Arranged Bratva Love

Ive

TwoYears Later

I should have known.

I’d warned Ivan, but he insisted I continue with mywork, and now I had just gotten the call. The cartel had taken my wife. Hubert was dead. Rose had been taken to the vet as they had shot her. But Charlotte was gone.

The only wayI knew she was alive was by the sound of her screams as they tortured her. My wife.

Today was our anniversary.

We’dwoken up, like on our other anniversaries, but this time, I’d made love to her. I’d watched her sleep all night, unable to take my eyes off the woman. Today I’d planned to tell her.

Michael and I had already organizeda delicious meal tonight, and I’d tell her I was in love with her. That she wasn’t a mistake. I loved her more than anything.

She had gotten to the confession first.

This morning, after we had sex, she’d come to me, wrapped her arms around me, and told me that she loved me so very much. I knew she spoke the truth. And I’d not said anything. I stared at her, without saying a single word.

Then my cell phone went off. She gave me this smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. The smile she’d given me when we were first married. She wasn’t happy, but she didn’t want to be questioned.

Now the cartel had my wife.

Ivan was nowhere to be fuckingfound, and I was pissed off.

Rage had been the one to call me away. He’d beenapproached last night, while I was balls-deep into my wife, loving the sounds of her pleasured moans.

“What do you want?” I asked into the cell phone.

“It’s simple, I want you. I want this territory. Is your wife worth giving up everything for?”

I didn’t like the humor coming back at me.

Three years. Charlotte and I had threeyears.

I don’t know why I didn’t tell her that I loved her before now. She didn’t know how I felt. That I was a man who’d never known what love was, but being with her, I knew it. I knew I woke up every single morning, looking over at her, and feeling this sense of peace I’d never known. Charlotte was Volkov.

After our first year together, Ivan had arranged the tattoo on her wrist, which consisted of ivy surrounding a V. She’d earned her place in the Volkov Bratva. She was my wife, loyal to me. Mine. All freaking mine. This man didn’t know what he’d done. I was going to kill him.

“Where?” I asked.

He gave me the location. It was in the middle of nowhere. There would be no civilians. It was the perfect spot to take either side out.

“I’ll be there.”

Howdid they know to take my wife? I protected her. She and Hubert had been out, walking Rose at the time she’d been taken. I had already seen the footage.

“We’ve got to go,” Rage said.

His anger was as strong as mine. I knew Charlotte hadn’t spoken to him much over the past few years. Cassie had never returned to the MC either. She stayed in the building I owned, working hard at the clothing store. From what I’d been told, she loved the job, clients loved her, the staff loved her. She blended in well.

I putmy phone down on my desk. Vlad was looking at me, waiting for instructions.

“Goddamn it, Ive, this is no time to second guess. They’re going to kill her. They’re already torturing her.”

Swiping my arm across my desk, I sent the whole contents but the phone flying to the floor.”Do you think I don’t fucking know that?” I asked.

“I made a vow to my wife. I promised her. I told her she was Volkov. I told her nothing bad would ever happen again. I was going to protect her.”

“You’re Volkov now, Charlotte. That means nothing will ever happen to you again.”

I’d told her those very words after she got the ink. But now she’d been taken. The love of my life.

Turning to Vlad, I told him to get the car ready.

“I’ll call my boys,” Rage said.

“No.”

I glared at him. “If you bring an army, he’ll kill her.”

“And you don’t think he’s going to bring men? This is a suicide mission, Ive. You can’t do that. Charlotte won’t let you and they will kill her and you.”

“My wife is not dying today.”

Grabbing my cell phone, I leave my office and head down to the main street where Vlad is waiting. I don’t allow Rage to drive with me. I’m going to arrive on my own. As Vlad pulled away from the curb, my cell phone lit up.

“You go to the meeting,” Ivan said.”You knew,” I said. “Youknew they were going to take her.”

“Charlotte is not going to die today.”

“Tell me what the fuck you know!”

Ivan hung up.

I wanted to throw the phone, destroy it, lash out all my pent-up aggression, but instead, I put my cell phone on the seat beside me.

Hubert had been killed with a single gunshot wound to the head. He and Rose hadn’t been able to react. The bastard who’d shot Hubert had then shot Rose. The vet had told me she would do everything in her power to keep Rose alive. I loved that dog. My wife loved that dog. Nothing could happen to either one.

Running a hand down my face, I felt the tension rising inside me. The anger, the rage, It started to consume me, filling me, and it was exactly what I needed.

Three years. Charlotte and I had three years, and they were not enough. She couldn’t die on me. No one was going to take her from me.

