Arranged Bratva Love

Slavik never came home.

The day passed, turning into a second, then a third. He didn’t call. No messages came through from his guards. They changed. One man coming, another leaving. For a week, this happened.

My birthday had to have been the worst on record.

I stood at the kitchen counter, a hand on my stomach. I found myself doing this more often than I should.

Wondering. Trying to figure out about the future.

My family hadn’t called. My parents sent no condolences to me, no birthday wishes either.

With a drink of water in hand, I walked toward the window and stared out across the city. I hated this window. The view. The heights.

People walked around without a single care in the world. There was no pain waiting for them. They could have children and be happy to raise them in this world. They heard about the terror and violence on the news, but it rarely reached them at their front door.

“Hey, little one. I … I will protect you and love you. I promise.” I whispered the words so the guard didn’t hear.

They had amazing hearing.

The silence from Slavik made me feel sick. Ivan Volkov was dead. I had no doubt Slavik would take over, lead the other brigadiers through this time. What my husband inherited, I shuddered to think. If I allowed myself even a moment to consider what was at stake, I questioned my position at his side.

Would he even want me?

I wasn’t … the kind of wife the boss would have. Ivan didn’t even have a wife nor a girlfriend, or an intended.

Sipping at my water, I wondered where I stood. Since Slavik had gone silent, I had to wonder if he was planning on getting rid of me. Ivan started our marriage. The peace treaty lasted between my family and his. I was the ordered bride. The consolation prize.

My hands shook.

Would I be kicked out?

My family would never take me back. People would look at me and laugh.

Stop it, Aurora. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Slavik and I weren’t a love match. I rubbed at my chest. The piercing pain was more than I could bear. My stomach knotted.

Over the months, my feelings for my husband had changed. This silence between us only confirmed what I knew. I loved him and I hated it. I loved a man who might never love me back.

Tears filled my eyes and I closed them, trying not to allow them to fall back.

Not happening. I was not going to cry. I would stay strong. Nothing would make me weak.

I loved my husband, and after all this time, I would learn to love him even as he hated me.

A sudden knock at my front door made me pause. The guard turned and walked toward the door. I remained near the window, basking in self-pity. Pregnant. Alone. Miserable and in love.

Just kill me now.

Rubbing at my temples, I looked up to see Cara.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“Hi, darling!” She rushed toward me and pulled me into my arms. The action caused my water to spill over the edge. “I’ve been so busy with work. Utterly swamped.” She let out a sniffle. “I came over as soon as I could. Slavik, he has been … this is tough for the two of us.”

“You’re not with him?”

“No. Someone had to be here. You know how it goes.”

I stared at Cara. Her face wasn’t puffy or red. Her eyes glistened, but they were not bloodshot. I spent a lot of time crying, especially these past few days, and I looked a mess. My eyes were swollen, bloodshot. Even around my eyes was sore from wiping away the tears. I hadn’t known Ivan Volkov for a long time, not even intimately as a friend, but I still mourned his loss. Bad man or not, he’d only shown me nothing but kindness.

“You must be hurting?” I asked.

“I am. It … it has been a struggle to get up in the mornings. If it wasn’t for Slavik giving me work. He knows what I need to get me through this trying time.” She put a hand to her stomach and took a breath. “I loved Ivan so very much.” The same hand went to her mouth and she turned away.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” I felt … numb.

“I’d have been here sooner. With Slavik off dealing with the funeral arrangements and of course bringing those responsible to justice. We will not let this stand. We will fight.” Cara’s face turned into a frown. Her hand clenched into a fist.

“I agree.”

I sipped at my water, noting the spillage on the floor. Brushing past Cara, I went to the kitchen, acting on autopilot as I grabbed a cloth and returned to clean up the mess.

“Honey, are you okay?” Cara said.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. You’re acting really strange.”

I rubbed the floor until it was dry. I didn’t know if the few lunch dates Cara and I had been on constituted us as friends. My baby was currently my top priority. I loved my child so much already.

Talking to Cara about my pregnancy was not high on my list. “You talked to Slavik?”

“Yes. He is struggling, as I’m sure you can imagine,” Cara said.

I glanced at Cara, and she watched me. Head tilted to the side. Her voice sounded strange to me.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“He hasn’t called me. I don’t know what he’s going through.” I stood, taking the towel to the sink as my words sank in to my own ears.

Slavik, my husband, had called Cara before he’d even talked to me. Had our time together meant nothing? I knew the truth, and it hurt more than all the other rejections I ever felt.

“You know, it’s not a big deal. Vik is a complicated guy.”

Vik. The name some of his friends called him. “I guess.”

