“This is the woman’s bathroom.”

“Do I look like a man who follows the rules?”

She shook her head. “No. I guess you’re a man who does exactly what he wants.”

“You’ve got that right.”

She nibbled on her lip. “Is there something you wanted to say to me?”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Whatever for?”

“You know what for.”

“Is this hard for you?” she asked.

This made me smile. Saying thank you didn’t come easy. “Why did you help?”

She shrugged her shoulder. “I’m your wife. By marrying you, I pledged my loyalty to you, didn’t I? I’m not longer a Fredo. I’m an Ivanov.” She didn’t look into my eyes.

What was going on here?

The door to the bathroom opened and Aurora tensed up.

For some reason, I didn’t want to embarrass her. I stepped back and allowed her to leave the stall. She stepped out of the stall, and I heard the women giggle and say hi to her.

I didn’t know what the hell had just happened or why I was still stuck in a bathroom stall. I could have easily followed her out. I didn’t care what people thought of me. Aurora continued to mess with my head. My wife shouldn’t be a problem to me and yet, she’d proven to be more of a challenge than I realized, and it pissed me off.

“Oh, my God, do you know who that was?” one of the women asked.

“No. She looks familiar.”

“She’s Aurora Ivanov! Oh, my God, I saw the pictures of her wedding. You know there is a rumor that said her husband is part of the Russian mafia, right? There’s this whole thing going on across the country. I don’t know the general working. It’s like the worst-kept secret.”

I frowned as I listened. I had no time for female gossip. Personally, I wanted to correct her that I was Bratva, not fucking mafia.

“I heard Slavik, the hot guy, he had to put a bag over her head to fuck her.” A round of giggles.

“Please, he couldn’t even be bothered to kiss her. You had to have seen the pictures. He brushed his lips across her cheek. I’m betting he can’t stand to touch her.”

The insults went on, and they angered me.

I had this desire to draw my weapon and kill them all there and then. Or better yet, to pull them out of the bathroom and force them to apologize to her.

This wasn’t the time or place.

Rage rushed through my body. I shoved it down.

All I wanted to do was kill. I held swift control even as I did want to kill. Who did they think they were? My wife was a fucking queen. Had Aurora dealt with this her whole life? I didn’t get a chance to confront them.

They left the bathroom after throwing more insults at my wife.

I walked out of the stall, then the bathroom, entering the dining room. I saw my wife standing with Ivan.