Page 37 of Plus-Size Bride Forced By the Bratva
Chapter 17 —Ravyn
“You look absolutely stunning, Ravyn,” Maria said to me, her voice tinged with admiration.
“Oh, thank you,” I replied, my cheeks flushing at her remark, a hand casually resting on my chest. “I love your dress, and you look amazing too.”
She turned to her man, clad in an impeccably tailored black suit like all the men around the dinner table tonight. “See, I told you it wasn’t that bad.” She tapped his shoulder with a stern glare.
He raised his hands defensively. “I never said it was.” His tone was thick with the Russian accent.
“Anatoli, you should learn to always compliment your woman, not talk down on her dress,” said another one of Lev’s Bratva brothers, his voice laced with playful mockery.
“I do not talk down on her dress,” Anatoli grumbled, gesturing with his hands as he tried to explain himself. “I only said that I preferred the green gown because it matched the color of her eyes.”
“So you’re saying that you didn’t tell her the dress she decided to go with was bad?” Mikhail asked him, his fork and knife carving into the stake in his plate.
Anatoli paused for a moment, stealing a glance at Maria. “Well…now that you put it like that….” His voice trailed off into silence.
“Guilty,” another Bratva member teased.
The table erupted into a low laughter—raw and true. And even I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I hadn’t felt so much bliss ever since the wedding. I hadn’t felt so much freedom. Honestly, I was grateful to Lev for bringing me out to dinner with his family tonight.
At first, I was reluctant about hanging out with a bunch of soulless Mafia folks. I thought the dinner would be as boring as the Bratva meeting I’d attended the other day.
My expectation was simple: mean old men with cold expressions and zero tolerance for good humor.
I couldn’t have been more wrong!
With Anatoli and Maria at the table, it was almost impossible not to laugh every ten minutes at least. I had no idea Mafia men could be this fun to hang out with.
Right here at this table, it wasn’t a gathering of cruel men plotting against their enemies. It was just a few family members and friends having a nice dinner together.
Tonight was the closest I’d come to feeling happy since Lev forced me to marry him. At least this time, I wasn’t the only woman at the table, and that alone made me feel a lot more at ease.
However, there was someone else at the table that I wasn’t comfortable with.
Viktor.
Yep. He was there too.
Having dinner with my ex-boyfriend and my husband at the same table felt awkward. Viktor’s subtle gaze at me clearly showed he disapproved of his older brother’s plan to marry me. In his eyes, I saw a hint of pain and something darker.
Each time Lev leaned in to whisper something in my ear—just to mask the tension between us—Viktor’s jaw would tighten. It was clear he wasn’t comfortable seeing Lev and me together.
It wasn’t my fault that he messed things up between us, and I hated the way he looked at me with his eyes when he blamed me. Every time I felt like sympathizing with him, I’d remember how much pain he had caused me.
Viktor never really apologized for his actions, and looking back now, I realized that he was part of the reason I was stuckwith his brother anyway. This whole thing started shortly after I smacked him across the face.
What’s to say he hadn’t played a role in my current situation?
My time in his life was over. That chapter had ended. The sooner he got that into his head, the better.
Lev, on the other hand, had been a different version of himself lately. Several times, I caught him scanning my body with a hint of desire in his eyes over the past few days. He paced too close to me, and his gaze lingered on me a little longer than usual when he thought no one was watching.
Despite the hint of longing in his eyes, Lev still hadn’t made a move to touch me. He tried to hide his lust behind his flat expression, but I could see right through him.
I should weaponize this—use it to my own advantage. But there was just one small problem. That glint of longing and desire in Lev’s eyes was also in mine. I hated admitting it, but it was true. I wasn’t sure how or why, but something was growing inside me—an emotion I could only name as lust.
I hadn’t given in to the feeling. Not yet, anyway. Still, if we kept going down this path—if we kept feeding our minds with forbidden thoughts—then it was only a matter of time before one of us broke.
