Second Best (Volkov Bratva 1)

One night of feeling afraid one second, and then comforted the next. I wanted it again. Not the fear, but certainly the comfort. I liked it when he held me. The simple things, especially when he held my hand. Damn it. I sounded like a sulky teenager. I was going to be twenty soon. I shouldn’t be having these feelings, wanting my husband to hold my hand.

I left the tenth shop I’d spent a fortune in and came to a stop.

Slavik stood, sunglasses on, arms at his sides.

I folded my arms. “Yes?”

“Are you done?” he asked.

“No. You told me I could shop any time.”

“Get the car,” he said to his driver.

I stayed perfectly still, refusing to make a scene out in public. People kept looking toward us. Where I blended in, Slavik stood out like a sore thumb. A very handsome and dangerous sore thumb, but still sore.

“Do you have any idea how many of my enemies would have loved to have captured you?” he asked.

He gripped the back of my neck, pulling me in close. His lips brushed across my forehead. To any onlooker, we were enjoying an intimate moment. They didn’t know the threat he was warning me about.

This morning, I didn’t go out thinking about his enemies. I just wanted freedom and the harsh reality was that, for me, there would never be any freedom.

I was Slavik Ivanov’s wife. I would be worth so much to his enemies.

“Slavik?”

“They would’ve raped you, torn you apart, and delivered me each piece of you. I’d have failed you, Aurora.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“I only went shopping.”

“And you were a fucking fool to not have a guard with you.”

“Nothing happened.”

“Today.”

“Next time, I won’t—”

“There won’t be a next time.” He grabbed my hand, ending our conversation.

He led me to the car, and like that, my rebellious shopping trip was over. I hadn’t even made it to lunch. He must have run a trace on his credit card. I didn’t know how he could have found me so fast. It wasn’t like I held a neon sign.

Sitting back, I stared out the window.

We came to a stop at a fast-food place. He handed me a brown paper bag and ordered me to eat. I hated how he treated me like a child. Still, I ate my food without a single complaint. The milkshake was nice. I wasn’t a big fan of the chocolate as I preferred strawberry, but I didn’t tell him that.

He didn’t eat.

With the food finished, he took the bag, and the next thing I knew, we were entering a private gate, driving down toward a private residence.

The house was huge. Reminded me of my parents’ house. They had a huge country estate and often had many soldiers patrolling the grounds.

Slavik got out of the car and held out his hand.

I took it, again being the good girl I was, without complaint.

We walked into the house, and I knew it wasn’t any ordinary house.

This was … different.

No words were spoken as Slavik put me at the bar. “Sit and stay.”

With my hands pressed to the counter, I had the childish urge to get up, but I stayed seated.

He left me alone.

There wasn’t a guard left to wait with me.

I just sat here.

Bored.

Again.

He would rather kill me with boredom than hire another bodyguard. What the hell was wrong with that?

I quickly came to the conclusion I didn’t like to be told to wait. Sitting at the bar in this … I wasn’t exactly sure what this place was, but I was annoyed. Slavik had interrupted my shopping spree, which I’d taken out of anger and desperate need to get away from him. Now he’d brought me along for his business again, and this time, rather than leave me in the car, he’d dumped me at the bar.

This wasn’t fair.

I knew many would argue life wasn’t fair, well, so what. I’d played the part of a doting wife. I’d done everything he asked of me, and it still wasn’t enough. Today, I’d attempted for the day to all be about me, and instead, it ended up with Slavik invading my time. I didn’t even get to have lunch by myself.

The man infuriated me.

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone to deal with these feelings I had about him? I still didn’t like him.

He was so bossy, and it was proven today with the way he dragged me off the street. Not that I’d had a whole lot of fun. Maybe I had when it came to handing over his credit card, but the clothes were pointless, as were the lingerie and the shoes. I wasn’t the kind of woman to need a new outfit every day. Today was a waste of my time. There were going to be many packages to send back.