I watched, with growing anxiety, the sway of her hips as she walked and the way her hair shone under the moonlight. It was like she was brand new to me. Like I hadn’t grown up with her. A young boy pulling her hair and tormenting her. A young man scowling at her because she wouldn’t stop following me and her brother everywhere. A full-grown man not noticing the beauty she had become because my head was so far up my own ass.
Until now.
Until it was too damn late.
There were no shadows to hide me here, so I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked casually as I moved towards the restaurant and the path Katya had taken. She was far enough ahead that I couldn’t see her now, and it wasn’t until I came to the other edge of the building that I finally caught sight of her again. Beyond her figure was the beach. My gaze tightened and my chest felt weighted by an elephant at the sight spread out across the pale sand.
Several expertly designed centerpieces crowned a gathering of tables. Beyond those was a banquet length set up, its tablecloth adorned with exotic fruits, fish, meats, and a celebratory cake. Alexander and Marisha were standing off near the water, holding hands. Evelina and Eduard were checking over the food, but then moved to take their places at a table. Viktor was watching Katya approach.
My Katya.I thought possessively. Then realization hit me like a sucker punch to the gut and my teeth clenched painfully.
This was an engagement dinner...
Viktor stood up from his seat as Katya approached, and even at this distance, I could see the way he looked her up and down, his mouth pulled taut with disapproval at what she was wearing.
Evelina stood up from her table next, walking quickly towards her daughter and taking her by the wrist to pull her off to one side. When she released Katya, she began talking rapidly, her posture tense. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I knew all too well how Evelina normally reacted to Katya’s barely-there way of dressing. Eduard was making small talk with Viktor now, soothing his ego no doubt.
This only served to anger me further. Eduard Vasiliev was the Bratva King. He ruled his city. He ruled his people. And he didn’t take shit from anyone. Yet here he was, soothing Viktor’s ego like he was a nobody. Like he was weak. And Viktor was lapping up the attention, no doubt enjoying having power over Eduard.
My teeth ground together, anger bubbling in my stomach.
Everything about this situation was wrong.
Viktor should be bowing to Eduard, his Bratva King.
He should be wooing Katya, making her feel beautiful, wanted, worshipped.
But instead he was gloating and looking at each of them with disdain and disapproval.
Couldn’t they see how forced this was? How wrong it was? How bitter it would turn as soon as the two were married? Were they blind to Viktor’s flaws, not just as a man but as a potential son-in-law?
I didn’t understand it.
But I didn’t have to, not for my purposes.
I waited there, at the edge of the building, as everyone put on their polite faces and took their seats. Katya and Viktor were close enough to brush elbows. She leaned away from him and his arm rose to wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer, despite it being obvious that she wanted nothing to do with him.
Still, I waited. I knew what I wanted to do--I wanted to destroy. Everything. Toss the tables, smash the cake. My fingers curled together, becoming fists ready for action. But I knew, also, in the back of my mind, what barging into the private affair would do.
For all intents and purposes, Eduard had let me off easily. He was sending me back to the states, putting me to work. He’d said that distance would cause me to understand that any feelings I had towards Katya were a product of the surroundings. A vacation fling. Besides, she’d always been like a bratty little sister to me. I couldn’t possibly truly care for Katya in any other way but sibling affection and rivalry.
But he didn’t understand that she’d infected me, year by year, making me sicker with the need for her.
I hadn’t realized it either, until now.
Until it was too late.
Viktor leaned in to whisper something in Katya’s ear. Her face beneath the tan went pale and she stood up quickly.
He reached up and grabbed her forearm, and I could tell it hurt her.
Eduard and Evelina were leaned together talking, unaware.
Alex and Marisha were heading back from the water, both smiling and so fucking in love that it made me sick. Alex had told me about Marisha’s previous situation. About Ivan, the son-of-a-bitch abuser and Bratva betrayer, but here was Alex watching his sister fall into the same kind of marriage as Marisha had once been in because he was currently so fucking love blind and caring more about becoming a King than being a brother.
My fury grew.
They were all complicit in this. All culpable in the precarious nature of her future. And when she changed, when she became the submissive, dutiful wife with no fire left inside of her, it would be their faults.
