Page 74 of The Bratva's Arranged Virgin Bride
Chapter 42 - Kolya
After we made it back to the bedroom, which was one of the only fully furnished rooms in the house, we christened our bed, and then I decided Nat needed more rest. She argued that she didn’t, insisting she was fine, and of course, I wanted more of her. I’d never leave her side again if I didn’t have to tie up loose ends.
For one thing, her family probably needed to be informed. They had no idea she had ever been in danger, so it was going to be out of the blue calling them up to tell them she was fine. But I felt the need to explain at least a little of what went down, in the name of trust.
Then there was Vissarion. A surreptitious glance at my phone in between Nat’s fevered kisses showed me a message from Arkadi that I couldn’t ignore any longer. Reluctantly rolling away from my beautiful wife, I found out that Vissarion was still alive.
Good news or bad news? As much as I wanted to make him pay for what he did to Nat, her mischievous smile was hard to resist. But she needed to recuperate, whether she thought so or not, and Arkadi was graciously keeping Vissarion in one of his storage units until I dealt with him.
“I need to go out for a little while,” I said, kissing her forehead.
She grabbed for me, pulling me down to taste her sweet lips. “I’ll go with you, then.”
“No,” I said, too harshly. She frowned, and I sighed. “I’m going to deal with Vissarion, and you’re staying here. Don’t even bother asking to be part of this.”
Surprisingly, she flopped back onto the pillows. “I wasn’t planning to.” Her smile almost broke my heart. “I have everything I need, and I’m done with revenge.”
“When did you ever get started?” I asked, feigning confusion. “Surely you weren’t secretly plotting my demise all this time.”
She snickered, her cheeks glowing pink. “It’s all in the past now, and it’s going to stay there. I trust you’ll take care of things.”
I could tell she meant it, both the trust and taking care of Vissarion. I really didn’t want to go, but Arkadi was impatient and didn’t want someone rotting in his storage unit for too long.
“I’m glad you’re finally seeing reason,” I teased, kissing her before she could clap back at me. “Oh, and speaking of trust, we should schedule a meeting with your family. Especially your uncles. I’m sick of being treated like an outcast.”
“Did you really save their asses during a raid?” she asked. My eyes flew wide, and she shrugged. “Vissarion said something about it. I can’t believe they’re still acting like they can’t trust you after that.”
After a long moment, I sighed and sat back down beside her on the bed, taking her uninjured hand in mine. “They’re not exactly wrong. I was planning to infiltrate and take over from the inside. I never wanted to hurt anyone; I’m not into violent wars. I much prefer a bloodless coup.”
It felt good to have it out in the open, and before she could huff or yank her hand away, I quickly assured her I didn’t care about any of that anymore. “As much as I love power and money, I love you more, Nat. So much more.”
She looked into my eyes, and hers softened, the deep blue rivaling the afternoon sky framed in the window behind her. She still didn’t answer me with the words I wanted to hear, but I wanted to believe her eyes were saying it.
“There’s no reason we can’t keep gaining power and money,” she said, her lips curling into a smile I couldn’t get enough of. “And have a ton of fun doing it. No blood, though. I don’t have a taste for it, either.”
I was practically bursting with happiness that she referred to us as a couple. Truly, husband and wife with a future ahead of us that was definitely going to be very fun. As soon as I tied up these loose ends. I hopped up, dressing in a hurry, and making sure my gun was loaded and in its holster, before giving her one more long, lingering kiss.
“You like bloodshed more than you admit,” she said, running her hand over the lump of the gun under my jacket.
I shook my head. “Only when it’s deserved. No one will ever harm you again.”
I found the storage unit, basically a shed behind a gas station that Arkadi owned. There was an unassuming guard hanging around a pile of old tires, pretending to be one of the gas station workers, but he straightened up when I pulled around back.
“I’m sure he’s dying to see you,” the man joked, handing me the keys to the heavy padlock on the door.
I didn’t laugh, only went inside and closed the door behind me. The place looked rickety from the outside, but inside, it was soundproofed and well-equipped. I snapped on the overhead light, and Vissarion squinted at me in the sudden brightness that flooded the small space.
Walking over to the bench against one wall, I picked up an electric drill, then put it down to inspect a set of scalpels. It was an odd assortment of tools, and probably none of them had been utilized for their intended purpose, though they were all well used if the stains were any indication.
“What happened with Elaina all those years ago had nothing to do with me,” I told him, holding up a small hammer.
“Don’t you even say her name,” he spat.
Despite the fact one of his eyes was swollen shut, his nose was twice the size it normally was, and blood still leaked out of a cut on his lip, he didn’t act like he’d just been beaten within an inch of his life. He didn’t seem to notice he was chained to the metal folding chair he was in.
I kicked the chair, leaning down to inspect the cuffs around his wrists. “These too tight?” I asked pleasantly. I could see they were biting into his skin, swelling his fingers, which already had a tinge of blue. “Good.”
“I know you too well, Kolya,” he said. “You won’t torture me.”
