Page 53 of Bratva Brother’s Bride

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“Somewhere I used to go as a boy.” Roman’s voice is low, almost soft. “Before everything changed.”

I don’t ask what he means. I don’t think I need to.

The car pulls off the main road and onto a narrow lane that curves through the trees. At the end of the lane, there’s a small clearing with a wooden bench overlooking the lake.

Roman helps me out of the car and guides me to the bench. We sit side by side, our shoulders almost touching, and stare out at the water.

The lake is still, the surface barely rippling in the breeze. A pair of ducks paddle along the shore, their reflections mirrored in the water.

“My mother brought us here when we were boys,” Roman says. “Dmitri and me. She liked the quiet.” His gaze drifts across the lake. “After she died, we kept coming back.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Without thinking, I lean my head against his shoulder and stare out at the lake. The ducks have disappeared, leaving nothing but still water and endless sky.

16

ROMAN

The lake stretches out before us like a sheet of glass.

I sit on the bench beside Vera and watch the water, letting the silence settle between us. It’s not uncomfortable, this stillness. If anything, it feels like the first real peace we’ve had since the cemetery.

Vera’s hand is still in mine. Her fingers are cool against my palm. She’s staring at the water, but I can tell her mind is somewhere else. Somewhere I can’t follow.

“What did you want to be?” I ask.

She turns to look at me. “What?”

“Before, when you were young.” I shift on the bench, angling my body toward hers. “What did you dream about?”

She shrugs. “Dreams are for people who can afford them.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

She’s quiet for a long moment. Her eyes drift back to the lake, watching the water ripple in the breeze.

“I wanted to be a teacher,” she says finally. “Elementary school. I used to imagine having my own classroom. I’d decorate the walls with my students’ artwork.” She shakes her head. “Stupid, right?”

“Why is that stupid?”

“It was never going to happen.” She pulls her hand from mine and wraps her arms around herself. “My father’s debts saw to that. The moment he handed me over to Dmitri, any chance I had of going to college or having a life of my own all disappeared.”

I watch her as she speaks. There’s a bitterness in her voice that I recognize, a resentment that’s been simmering for years. There’s something else too. Something that sounds like surrender.

“You didn’t fight it,” I say.

Her head snaps toward me. “What?”

“When your father told you he was giving you to Dmitri. Or when you realized what your marriage was going to be.” I hold her gaze. “You didn’t fight.”

The color rises in her cheeks. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you were twenty years old and you walked into that marriage without raising a hand.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Her voice is sharp now, edged with anger. “Run? Where would I have gone? My father owed money to dangerous people. If I’d refused, they would have killed him.”