Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
This made me laugh.
He moved toward me and knelt down at my feet. I kicked off my sneakers, and he picked one up, holding it in his palm. “Seriously?”
“Stop it. Yes.” I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.
I slid my foot into the heel and it felt lovely, like it was meant to fit on my foot. Once both shoes were on my feet, Ive stood up and took my hand.
“How do they feel?”
“Nice,” I said. “Does that make me weird? Are women supposed to like the feel of heels on their feet?”
“I imagine at the beginning of an evening, they love it, but by the end of the evening, they don’t.” Ive tucked my hand against his side. “Come on, our dinner reservations are waiting.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“A brand-new restaurant that I think you’ll enjoy.”
Chapter Twelve
Ive
I heard what Charlotte said to Hubert. I’d entered the apartment as she began to talk, and what I heard, I didn’t like.
None of what she said came as a shock to me. I’d seen the scars and knew the men we were dealing with. It didn’t mean I had to like any of it. Charlotte had lived her whole life without human affection. Cassie and Rage had done what they could, I saw that now, but neither of them had been in a true position of power. Demon held all the power, no one else. Until we took it from him. Now Charlotte was ours.
We sat in a French restaurant. I liked to have a lot of different businesses. This was part of Ivan’s requests. We dealt in a lot of bad shit, but we also had legitimate businesses. He wanted to be completely different than his father. Ivan had already proven tenfold that he was better than his father.
The Bratva had been contained to one city. To a few men and women, a couple of families. Now we stretched across several cities, and to the Volkov Bratva there were thousands of men and women, soldiers, wives, close associates, business partners. We were untouchable.
I remember when I met Ivan. These had been his plans from the start, and I had thought they were too far-fetched to be real. Ivan made them real. I’d believed in him, even if it had seemed unbelievable. He’d made it possible.
The waiter brought us our menus and excused himself almost immediately.
I couldn’t stop looking at my wife. The blue looked amazing on her.
“How was your day at the spa?” I asked.
She lifted her head and smiled. “It was lovely. You should try it sometime. I did struggle with the massages, though.”
“How is that possible?”
“I kept flinching every time they rubbed my back.” Her face went bright red.
“Did they say anything about the scars?” I asked.
“No, no, er, I just … it was … new, you know. Don’t worry about it.” She looked down at the menu. “This is all in French.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t speak French. I have no idea what to order. Could you order for me?” She nibbled her lip again and I agreed to order for her. Signaling the waiter to return, I placed our orders in French.
“You speak French?” she asked.
“A little.”
“Also Spanish and Italian.”
I nod my head.
“I don’t speak another language. I did okay in school, but, you know, it was difficult.” She sat back in her chair. Her hands dropped out of the way.
“I never finished school,” I said.
“You didn’t.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have a single qualification to my name.”
“Why didn’t you finish school?”
“Bad shit went down with my father,” I said. “School was no longer important. He didn’t want me as his son anyway, so it was easy for him to discard me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I held my hand up. “There was no love between me and my father, Charlotte. Please don’t feel pity for me.”
“I don’t feel pity. I guess I’m just sad. I always imagined you had this loving family.”
This made me smile. “You’ve never met my parents,” I said.
“What happened to them?” Charlotte asked.
“I had to swear my loyalty to Ivan Volkov. They were in the way and we needed to make room.”
Charlotte’s eyes went wide and she leaned in close. “You…” She didn’t finish her sentence but she tilted her head to the side, stuck out her tongue, and closed her eyes.
I’m not going to lie, I thought it was adorable.
“Yes,” I said.
I didn’t want to be entertained by my wife, but I was.
The waiter interrupted our conversation to bring our food. It had to be the fastest service here.
He put the plate in front of me first and then in front of Charlotte. There was a second where he lingered and I finally looked at him. This time, really looked at him. The restaurant didn’t have a lot of people inside. When I called to make the reservation, I always called ahead so they knew to save my table. I was told they were full. This wasn’t full.