I wasn’t sure why he’d given me these boundaries.

Cara was supposed to be his friend. A colleague.

“Wow, what did you do to make him happy?”

I thought about it and the truth was, I had no idea. I shrugged. Slavik and I seemed complicated in my mind.

Cara placed her hand on top of mine. “Please tell me he’s treating you good?”

I smiled. “Yes. We’re getting along now.”

She sighed. “That makes me so happy. Slavik can be a bit of a hardass. He has to be. Many are handed a position like his. He earned his.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “No. I couldn’t tell you.”

“Oh, I won’t say anything if that is what you’re worried about.” The lie was hard for me to say, but I got through it.

Slavik had demanded I don’t lie to him. That there were no secrets between us. It seemed reasonable. Deep down, I wanted to make this marriage work.

“Good. I want us to be the best of friends. The moment I saw you, I knew you were different.”

The waiter came over and Cara ordered us both a glass of wine. “Unless you can’t have any?”

“I’m fine.” I offered her a smile.

Slavik and I had been sleeping together often. Last night, he’d surprised me by climbing into bed only to wake me up to take what he wanted. He’d never done that before. The sex last night had led into this morning where we’d made love. I wasn’t even sure if I could call it making love.

We had sex.

I couldn’t think of Slavik on emotional terms. We were husband and wife through a peace treaty. To some, I was nothing more than his possession. We weren’t a love match.

The waiter came back with our wine and Cara shooed him away.

“It has been a busy couple of weeks. Business is booming. Anyway, back to Slavik, I’m so pleased he’s been able to find a good wife. For the longest time, I figured he’d spend it jumping from one woman to the next.” She winced. “I’m so sorry. I hope I haven’t upset you.”

I forced a smile. “You haven’t.”

“Good. We all know men are dogs. They see a woman and just jump on them for the fun.” She sighed. “Anyway, Slavik was … he wasn’t the king you see now. The ruler of states and his section. Ivan and Slavik are bastards of men who ran the original Bratva within this area, in fact. It was many years ago, long before your time. They lived on the streets. I should know, it’s where I joined them. There we were, three brats on the streets. No one wanted us. Slavik’s father was a brigadier, like him. He knocked up a whore, and because she refused to pay for an abortion, she got killed and Slavik ended up on the streets. So sad. He’d fought for every single meal he had. He’s a natural-born fighter. Ivan was a similar story, only … he had a stutter. Of course, his father, who was the boss back then, couldn’t have a son who stuttered.”