Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Remembering Vasily’s weaselly cries during his watery death has me wishing I could be in the room with Coralie when it’s announced her daughter is alive and well, so her trust fund and any interest accrued over the prior three years must be immediately transferred to Natalya. But since it is scheduled for the same time I’ll be standing across from my wife for the first time in months, I’ve sent Easton as a representative for Natalya.
While he is there, he will ensure Davian receives the best care so he can have a full recovery.
When Maksim coughs, prompting me that I haven’t answered him, my chin almost hits my chest when I nod. “She deserves to know.”
While entering the elevator, Maksim asks, “Does that mean you’re going to tell her the real reason you didn’t want to use protection?”
Again, I nod. “I couldn’t be sure Coralie had filed for a marriage license, so I needed to prepare for any possible backlash.” I drift my eyes to Maksim, who’s pursing his lips in contemplation. “Henry's rules are stringent. Even if she hadn’t filed for a marriage license, Henry wouldn’t have let anyone touch Natalya if she was pregnant with a Bratva baby. Not after the hell his woman went through when she was pregnant with his child.”
I tilt my head to hide my smile when I recall the time I masturbated while picturing Natalya barefoot and pregnant. Marrying her and knocking her up started as a means to protect her under mafia law when I confessed to killing my father, but the more I thought about her being my wife and the mother of my children, the more I wanted to make it a reality.
I was so gung-ho on making her mine in every way possible I didn’t consider altering the date on our marriage certificate until hell started raining down on us.
It was only adjusted on the morning of Henry’s raid.
“I swear to fucking God, Brother, if you get hard while we’re the only two people in this elevator, I’ll cut off—” The ding of the elevator arriving at the underground garage steals the rest of Maksim’s warning.
“Get the fuck out of my car. You’re not driving. I’m dying to see my wife, not wanting to die on the way to see her.”
Maksim pffts at me. “I taught you how to drive.”
“Yeah… straight into a fucking tree.”
“That was one time!” Laughing, he slips out of my ride and hotfoots it to the passenger side, mindful I’m so fucking desperate to see Natalya I didn’t sleep a wink last night so I could scan every surveillance camera from Kronstadt airport to Polina’s boutique. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”
“I might.” I don’t wait for him to fasten his belt before flattening my foot to the floor. “If you help me get my wife back.”
Maksim appears as nervous as me. He’s sitting outside the conference room, bobbing his leg up and down. The last time I saw him this tense was when Nikita was taken into surgery for the internal bleeding that almost claimed her life. It was touch and go with her for a few hours, and Maksim walking out of the home that caused us years of misery with her flopped in his arms was the only reason I didn’t stop Natalya from walking away from me.
I knew she’d go into hiding, but I figured I’d found her once, so it wouldn’t take much to find her a second time.
Boy was I wrong.
I could wring Saka’s neck if I weren’t so impressed.
“Here they come,” announces my divorce lawyer.
Nerves I’ve never experienced take flight in my stomach when I peer past the fat bald guy blocking Natalya from my view. His waist is triple her width, and his shoulders are taller than her head, so I can’t see her.
“What the fuck?” I murmur to myself when Saka is the only person shadowing the lawyer’s entrance. “Where is she?” Forever the hothead, I stand to my feet. “Where is my fucking wife?”
“If you take a seat, we will get the proceedings started,” requests the court-appointed mediator.
“I ain’t doing anything until you tell me where she is!”
Saka doesn’t cower under my glare.
Fucking fool.
With my refusal to sit, Natalya’s lawyer remains standing while pulling out a wad of papers and sliding it to my side of the desk. “With my client not contesting the divorce terms, her presence is not required.”
“What do you mean she’s not contesting it? She was meant to be here. This is mediation. The divorce isn’t a given.”
“It is on account that she doesn’t feel safe to complete mediation.” The lawyer pulls out a pen and opens its cap before attempting to hand it to me. “In the event she feels unsafe, she can request a representative to sit in on her behalf.” He nudges his head to Saka. “He is her representative.”