Arranged Bratva Love

Adelaide

Six Months Earlier

It wasn’t normal to fear your husband on your wedding night. Not unless it was an historical romance novel, and trust me, this wasn’t. Staring around the hotel room, I noticed it was far more luxurious than my bedroom last night, which had just a single bed. Bethany had demanded to be put in better accommodations, so our parents switched the rooms. Like always, I’m lucky to get anything, not that I’m complaining. It’s easier to keep quiet and just let Bethany get anything she wants. If I don’t, there’s always a consequence where I’m the one who ends up paying.

Andrei hadn’t said a word, but then, he’d not said anything to me for most of the day. Apart from, “I’m here now, pretend to be fucking happy.”

I’m not sure exactly what Aurora said to him, but either way, his presence kept Bethany away from me, and for that I’m grateful. My sister is a spiteful soul. Even though she was the one who fucked up in this situation, our parents still treated her like she was a princess, rather than a disappointment, which was how I got treated. Between the dress and the cake, everything about this day had gone wrong.

Staring at the bed, I know there’s no way I’m going to sit on that thing. I can’t. With Andrei being his usual quiet self, I decide to leave him to it.

I’ll figure some way of getting out of this monstrosity of a dress. I’ve never been the kind of woman to think in advance about her wedding. I never spent hours cooing over celebrity events, even the ones we were invited to. This wedding was all Bethany. The bride may have changed, but the dress, the cake, the band, the guests-they’d all been her choice. This wedding had been a nightmare. The only part of it I found deeply comforting was Aurora. Another woman married to a member of the Bratva. At least she’d looked happy. Could any woman married into this kind of life truly be happy? Was Slavik in love with her?

Love. This world didn’t believe in love. It revolved around constant greed and desire for money.

I stepped into the bathroom and moved straight to the sink. I gripped the edge, closing my eyes, seeing spots even as I did this.

Breathe. Just breathe.

I counted to ten slowly, taking my time, filling my lungs with precious air, and slowly exhaled.

The panic attack today was the first one I’d ever experienced and once again, big surprise, that it was after my sister told me what a monster Andrei was in the bedroom. Tonight, we had to consummate the marriage.

I’d never kissed a man, or even hugged one.

Now I was expected to sleep with a total stranger. Whenever Andrei had been around with Bethany, I’d been out. My life didn’t mesh with my family’s. Their only demand on me was that I not work. For some odd reason they feared their reputation if I was to find a nice normal job. So, volunteering at the animal shelter I was allowed to do, and I loved it. Being around animals all day was heaven.

Once, when I was ten I think, I’d started to bring stray cats and dogs home. No one ever entered the basement, so that was where I offered them shelter. For several months I was able to help so many cats and dogs. Sometimes they’d leave, wander off for a couple of weeks but come back, looking for a nice warm place. My mother hated the cold-one of the few traits I inherited from her-so even the basement in our house was nice and warm, not that she ever went down there.

Anyway, taking care of them was my safe haven. Every single day after school, I’d run home to love them, to show them affection, until my sister discovered it. Within an hour, they were all taken from me. Rounded up by some animal control guy as if they were vermin or something.

I open my eyes and stare at my reflection. The dress is far too tight. My tits are almost bulging out of the top. It looked utterly ridiculous, kind of laughable. There were a few people at the wedding I’d overheard laughing about this dress.

Bethany ordered the wrong one. Ugh!

I hated how she was able to invade my thoughts and just dominate everything. Her place wasn’t here. I refused to fall for it. My sister and I didn’t have the best relationship at all. She preferred to be the center of attention. Her hatred of me was absolute. She even hated the fact I was younger than her by a few years.

If I had friends, she’d take them, turn them against me. Hurting me seemed to be a sport to her. Ignoring her never worked. She always found some way to humiliate me.

No. No. No. No. This was how she won. By getting inside my head even when she wasn’t there. The truth was, for the past year, our paths rarely crossed, and my life had been bliss. Until the moment I was told I was marrying Andrei.

The dress was hideous.

I looked like a tank inside this dress. The horrible thing was two sizes too small. It made my breasts look enormous, and I looked stupid as if I were trying to fit into a dress that wasn’t for me.

Bethany loved to point out how fat I was. Considering how slender she was, everyone was fat to her. What Bethany hated most, I didn’t care.

I mean, seriously, I went to a school notorious for bullies. One of our nannies was a strong-minded person and Bethany couldn’t break her. The times I spent with her were the best of my life. Miss Nicole, which is what she demanded we call her, taught me to love myself. The world was far too cruel and evil, and life was too short to spend even a moment hating life or yourself.

So, I turned all of those cruelties around.

My body was my temple.

I loved my curves, my large tits, my too-rounded stomach, as well as my thick thighs. They were all part of me.

