Nikolai
I knew the moment I saw Irina, I had to have her.
But the first time I saw her wasn’t at the theater. It was much earlier… when her father, Ivan Koslov, came to me to make a deal.
“I’ll give you my daughter’s hand in marriage,” Ivan had said as we sat in the back booth of my restaurant. The smell of meat and spices was strong in the air.
“I’m not interested,” I scoffed. That was until Ivan slid a picture of Irina across the table.
“This was taken on her eighteenth birthday. Just a few months ago. She’s a virgin, I promise you. She will make the perfect wife.”
I couldn’t deny that Irina was beautiful. Long silky dark hair. Stunning fair skin. Petite. She looked like a woman who needed to be saved.
And I wanted to save her.
“What do you want in return?” I asked. Ivan stared at me like he hadn’t expected the question. “Come now. You want me to marry your daughter. You must want something in return. What is it?”
“I have debts,” he said slowly. “I need you to pay them off.”
“So, I get your daughter if I pay off your debts. Interesting. But you see, Ivan, it just seems like you want me to do all the work. You get all the benefits.”
“But you’ll get a wife out of this.”
“Yes but she’s the daughter of a man who’s in debt. I don’t want that. I want to build an empire. I’ll marry Irina… but only if I have you in my debt forever. I’m not going to pay yours off. I’m not the one who’s going to listen to you. You’ll listen to me. You’ll pay of your debts by being a lackey to me. And my marriage to your daughter will keep you in line. How is that for a deal?”
Ivan’s face scrunched up. The lines around his eyes were visible. “No deal. I need my debts paid off and I will not become your lackey. I will not.” He ripped the picture away from me and stood up. “You won’t get to have my daughter. I’ll give her to a man who can do what I want. Because I’m in charge here.”
I sat back in my seat. “It doesn’t seem that way, Ivan.”
He huffed and stormed out of the restaurant. I only chuckled to myself. What Ivan didn’t realize was how much I wanted Irina the second I saw her photo. I amassed wealth and power over my years as being high ranking in the Bratva. I was much higher in standing than Ivan.
And I decided right then and there that I would get Irina, no matter the cost. But it wouldn’t be to build trust with Ivan. Having him under my thumb would be great.
But the real reason was because Irina stirred something in my heart I thought I had lost long ago. She needed to be mine and I would do whatever I could do to get to her.
Irina
Nikolai leads me outside the theater and to a nice black town car. They’re everywhere in New York. We’ll blend right on in.
He opens the back door and gestures at me to get inside. Knowing I have no choice, I do as he instructs. At least the car is warm inside.
Nikolai gets in the back with me. A driver sits in the front and starts the car without question and drives us away from the theater.
“You must have questions,” Nikolai says, gazing at me. His eyes flick down to my breasts, where I know he can see the nipple indent through my t-shirt. I cross my arms over my chest. His eyes move back to my face. “Ask away.”
“Who… who are you?”
“I’m Nikolai Volkov. I’m a high ranking Bratva official. Higher than your father. He offered me your hand in marriage if I paid off his debts but I refused. I then found out he was going to sell you off and I couldn’t let that stand. So I bought you. But he won’t see any of that money. I’ll make sure of it.”
I shake my head with a frown. “You make it sound like you bought me to… protect me.”
“I wasn’t going to let any of those other men get their hands on you. I knew the second I saw you, you were going to be mine. And now you are.”
“Because you bought me like I’m a slave.”
“You’re not going to be a slave, Irina. You’re going to be my wife.”
I’m not even sure if I’m hearing any of this right. “Your… wife? How is that any better?”