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“See you later.” Nikolai led me away to find his other brothers.
I stole the opportunity to ask him questions about Sergey. If I was to survive here until I could find a way to escape, I first needed to know how things worked around here. “Is your brother always like that?”
“Like how?”
I drew in a harsh breath, willing my nerves to calm down. “Terrifying.”
“Who? Sergey?” A ghost of a smile flickered on his lips so briefly that I almost missed it. “If you’re an enemy, yes. But you’re not an enemy, you’re a Vadim.”
“Does that mean he won’t hurt me?”
“That means he will protect you with his life if need be.”
It took a while for me to process what he’d just said. Was Sergey, in all of his dominating and scariness really going to give his life to protect me if he needed to? Scratch that, Nikolai had said the same thing to me after our vows.
Did he really mean it when he said that? He didn’t love or even care for me, so why would he do that when I wouldn’t blink twice if his life were in danger?
I sighed. It seemed the Vadim brothers didn’t value their lives very much if they were ready to give it up for a woman they barely knew.
“Here comes the groom,” a voice said.
“And bride,” another voice added. I glanced in their direction and could immediately tell from the uncanny resemblance between the two that they were Nikolai’s brothers.
Nikolai pointed at one of them. He had Sergey’s dark eyes but same features as both Nikolai and Sergey. Handsome to a fault. “This is Maxim.”
Maxim smiled at me, and I inhaled a lungful of air. His aura wasn’t intimidating like Sergey's or Nikolai’s. “You’re more beautiful than Nikolai described.”
Red bloomed on my cheeks as I shot Nikolai a look. Beautiful? Did Nikolai really think I was beautiful?
I didn’t ask. Instead, I smiled at Maxim. “Thank you.”
“I’m Vlad,” the other one said. Vlad had an uncanny resemblance to Nikolai. Same sharp jaw, height and long, dark hair that he packed in a ponytail. The only difference was that he was obviously younger and had cloudless blue eyes. He wore small, golden hoop earrings on both ears.
“Nice to meet you again, Vlad.”
He stretched his hand out for a handshake and his shirt moved to the side, revealing the viper and roses tattoo creeping up his neck. The memories of my first night with Nikolai had been too fogged, I wondered if he had any more tattoos aside from the ones covering his arms.
“How does it feel being the lady of the Vadim family?” Vlad asked, smirking like one of those bad boys in college.
My stomach churned. I hadn’t expected a question like that. I huffed out a sigh. “Nothing to be ecstatic about if you ask me.”
He grinned. “I have a feeling I’m going to like you.”
“My brother can be a jerk,” Maxim chimed in. “Call me whenever you need someone to knock some sense into him.”
Vlad gave Maxim a soft punch on his shoulder. “You’ve never won a fight against Nikolai, brother.” He drew his attention back to me. “Have you met Sergey? He’s the only one who can knock some sense into Nik.”
Even hearing his name made my veins twitch. I was close to jumping from excitement that the other two brothers weren’t anything like Nikolai or Sergey. “I doubt there will ever be a need for that.”
“Trust me, there will. My brother is…”
“Standing right here,” Nikolai broke in. “Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here.”
Vlad chuckled. “Sorry, man.” He glanced between Nikolai and me. “There’s something I need to discuss. I’m not sure it will do her pretty ears any good.”
Nikolai turned to me. “Go upstairs. I’ll join you soon.”
I pursed my lips. As much as I hated it when he ordered me around, I’d rather be locked upstairs than meet anyone else connected to the mafia. “Okay.”