Our three years together had been the most amazing of all. Coming home had been a dream come true. No matter what time of day it was, other than early in the morning, my wife would come rushing toward me. If I was alone, she’d throw herself into my arms. If I wasn’t alone, she’d offer me the sweetest of smiles.

Rose was the same, always coming over, demanding hugs and even some kisses. I’d lost count of the numberof times she’d bathed my face with her tongue.

Charlotte hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. We’d gone to the doctor and both of us had been checked. Everything was fine, but it was going to take time. So I enjoyed every single moment of our time together.

I loved having her at my side when we were invited to dinner with Ivan or the other brigadiers.

She had stopped referring to herself as trash. I might havehad something to do with that as I kept asking her the question, and whenever she’d been tempted to say trash, I withdrew her orgasm from her. For several months we practiced this, and I got her used to not referring to herself as trash.

I never forgot her birthday. She made a point of celebrating both of our birthdays with equal enthusiasm. She also began decorating our home or our penthouse suite for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We saw in New Year’s together, naked, watching the fireworks in the sky from our bedroom in the penthouse with the curtains open. Rose hated the fireworks, so she’d always come to the bottom of the bed or she’d find a way to scootch in between us, and we’d both comfort our dog.

Rose couldn’t die. Neither could Charlotte. She had given me so much. I loved her more than anything in the world.

After I got the initial callthey had taken her, I’d gotten my man to send the security camera footage to my email. There I had watched. Hubert didn’t stand a chance. Someone had been waiting for them. I’d seen them waiting behind the park bushes.

Someone had figured out my wife’s routine and waited for the right moment to pounce.

I was going to kill them all. The cartel thought they stood achance. They didn’t.

I’d called Ivan after I had seen the footage, and he’d not been shocked by it. He’d hung up after telling me to wait forfurther instructions.

I don’t know how he’d known, but he had. Did he know because one of his spies told him? Did he know because someone within the cartel had alerted him to what was about to happen? From my sources, Ivan had been with Victor in his territory.

I arrived at the spot, and I saw Charlotte instantly. The ground was dirt, barren. There were no houses for miles, and as Vlad brought the car to a stop, I climbed out, and I saw them. The cartel werea few feet behind her, guns raised, ready to pull the trigger. No one stood with my wife, and I knew they had hurt her. She was standing on only one foot. The other was shaped at an odd angle. She also nursed one of her wrists close to her chest, that was broken as well. Her face had blood over it and I saw more blood covering her body.

Getting out of the car, I stopped. Rage joined me minutes later. He’d been following me.

Staring at my wife, seeing her look at me, I could read her. She was so happy to see me, but she knew. The moment she took a step toward me, she knew she was going to die. They had done this on purpose. One of them had moved her to where she was now, and left her. She was going to grow tired fast. At least they hadn’t killed her.

I held a gun in my hand and I had it pointed at theman I knew to be their leader. He stood at the head, a smirk on his face. He also had a golden gun. His body was heavily inked, and I knew he was the one I needed to take out. What they didn’t understand was that all of them would die today.

Three years. I wasn’t only going to have three years. How did I get her out of this mess? Our life had been incredible.

I can’t even believe this shit had happened.

My wife was mine. I wassupposed to protect her. Love her. There was no way I would allow any of them to take her from me. Charlotte was mine. But I knew she needed to make that step. She needed to move. I don’t know how long she stood there, but she was growing tired. They were going to kill her.

Vlad, Rage, and I were the only ones here.

I heard the car and then turned to see Cassie. She climbed out of the car and ran, screaming Charlotte’s name. No one paid Cassie any attention. We were only interested in each other.

Charlotte was about to make that step, and the sun caught the light and I watched asone of the cartel pulled out a couple of knives. Before I could even make sense of what was happening, those knives were buried deep inside one of their very own.

A single gunshot rang out, and I reacted, charging forward.

Two of their own had started to kill their people, and I saw Ivan had also arrived. I didn’t care. I went for their leader. He’d not been taken out, but he moved too close to Charlotte. I knew what his plan was.

My wife had collapsed to the ground, her ankle unable to support her weight. Her screams rang out for all to hear.

I took out the leader’s knee, watching him fall to the floor. He went to point the gun at the floor, right where Charlotte was, and I took out his hand. He screamed in agony. The sounds were exactly what I wanted to hear.

Firing my gun a third time, I dropped it to the ground and reached behind me for my knives. I stepped forward, and drawing the blade together against the man’s neck, I looked into his eyes as I sliced downward, killing him. He slowly died at my feet.

