10

ARIANA

The day progressively went downhill with every minute that passed.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Neither side bothered to hide their disdain for the other.

Aleksei's parents weren't in attendance, and I doubted he was related to the people he invited. They got louder and got more obnoxious with every shot of vodka they took. One even grabbed a server's ass, and she hadn't hesitated to smack him hard on his bald head with her tray.

I mentally high-fived her for that. Good riddance.

They were different from the brothers.

Aleksei and Mikhail were reserved and calculating, drinking in the room with their eyes without saying a word.

They didn't even bother to socialize with the rest of the crowd. It was as though they were storing information for later. They probably were just so they could use it against my family in the future.

The food I ate one hour ago was unsettled in the pit of my stomach, threatening to follow the path it had taken down my stomach back up. The air around the table was suffocating.

Seriously, why bother with an after-party if he was going to be gloomy all through the party?

I pushed back my chair, drawing my brother-in-law's attention as I rose to my feet. My husband didn't even bother to ask where I was headed to. No, he acted like the table was the most interesting thing he'd seen.

I didn't know why, but his dismissal of me rubbed me the wrong way. One would think I'd forced him into this wedding with the way he was acting when in reality, it was the other way around.

I huffed, storming off to the bar packed with drunk Russians.

"You're the perfect arm candy for Boss," one of them slurred with a thick Russian accent when he noticed me. "I heard Italian girls make good sluts. The one I took to bed nearly sucked the life out of me through my dick. She has the tightest fucking pussy, too. Do you think Boss will let us take a turn when he's done stretching that tight cunt?"

He made a fist with his hand, bobbing his head up and down to mimic the motion of the girl giving him a blow job. To top it all off, he gagged loudly, maintaining eye contact with me throughout his shenanigans.

His entourage cackled like wild hyenas, the sound hurting my ears. I came to the bar in the hope of some relief through alcohol, but it seemed like all I was going to get was trauma and headache from this interaction.

I felt an ominous presence behind me, and without having to turn, I already knew who it was. His cologne which I was starting to associate with him gave him away immediately. It clung to the air around me, warm and masculine with hints of bergamot and orange that assailed my senses.

"Chto smeshnogo?" He asked, the Russian rolling off his tongue smoothly. His voice cast a somber air over the men, and they went from loud to whimpering cowards in mere seconds.

[TL: What's so funny?]

"Nichego, Boss," the ringleader said, avoiding eye contact with Aleksei.

[TL: Nothing, boss.]

Of course, he avoided eye contact with his boss. I rolled my eyes at him. Pussy.

"Eto tak? Hm," he hummed before the familiar sound of the safety of a gun going off filled the air. "I could've sworn I heard you making sex jokes in front of my wife and disrespecting her."

[TL: Is that so?]

I looked up at him, shock plastered across my face. He was sticking up for me to his men? Wasn't he ignoring me a minute ago?

"What was it you said? Italian girls make good sluts, huh?"

"Ya byl prosto—"

[TL: I was just…]

The man didn't get to finish his sentence before a loud bang filled the air. Blood splattered on my face, the liquid warm as it slid down my cheek.

I gaped at the dead body as it hit the floor with a thud, a bullet sitting in the center of his skull.

Gasps filled the air as every head turned in our direction, taking in the scene. From my periphery, I saw a server drop her tray on the floor and faint.

"Ochistite etot besporyadok," Aleksei said, his voice neutral like just didn't put an end to a man's life. "Ne smotri na neye. Ne razgovarivay s ney. YA budu boleye chem schastliv sdelat' tak, chtoby ty prisoyedinilsya k Yuriyu v yego mogile."

[TL: Clean up this mess. Don't look at her. Don't talk to her. I will be more than happy to have you join Yuri in his grave."]

With that and nothing else, he clamped his hand down on my wrist, dragging me away from the bar. I met Matteo's surprised gaze right before Aleksei dragged me down a hallway, away from everyone in the reception hall.

I knew better than to take his quietness for him not caring about anything that just happened. He was a bull raging with constricted anger, and that scared the hell out of me.

