I can’t keep the bitterness from my voice. “To protect her other children. The ones she didn’t abandon.”
“It’s not like that, and you know it.”
“I’m not going to change my mind about this, Luck. Doesn’t matter how hard you try to sell it to me. Antonella cheated on our father, got knocked up by a rival don, and disappeared to protect her precious twin daughters.”
“He would have killed her.”
“She threw us to the fucking wolves,” I bite out. “We were just kids.”
Lucky sighs. “She’s here now.”
“Too late.” I take a long sip of my Macallan. “You can bring her as your plus-one, but she’s not going to make it past security. She’s not invited.”
“Scorpion.”
“End of story.” I throw back the rest of my drink, and then I stand up. “Dinner’s over, and so is this discussion.”
I’ve had enough of this conversation and enough of the past. I stalk by Lucky and head over to where a few of our capos are standing together, laughing and bullshitting. I need the distraction right now. Because I don’t want to think about the mother who left us, and I sure as hell don’t want to keep eyeing up Ekaterina’s perky nipples, wondering what they’d feel like in my mouth or how it would be to wind her long, silky hair around my fist as I feed her my cock.
Katya
I excusemyself after the dinner plates are whisked away by the efficient servers. I need a break. Five minutes where the eyes of the room aren’t on me.
Misha gives me a disapproving look and reaches for my arm. “No. Stay. You are needed here.”
That’s what I was afraid of. He’s been keeping me at his side like he suspects I’ll make a run for it if he turns the other way for more than fifteen seconds. I’ve spent the whole rehearsal dinner feeling like a prisoner, forced to eat and smile like this is a happy occasion instead of preparation for a marriage I don’t want to a man I barely know.
“I have to use the restroom,” I tell Misha pointedly, daring him to deny me the right to empty my bladder.
It’s either let me go to the bathroom or watch as I embarrass him, I tell him with my eyes. Thankfully, Misha is squeamish about making his sister pee her pants in front of the organized crime families gathered tonight. He lets me go, relenting with a nod.
“Fine. But don’t take too long.”
I grit my teeth. “I wouldn’t dream of it,brat.”
Holding my clutch in a death grip, I hightail it out of there before Misha changes his mind. The weight on my chest lifts as I make it into the hallway where the restrooms are, my heels clipping down the tile. At least I can have a few minutes to myself. Being surrounded by so many strangers and enemies isn’t helping the anxiety that’s been my constant companion for the last few days.
A selfish part of me wishes Svetlana were here, but I know that wouldn’t be what’s best for her. She’s attending the wedding tomorrow because she wouldn’t miss it for the world, as she said. But I kept the rehearsal dinner from her intentionally, knowing she would insist on joining in this farce too. The further I keep her from Misha and his deadly orbit, the better.
No one is in the bathroom when I open the door and slip inside. I take a second to exhale and let go of the tension that’s been coiled in my shoulders all dinner long. Some kind of lovely fresh scent is being diffused to cloak the fact that this is a public restroom, and it’s tastefully decorated in white and gray marble tiles, discreet stalls, with art dotting the walls and potted plants spread liberally throughout.
I decide I may as well use the facilities while I’m here, so I head to a stall and do my business, vaguely aware of the sound of the restroom door opening and closing and heels clicking on the tile.
When I come out of the stall, a woman is standing at one of the gilded mirrors by the row of sinks. She makes no effort to hide the fact that she’s staring at me. She’s got long, flowing blonde hair, big brown eyes accented by fake lashes, and her dress is so tight, it’s a wonder she can breathe in it without popping a seam. Not that I blame her for wearing it. If I had her curves, I’d flaunt them all day long too.
“You’re not what I expected,” she says coolly.
I don’t know what to say to that, so I force the same smile I’ve been wearing all night, my face feeling so tight, it might crack like dried clay. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She pulls a tube of lipstick from her clutch and pulls off the cap, unsmiling. “Take it however you want.”
So. Not friendly, then.
She’s giving major competitive vibes, like we’re both going after the Sugar Plum Fairy role inThe Nutcrackerlevel tension. Maybe she expects me to know who she is, but I don’t. Something tells me it has something to do with the man I’m marrying, though. The woman is incredibly stunning. I can see her on Scorpion’s arm. They’d make the perfect couple, and for some reason, that thought has my dinner threatening to creep up my throat.
I decide to do what Svetlana has always told me to do when I’m in competitive situations or when someone doesn’t like me.Kill them with kindness,lisichka.
“I’m Katya.” I hold out my hand for her to shake. “Nice to meet you. You must be one of the Andrianis.”