Alle Kapitel von The Mafia Boss’s Mute Bride: Kapitel 11 – Kapitel 20

ARIANA I LOATHED MY BROTHER-IN-LAW. I dug my nails into my palms as Mikhail helped lower me into a chair in the center of the dance floor. I wanted to bolt out of here. Fast. The last thing I wanted was Aleksei's head between my legs, but my devil-incarnate brother-in-law was having none of that. He'd successfully gathered all the bachelors in the room—my scowling brothers included—and forced the DJ to switch to a more sensual song. Now he was in his brother's ear, whispering things that made the latter's frown deepen every passing second. I didn't even want to know what they were talking about. He patted Aleksei on his shoulder before going to join the men with a huge grin on his face. Did I mention that I loathed my brother-in-law and I wanted to punch the ever-living shit out of him? Aleksei started toward me, his expression stoic, and I instinctively sat

ARIANA MY NERVES WERE STILL FRAZZLED from everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and to make matters worse, I woke up with a pounding headache. All that alcohol in my system proved to be a bad idea as I downed some Tylenol I found in the first aid kit in the bathroom. I still couldn't even believe I was now married. Surely, the day couldn't get any worse, or so I thought until I noticed the cup of coffee on the table even though I'd locked my door the night before. It freaked me out knowing someone else had access to my bedroom, and I immediately made a mental note to take it up with Aleksei the next time I saw him. I didn't appreciate my privacy being breached—wife or not. Surprisingly, my 'husband' hadn't sought me out last night to consummate the marriage. I was relieved, and, at the same time, worried. What if he chose to have sex with me when I least expected it? I'd prepared myself for d

ARIANA SHOWING UP TO WORK WITH A wedding band around my finger raised a lot of questions among my staff, especially because the last time they saw me, I bade them goodbye before heading for Papà's funeral. The girls and I were like friends instead of coworkers. We all clicked, and it wasn't like a normal boss-employee relationship. That wasn't to say they didn't respect my boundaries or weren't efficient with their work. It was quite the opposite, and I couldn't be more grateful for that. "Someone tell me I'm hallucinating," Drea, my closest friend of the bunch, said as she flung my door open, barging into my workspace. Only she would get a pass for intruding. My workspace was sacred, but she was also my best friend since my college days. In the end, bestie privileges, as she liked to call it, won. "There's been some buzz floating around. You're freaking married?" Her eyes zeroed in on my engagement ring and weddi

ALEKSEI DINNER WITH MY FATHER WAS a form of pure torture I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It started with cutlery clinking against fine China before Igor Tarasov decided he'd unnerved his guest enough with just silence. While some might think it's impossible, it worked wonders. Growing up, I had gotten a front-row seat to watch grown men piss themselves or drive themselves insane during those long stretches of silence. He always said human nature made those men desperately want to fill the silence with small talk to make things less uncomfortable. Of course, their efforts went unanswered by Igor, and it only unnerved them all the more. He'd once told me the best way to win a battle was by unnerving your opposition first. Once you break their minds, you'll have already won half of the war. Like him or not, my father was a smart man. I'd grown up beside him, so I knew all his tips and tricks in the book. They never worked on me, and I could tell he hated that I knew him so we

ARIANA The ride back to the house lasted less than an hour, and I constantly caught the driver sending judging stares my way through the rearview window. I made a mental note to ask Mikhail about it. When the car rolled to a stop in front of the steps that led to the gigantic front door, I was more than happy to get out of the confined space. I didn't think I could have lasted another minute inside the suffocating car. I stepped into the foyer, and the first sight I was greeted with was Mikhail going at it with one of the maids. I recognized her easily because she was the one who'd served me breakfast and returned my smile on my first day here. She was on her knees in front of him while he thrust into her mouth, his head thrown back in pleasure, both of them oblivious to their surroundings or the fact that I'd walked in on them. Just as quickly as I walked in, I bolted out the front door, sinking down on the steps to wait them out. Apparently, privacy was foreign knowled