I miss her so much.

Taking a random trip down memory lane was not in the cards for tonight. I needed to get this horrible dress off and get in the shower to wipe the memory away.

Reaching around the back, I tried to find the buttons that had been squeezed closed. Turning this way and that, I couldn’t find anything. The last thing I wanted to do was go back out there to Andrei.Original content from NôvelDrama.Org.

Lifting the endless skirts, I attempted to find myself, but nothing. There was no end to this monstrosity. By the time I gave up, my face was red. This dress was clearly indestructible.

Stepping back into the main hotel room, Andrei sat on the edge of the bed with his phone in hand. He was sexy. There was no denying it, if women were into the big, scary, heavily tattooed giant. None were on his face, but staring at the cuffs of his jacket and the neck of his shirt, one could see them peeking out. Even his knuckles were inked.

I had no idea what they said. They were just little pieces of what looked like ivy on his knuckles. I also noticed a distinctive V in-between the flesh of each knuckle. Again, I’m not sure what it meant, and it would require me to speak to my husband, which I’d decided not to do. The less I knew the better.

He looked up as I entered. Freezing on the spot, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. He just stood there, looking all calm and collected, while I was terrified.

What would it be like to be the worst person in the room? To fill it with fear by a mere presence. I didn’t need to think of that.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I looked at Andrei. Of course he hadn’t spoken. That would require effort.

“Er, I can’t seem to…” This was so humiliating. Bethany had done this. Stop that! She doesn’t get to exist right now. I’m fine. We’re fine. Everything is fine.

It wasn’t, but the longer I kept telling myself it was, the better chance I’d eventually believe it.

“I can’t get out of the dress.” Presenting my back to Andrei, I hoped he didn’t see this as any kind of come-on or flirting. It wasn’t. “Would you unbutton me, please?” There I was, forever the good girl with all my manners.

Clenching my hands into fists, I hoped he didn’t notice them shaking. I’m not the kind of girl who is afraid of everything. Not that anyone would believe it right now.

I heard him move. The simple sound of clothes rustling was enough to set my teeth on edge.

At first, I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Even breathing was difficult. I was frozen in place. He stepped closer, and the heat behind him seemed to increase.

Ever since I’d been told Andrei was to be my husband, we’d not spent any time together. I’d been called to my father, where I’d been told what was going to happen. I was not sure whether others thought I had an opinion about what was going to happen in my life. That never happened. I wasn’t asked.

No, I was told by my father with Andrei present and another man who made my blood run cold. He looked so terrifying. Ivan Volkov. Head of the Volkov Bratva. My father’s new boss. My new nightmare.

I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about him. I gave nothing away to my husband who stood way too still. He didn’t touch me. Other than the kiss in church and the few times he’d taken my hand, he never touched me. He often avoided it.

This was great. My husband detested me without even knowing me. This was how my life was going to end up. It probably didn’t help that I might have flinched in church. He’d grabbed my arms and pulled me close.

The kiss was dull. My very first kiss hadn’t made my heart sing or cause me to instantly fall in love with my husband. If anything, it made this whole marriage thing seem even more of a farce. There was no love between us. There was no anything.

He didn’t touch me, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the knife he’d pulled out. Fear raced down my spine. I didn’t have time to run or move. He slid the blade between the center of my back and the dress. One tug, and that was it, the dress gave way and I had no choice but to hold it against my breasts to gain any modesty.

Tears filled my eyes and I hated them. I’d never been the kind of woman who constantly gave in to crying. I am strong. Being around Andrei, I felt anything but.

Without looking at him, I charged toward the bathroom, slamming the door closed. There was no lock. Nothing to protect myself.

I didn’t have long before the door was pushed open. I stepped away from it before it could hit me in the face. Spinning around, still holding the dress in my hands, I backed away. Andrei advanced toward me.

He looked … dangerous. Not in a good way. He still held the knife in his hand. Without even looking at it, he flicked it away.

I kept moving back until the wall stopped my escape. Stupid wall.

His hands went either side of me, trapping me in place. “Don’t ever run from me again. You won’t like it.”

“I … I didn’t mean to run.”

“Then don’t.”

He stayed like that, staring at me.

I couldn’t keep looking into his eyes. They were a deep brown, all-knowing, penetrating. At times, I had to wonder if they were mostly black. He wasn’t a good man.

“I won’t. I promise.” I’d do and say anything to get him the hell away from me.

He didn’t leave right away.

Time seemed to stop for me the longer he just stood there. Did he like how he scared me?

I waited. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone, but in the end, he was the one who left. I just had to wait and I suddenly realized this was what our marriage would be like. No matter how uncomfortable I was, Andrei had all the power. He would do whatever the hell he liked and to hell with the consequences.

I didn’t like this at all.