I had no idea what to do, so I stepped away from him, and he didn’t stop me.

Not once had he kissed me.

My lips felt that loss.

The few times he’d taken the time to kiss me, I’d relished every single second. I enjoyed the sex, which was a huge relief as I knew many women in our world didn’t. The sex I’d heard had often been violent and scary. Of course none of the women had known I’d been listening in on their conversations, slowly growing more terrified at the prospect of having my own husband.

The books became a source of comfort. While the ladies in our circles told scary sex tales, the books gave me hope that they simply didn’t enjoy it.

“Cara called again,” Slavik said, breaking through the silence.

Was he uncomfortable?

I turned from the window to look at him.

“She asked me permission to take you to lunch next week.”

“And did you tell her no?”

“No, I didn’t. I said you could go,” he said.

So far, any attempt at friendship Cara had made, he’d squashed. They were supposed to be friends, and it hurt he didn’t want me to be friends with his.

“You did?”

“Yes. I’ve already arranged a guard to be with you. It’s important he stays with you at all times. You leave or don’t follow my rules, you’ll not be allowed to go anywhere else again.”

I nodded. I was happy.

Cara seemed like a nice woman. She held a high position within the Volkov Bratva. She was the first woman I knew who didn’t allow a man to talk to her like she was crap, or allow them to treat her like a piece of property.

My father had always been firm in the belief we belonged to him. We were nothing but pawns to meet his end goals. As much as I didn’t have value, I became quite a useful cog in the peace treaty between our families.

Slavik checked the time. “We need to get going,” he said. “I need you to change.”

The sun had started to set, and I frowned. “Where are we going?”

“To a private event. Exclusive.”

“You don’t have any more details?”

“I’m not sure you’re going to like it,” he said.

“Oh.”

****

Slavik

Noise greeted us the moment we entered the underground facility. The entire setup changed and moved between my cities, the invites going out via text or email. The location nothing more than a set of coordinates. The fights had been going for nearly five years now. In all that time, only two fights had been removed and the location changed because someone decided to cave and give the details to the police.

From my men on my payroll, they’d sent me the alert of the impending invasion, and I’d gotten plenty of time to move myself and the fight to another location. The police had found nothing more than empty space, even with some paperwork about the potential renovations for business purposes.