She gives a small nod. “I know. I’m sorry you’re being forced into this.”
“It was my idea,” I remind her. “We’ll figure everything out later, but know that I won’t hurt you. You’re safe here, Nina.”
Her eyes go glassy as she sucks in a shaky breath. “Thank you, Vasily.”
Letting go of her chin, I grab her hand and lead her into the living room. Her eyes run over the wall of windows. It’s nothing but darkness outside them now, but tomorrow she’ll be able to see the amazing view of the ocean. I wonder if she’ll like it, and then I almost laugh at the thought. Like it fucking matters if she likes the house of the guy she’s being forced to marry. She doesn’t care about me. Hell, she doesn’t even know me and looks like she’s scared to death of me.
This whole situation feels surreal, and when I turn to face Nina and the officiant starts speaking, I can hardly believe this is happening. I never planned on getting married. I’d always thought of it as a pain in the ass that I was all too happy to miss out on. A wife meant one more thing to worry about, and being a Bratva boss means there’s always someone who wants to put a bullet in my head. A wife is often an easier target. It’s a huge burden to take on, and I can’t believe I’m fucking agreeing to it for someone I met an hour ago.
When I look down at Nina and see the scared look in her eyes and the blood that’s dried to her cut lip, I’m reminded of why I’m doing this. With that firmly in my mind, I recite my vows and take the ring box Andrei hands me, slipping the Russian wedding band of three gold, interlocking rings onto Nina’s slender finger and joining my life to hers. When it’s her turn, she takes the gold band and slips it onto my finger, reciting her vows in a quiet, shaky voice. The officiant pronounces us man and wife, and she tenses when he tells me I can kiss my bride. Cupping her face, I lean down to her and press my lips to her forehead, noticing the soft sigh of relief she gives.
The officiant smiles at us, clearly choosing to ignore every odd thing about this wedding and instead focusing on the huge amount of money he’s about to get. Ruslan sits at my feet, looking up at us with his tongue hanging out of his mouth while Ilya slams back the rest of his vodka and Andrei scratches at the day’s worth of stubble on his cheek. For that extra dollop of awkwardness I have to tell Nina what her new last name is so she can sign the paperwork.
When she hears the name, she looks up at me in shock. “You’re the Devil from Moscow?”
Fuck me.
Ilya and Andrei bite back a laugh, the officiant gasps, and I sigh while gently nudging her to finish signing her new name.
“We’ll talk about it later,” I tell her. “You need to sign this, Nina.”
In a daze, she signs her new name and when I see it, the full force of what’s just happened hits me. I’m married now, and this is my wife. Even if it’s just to protect her, even if she decides to leave me at some point, it doesn’t matter because right now we’re married and she’s my responsibility.
Switching to Russian, I look at Ilya. “Get Nikolai and tell him to bring his stuff.”
“It’s permanent, Vasya,” he gently reminds me.
“You think I don’t fucking know that? Just call him and tell him to get his ass over here.” Turning to Andrei, I say, “Pay this fucker and get him out.”
I look down at Nina, knowing she’s not going to care for this next part. The others leave, and she follows me back into the kitchen. I hand her the ice, and once she’s holding it to her lip like I want, I pour her a drink. Not wanting it to sting when she drinks it, I dig around until I find a straw and then hand it to her.
“Drink this. It’ll help you relax.”
She eyes me warily. “Why do I need to relax?”
“I’m not going to lay a hand on you, Nina. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not like those men at Ruby’s.”
“But they call you a devil,” she whispers.
“But they don’t call me a rapist,” I counter, pouring myself another drink because fuck do I need it. “I always keep my word, Nina, and you have it that no harm will come to you by me or anyone else. That’s the best I can do. You can choose to believe it or not, but it doesn’t change the truth of it.”
She thinks while very carefully wrapping her lips around the straw and taking a healthy drink. Ruslan comes over and settles his large body next to me, leaning his weight against my leg like he always does. My hand automatically goes to his head to scratch him behind the ears. He grunts his appreciation, making Nina’s lips lift up the tiniest bit. Her dark eyes soften when she looks at him. Finishing her drink, she sets it down and brings the ice back to her lip.
“I believe you,” she finally says. “Despite us being married, I don’t know you, Vasily, but I know what you did for me, and I know what you’ve shown me of yourself so far. That’s enough for now.”
I nod, knowing it’s as good as I’m going to get from her. When I hear the front door open, I sigh and look at Nina. “I’m going to need you to trust me one more time tonight.”
Ilya walks in followed by Nikolai, who’s carrying a black bag with all his equipment. I tell him to start getting set up in the other room before looking at Ilya. “Take Andrei when he gets back and see if you can find that David fucker, but don’t look for him at Ruby’s. I don’t think she’d welcome seeing our Bratva again so soon.”
“What should we do when we find him?”
“Find out where the money is that he stole and then kill him. I’m sick of dealing with him.” Before he can leave the room, I add, “Make it a violent one. We need to send a message to anyone else who is thinking about stealing from us.”
Ilya grins and says, “Will do, boss,” before pulling out his phone and going to wait outside for Andrei.
When I turn back around, Nina is standing closer to the living room, watching Nikolai as he takes out his tattoo machine and starts setting it up. She looks back at me when I walk over and stand behind her.
“What is that for?” she whispers, pointing a finger at Nikolai.