Lifting my gaze, I watched as I caught sight of the two people who’d started to kill the cartel. Much to my surprise, I stared at The Beast and The Butcher. Man and woman. There was always rumors circulating about who exactly The Butcher was. Some believed them to be ghosts. I had met her a few times. She was deadly, scary as fuck, and seeing her in action, I knew all the rumors about her to be true.

Ivan was there aswas Cassie, who’d gone to Charlotte. Dropping my knives to the floor, I went to mywife.

“I’m fine,” Charlotte said. “I’m totally fine.”

The pain in her face was clear to see.

I forced her to look at me. Staring into her eyes, I didn’t care whowere witnesses. “I love you.”

“You don’t have to say it,” she said.

“You can ask Michael. I had a meal planned. I was going to wine and dine you. Tonight I was going to tell you, Charlotte Yahontov, that I love you. I love you more than anyone else in the world.”

I saw the tears in her eyes. “I love you too.”

I leaned down and kissed her.

“Look, I know you both are having this touching moment, but we need to get her to the hospital,” Cassie said.

****

Ive

Charlotte had a broken ankle, a broken wrist, a couple of cracked ribs. A lot of bruises, but she was going to be fine.

The vet had called me. They’d been able to extract the bullet and Rose was going to be fine as well. They were going to monitor her overnight.

Staring into my wife’s room, I watched her. The doctors had given her some morphine, and she’d not been able to stay awake.

I knewIvan had moved close to me without me having to turn and look around.

“You knew,” I said.

“Stuart planted the information.”

This made me spin around. Thinking back to two years ago when we had tortured Stuart.

“You did it on purpose.”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

“Charlottewas never going to die. The Beast and The Butcher had already agreed to go in. To find out what they planned.”

“When?” I asked.

“Yesterday.”

That was when Ivan knew they were going to take her.

My hands clenched into fists and I felt so fucking angry. “You put my wife in danger. Hubert is dead. Our dog nearly died.”

“And in doing so, we just took out the problem of your cartel. The Irish have gone from here. They’re not your problem anymore, but the cartel have been pesky little bastards for as long aswe could remember. Right now, they’re all retreating, which is what we needed. Charlotte was never in any real danger.”

“Look at her,” I said. “See how she looks. You’re telling me that’s no real danger?””The Butcher and The Beast stopped them from rapingher. They made sure she was still intact. They were going to start tearing her apart. I sped things up. Made the meeting happen. Made them stop.” Ivan looked into the room. “I won’t ever let anything happen to Charlotte again, but I had to draw them out, and she was the only way to do it. When you’ve calmed down, realize what happened, you’ll see it made sense.”

I did see it made sense. The cartel had been a pain in the ass for as long as I’d been a brigadier. I’d lost good men to them.

But my wife…

“Goand be with your wife, Ive. She needs you.”

I wanted to yell at him some more, but instead, I went into the room and waited for my wife to open her eyes.

****

Charlotte

ThreeDays Later

Ive won’t leave my side, and I love that. He told me work canwait. He’s more focused on me getting well. My ankle is in a cast, as is my wrist. I didn’t care. Ive loved me. Just as I loved Ive.

Rose was going to make a full recovery, but Hubert didn’t make it. There was going to be a funeral for him. Ive had already told me his family would be taken care of.”Hot chocolate,” Ive said. “Michael also said that he’ll stop forcing you to have the marshmallows.”

This made me laugh. Rose snuggled against my side and Ive sat on my other side, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

“I love you,” I said.

“Charlotte, you own my heart.” He took my hand and pressed it against his chest. “I love you with all my heart.”

“All I ever wanted was for someone to love me.”

“And I’m the one who will love you forever.”

Tears filled my eyes, because Iknew Ive wasn’t just saying that. I wasn’t a mistake to him. To him, I’d become the love of his life.

Three days ago, I thought Iwas going to die. That life had been so cruel. I should have known Ivan had a plan. He’d come to my hospital room when Ive had stepped out to get some coffee.

Ivan told me he knewthey were going to take me. That he had his man and woman in place. I knew what he’d done. Ive was pissed at him and refused to talk about him. I knew Ivan didn’t have any other way of taking out the cartel, so he used me. I should be pissed off, but I’d seen the look in Ivan’s eyes. He had done what he thought was right, and I couldn’t hate him for that, so I forgave him. I was Volkov. I’d do whatever was necessary to protect the Bratva as well as my husband. Always. My life was theirs.

And my loyalty was to Ivan, but it was also to Ive. I loved him with all my heart and he’d been the reason I hadn’t given up. I would fight for him, for us, always.