Chapter Six
Maksim
The moment I show up at the club, I know I made a mistake. Natasha didn’t want to come here and I just left her alone. Again.
For some reason, I have this urge to want to protect her. It’s a feeling I’ve never had before. She just looks so scared and innocent that I feel bad every time I speak to her since I can never say anything right.
Going against what I normally do, I decide to leave the club and head back to our villa. I need to try with Natasha. I need to figure her out because otherwise, I’ll be stuck in a miserable marriage for the rest of my life and that’s the last thing I want.
She’s beautiful so that’s not a problem. We just have to figure out the rest.
But when I return to the villa, I find that Natasha is gone. She left me a note, saying she went to a garden nearby. I can’t blame her for leaving when I left myself but for some reason, it stings.
Why should I care what she does? It’s not like we’re in love. We were both forced into this marriage.
And yet, I don’t like that she left without me even though I did the same thing to her.
Fuck. Why does this all have to be so fucking confusing?
I can’t just stay in the villa all night by myself so I go to the garden. Maybe Natasha and I can talk. Maybe we can figure this out.
It’s dark out now. Why would Natasha come out here on her own? It could be dangerous.
The world I live in is filled with enemies, though none of them would know I was here in Greece with my new bride, so that’s one less thing I have to worry about. But still. My gut is saying something is wrong and my gut is never wrong. I’ve worked for the Bratva for a long time to know when something feels right or not.
When I reach the garden, I search the entirety of it but don’t find Natasha. That’s when I hear a woman scream.
It’s not a scream of fun. It’s a scream of pure terror.
Running towards the sound, I find myself on a dark street with no one else around. Where did the scream come from? And who’s to say it was even Natasha.
But then the scream sounds out into the night air… close to me.
Turning around, I see a tight alley between two houses. Two men are there, harassing a woman.
That woman is Natasha.
Even in the darkness, I can make out her features. She’s terrified. The men have her pinned against the wall.
A sudden surge of anger courses through me like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I don’t even think as I run over to the men. One of them has his hands on Natasha’s waist and I yank him away from her.
The other man backs away, clearly shocked to see me.
I toss the one who was touching Natasha to the ground and kick him in the stomach. And then I kick him again… and again… and again. I’ve never been this angry in my entire life.
But these men were hurting Natasha. Hurting my wife.
The other man takes off running into the night while I continue to kick the man who touched Natasha. He lets out groan after groan until he goes silent.
That’s when I finally stop kicking him.
Only to realize that he’s dead.
I kicked him so hard I killed him.
Shit. I’ll have to take care of the body. The Bratva has contacts everywhere in the world. Someone will clean this up for me.
I call Nikolai. “I need help.” After explaining the situation, he tells me who to call in Greece that can help. I call the number and tell them I need a clean-up. The man on the other end tells me he’ll handle it.