Would he shoot me like this if I did something that ticked him off?

My heart thumped wildly in my chest as many more disastrous thoughts ran through my mind. Was he going to shoot me if I breathed wrong around him? What if I mistakenly destroyed something of his?

My thoughts are put to a halt the moment he pulled me into a bathroom. He walked me over to the counter before turning me to face him. His hands sank into my waist, and he pulled me up on the granite top.

He grabbed a white hand towel from the pile next to the sink before stepping into my space, the bulk of my dress managing to put a little distance between us as he stood between my parted thighs.

He soaked the towel with water from the faucet. He reached up to my face with the wet towel in his hand, and I instinctively flinched.

A scowl settled on his face. "What was that for? You think so little of me that you think I'd hit you?"

I swallowed. In my defense, he just shot that man without blinking an eye. I knew my family murdered people, but they made sure to keep it away from the wives and children. We were always shielded from the underworld.

This wasn't the first time I'd seen someone die, but that was almost a decade ago. Bile rose up my throat as an image of the man's body hitting the floor flashed through my head again, bringing back unsavory memories from my past that I never wanted to remember.

I thought it wasn't possible, but Aleksei's scowl grew deeper. "Do you think I shouldn't have killed him back there?"

I averted my gaze from him. I didn't know how to answer that question.

Would he get mad at me, and hit me if I said something wrong?

"Answer me!" He snapped harshly when I said nothing, causing me to jerk back in fear.

"Fuck," he cursed, looking up at the ceiling. He exhaled, dispelling his anger with a single breath before his eyes met mine again. "He disrespected you back there by insinuating you were a whore. I won't sugarcoat things for you. I don't know how your family handles their business, but this is how I handle mine. I won't apologize for who I am."

This time, when he brought his hand up to wipe the blood off my face, I remained still, taking in every sharp edge and dark feature on his face.

I watched in wonderment as the anger in his eyes slowly dissipated as he cleaned my face until every stain was off my face.

How was he calm after laying waste to a life less than five minutes ago? I'd never understand criminals, my brothers included.

"All done," he rumbled, turning on the faucet to run his hand under clean water.

I turned to look at my side profile in the mirror. My makeup wasn't completely ruined, thank God for waterproof makeup. I'd have looked a mess after this.

My eyes trailed over to Aleksei's face in the mirror as he washed his hands, getting under his nails until they were squeaky clean. A slight furrow settled between his eyebrows as he focused on completing his task.

Watching him like this, it was like he was stuck in his little world, erasing everyone else from his immediate surroundings. Without the scowl, he didn't look quite as menacing as he did two minutes ago, reminding me of the man I'd met at my house a week ago.

It was frightening what anger could do to a person.

We were all susceptible to it, but the part that scared me the most was people not being able to control themselves to an extent when they were angry.

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. What if Aleksei turned out to be one of those people who had no control over their temper?

His voice came out as a low growl when he spoke, tearing me out of my thoughts, "Careful, princess. Keep looking at me like that, and I'll think you actually like me."

Pink tinted my cheeks as I quickly deterred my gaze away from him. I'd been caught staring at him like a creep, and it was beyond mortifying.

Aleksei seemed to have found my reaction funny because he chuckled as he turned the water off. He wiped his hand with a clean towel, tossing it into the tiny laundry basket next to the pile of hand towels.

He helped me off the counter, holding onto my waist even though I was now balanced on my feet. "We should go out before everyone thinks I pulled you in here to fuck your brains out," he mumbled.

I stared pointedly at his hands on my waist, meeting his gaze again. A half smile tugged at his lips as his hands dropped to his sides.

I stood in front of the mirror to fix any stray piece of hair that wasn't supposed to be flying around my face. I paused when I found Aleksei staring at something in the mirror.

I followed his gaze to the bracelet around my wrist. Again. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and I watched as his entire face shut down.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Who is he?" He asked, his voice chillingly calm. "Who is the man you can't stop pining over, even when you're married to me?"