Arranged Bratva Love

Ive

I heard whatCharlotte said to Hubert. I’d entered the apartment as she began to talk, and what I heard, I didn’t like.

None of what she said came as a shock to me. I’d seen the scars and knew the men we were dealing with. It didn’t mean I had to like any of it. Charlotte had lived her whole life without human affection. Cassie and Rage had done what they could, I saw that now, but neither of them had been in a true position of power. Demon held all the power, no one else. Until we took it from him. Now Charlotte was ours.

We sat in a French restaurant. I liked to have a lot of different businesses. This was part of Ivan’s requests. We dealt in a lot of bad shit, but we also had legitimate businesses. He wanted to be completely different than his father. Ivan had already proven tenfold that he was better than his father.

The Bratva had been contained to one city. To a few men and women, a couple of families. Now we stretched across several cities, and to the Volkov Bratva there were thousands of men and women, soldiers, wives, close associates, business partners. We were untouchable.

I remember when I met Ivan. These had been his plans from the start, and I had thought they were too far-fetched to be real. Ivan made them real. I’d believed in him, even if it had seemed unbelievable. He’d made it possible.

The waiter brought us our menus and excused himself almost immediately.

I couldn’t stop looking at mywife. The blue looked amazing on her.

“How was your day at the spa?” I asked.

She lifted her head and smiled. “It was lovely. You should try it sometime. I did struggle with the massages, though.”

“How is that possible?”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“I kept flinching every time theyrubbed my back.” Her face went bright red.

“Did they say anything about the scars?” I asked.

“No, no, er, I just … it was … new, you know. Don’t worry about it.” She looked down at the menu. “This is all in French.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t speak French. I have no idea what to order. Could you order for me?” She nibbled her lip again and I agreed to order for her. Signaling the waiter to return, I placed our orders in French.

“You speak French?” she asked.

“A little.”

“Also Spanish and Italian.”

I nod my head.

“I don’t speak anotherlanguage. I did okay in school, but, you know, it was difficult.” She sat back in her chair. Her hands dropped out of the way.

“I never finished school,” I said.

“You didn’t.”

I shook my head. “I don’t have a single qualificationto my name.”

“Why didn’t you finish school?”

“Bad shit went down with my father,” I said. “School was no longer important. He didn’t want me as his son anyway, so it was easy for him to discard me.”

“I’m so sorry.”

I held my hand up.”There was no love between me and my father, Charlotte. Please don’t feel pity for me.”

“I don’t feel pity. I guess I’m just sad. I always imagined you had this loving family.”

This made me smile. “You’ve never met my parents,” I said.

“What happened to them?” Charlotte asked.

“I had to swear my loyalty to IvanVolkov. They were in the way and we needed to make room.”

Charlotte’s eyes went wide and she leaned in close. “You…” She didn’t finish her sentence but she tilted her head to theside, stuck out her tongue, and closed her eyes.

I’m not going to lie, I thought it was adorable.

“Yes,” I said.

I didn’t want to be entertained by my wife, but I was.

The waiter interrupted our conversation to bring our food. It had to be the fastestservice here.

He put the plate in front of me first and then in front of Charlotte. There was a second where he lingered and I finally looked at him. This time, really looked at him. The restaurant didn’t have a lot of people inside. When I called to make the reservation, I always called ahead so they knew to save my table. I was told they were full. This wasn’t full.

The waiter sweated, a lot. I noticed his hand shook. Something wasn’t right.

“This looks incredible,” Charlotte said.

She lifted asmall buttery potato and I didn’t know what it was, but in my gut, I knew it was poisoned. I stopped her just as she was about to put it in her mouth.

“Stop!” I yelled the word, and that was all it took.

I had a second to react as the door to the kitchenflung open and gunshots started raining down. Pulling out my gun, I grabbed Charlotte and covered her with my body, taking aim. I didn’t have to wait long for backup. Screams erupted as the shots kept ringing. The waiter was dead. He’d been the first to go.

“Ive, what’s going on?” Charlotte asked.

I heard the panic in her voice. I didn’t have her out yet, but to go out the front door put us at risk. Hubert entered the restaurant, as did two more of my men. Covering Charlotte, I got to my feet to see the few diners that had been there being ushered out.

Vlad appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. “It’s clear,” he said.

Putting my gun down, I turned to Charlotte, holding her face in my hands. “You didn’t eat anything, did you?”

“No, no, you told me tostop. I did. That happened so fast.”

“Boss, youneed to go,” Vlad said.

I already heard police sirens and I got Charlotte pulled against my side. That was way too close.

Nodding to Hubert, I ordered him to take her. “Get her home. Call the doctor. I want her looked over. Tell him to check for signs of delayed poison.”

“Ive, no, I’m not leaving you. Didn’t you see what just happened?” Charlotte asked.

I saw her starting to panic.

Pulling her in for a hug, I hold her tightly, wrapping my arms around her. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

I couldn’t gowith her, I had no choice but to stay here. This was where my men needed me.

“Ive, please?” she asked.

I hold her a little more tightly, and then pull away to stare into her eyes.

“I need you to gowith Hubert. I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?”

“What if you die?”

“I won’t die.”

“People die.” Her lip quivered. “They die. You can’t die.”

“I won’t die,” I said.

She nodded her head. “You won’t die. You promise me?”

“I promise you.”

“You’re coming home?”

“Yes.”

Charlotte nodded and I placed her handin Hubert’s. “Take care of her.”

I trusted him to do as Isaid. Hubert and Charlotte left, giving me, Vlad, and my men the chance to head into the back of the kitchen.

Four men were dead. Two had no insignias on them. One of them had the Evil Savages MCpatch, and the other, well, he was part of the Irish mafia. No sign of the cartels. They had gotten into my fucking restaurant and planned to take me out. Now I was pissed. The sneaky fucking bastards.