing it, you’ll have your car the very same day.”
If she wanted to go anywhere, all she needed to do was ask one of my own guards, and they would have taken her. If having her own car was so important, all she had to do was say the word, and I would have given her any make or model she wanted. Did she really think I wouldn’t? Well, let her think it, if it helped me get my invitation. It could be fun to keep her on edge for a little while after she walked out on me when we should have been just getting started.
“You’d really trust me to go wherever I wanted?” she demanded.
I put on my best innocent look, not letting on that I was messing with her. “Of course. You’re my wife, aren’t you? I trust you with my life.”
I almost cracked up at the flash of confusion in her eyes. So, maybe not my life just yet.