“You know what, we’re going out to lunch. No questions asked. My treat.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

Cara tutted. “Come on. I’ll talk to your guard. He can drive us. It’ll be fun.”

So that was how I ended up in the back seat of a car, dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt, sitting next to a really beautiful woman, being driven across town to a quaint little cafe.

“I will say I need to make a pit stop first. It won’t be long.” She gave directions to my guard, and I sat back, hands on my stomach. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. Good. We’re getting so close to Christmas. It’s always a busy time, the festive holidays. Men cannot stand being at home with their women and they come to see me and my girls.”

Cara continued to chat incessantly. I stopped listening, staring out the window at the passing scenery.

The car came to a stop, and I didn’t notice or recognize any of the buildings. Slavik had taken me all over the city to his different venues and enterprises. He was a very rich man and an astute businessman.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Come on.” Cara climbed out of the car.

My guard followed suit as we walked toward the old rundown factory. It wasn’t large, perhaps a two-story building, but on a small scale. The sign on the side had decayed and the paint had chipped away from years of neglect.

Cara opened the door and we entered. The scent of dust filled the air. I spotted a couple of rats up ahead, and I screamed.

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot filled the air, and I spun around to see Cara holding a gun. My guard was dead. The wound to the head had sprayed all over the walls. My stomach instantly recoiled, and I bent forward, vomiting.

“So fucking disgusting.”

I finished throwing up, and Cara grabbed me by my long hair and dragged me through the factory.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Pain rushed through my head at the grip she had on my skull. None of this made any sense.

Why had she killed my guard?

Had Slavik sent her to kill me?

She threw me across the room, and I hit the side of a table, using my hands to take more of the impact so I didn’t catch my stomach.

“I can’t believe it was so difficult to get to you,” Cara said. “I mean, why you?” She tutted.

Glancing at Cara, I saw she’d led us into a large open space. Several tables looked modern, and I saw paperwork sprawled out. Boards were hung, and I caught pictures of myself, Slavik, and Ivan. Along with notes of locations, times, and then I saw the images of the man who had attacked me the night of the banquet.

Cara smiled. “Yes, look your fill. You really should. After all, your husband is going to find this and everyone is going to know how I stopped you. Of course it will mean an end to the treaty with the Italians, which is fine. They’re easy to stop, and we’ll soon be taking over their turf.” She clicked her fingers.

“What is all of this?” I asked.

“This … this is twenty-plus years of being kept on the bottom. Twenty years of being overlooked. Twenty years of allowing dicks to rule. Not anymore it’s not.”

“You did this?” I asked.

“No, darling, you did. You and your traitorous family. All along, it was a ploy and a game to infiltrate Ivan’s Bratva. To weaken them from within. You, my sweet, arranged for all of the killings. All of the attacks, and you paid for them until you got the one you wanted, Ivan Volkov. Son of a bitch never saw it coming.” Cara tutted. “He should have known not to deal with me, but what can I say? They’re fucking brain dead when it comes to a woman in charge.”

I stood up and looked at all the planning. There was so much detail. After all this time, Cara hadn’t been loyal to them. She’d bided her time until the right moment where she could take them out.

“You were always going to kill Ivan?” I asked.

“Seeing as you’re going to be dead soon, I suppose I can tell you that I never planned to kill Ivan. Not in the beginning. He was a sweet guy, deadly, vicious, and all that, but I liked him. I don’t do love. We had a business arrangement, and I have to say, for the most part, he kept to his side of the bargain.”

“What changed? You got the life you wanted.”

“What changed?” Cara rushed toward me. Her hand suddenly wrapped around my neck. She was so strong, and I held on to her wrist, trying to stop her from choking me to death. “You changed fucking everything. My rightful place was by Ivan’s side. If not his, then Slavik’s. That’s my place, but you, you came along and ruined everything. Then Ivan, he thinks he can marry his men off one by one and nothing would come of it. I saved them on those fucking streets, and now, they’re going to be mine. I’m going to show Slavik what a nasty cunt you are. He’ll want me, and then I’ll be by his side ruling this place as it was meant to be. The new order is not for now. I don’t believe in peace. I want war.”

The Cara I thought I knew was an act. She changed right before my eyes. The violence simmered within her.

“Slavik will never believe you.”

“No?” she asked. “You think he’d believe you after how long he’s known me? You don’t stand a chance, Aurora. I am sorry for all of this. You are a means to an end.”

I stared at Cara, shocked as she raised the gun at me.

She tensed, and I closed my eyes. No bullet came.

“Fuck!”

I had no time to move as the sound of the door being broken in filled the air. Within a matter of seconds, Slavik and his men were there.