Page 27 of Untamed Beast
Only if someone else doesn’t pay them more.
Natalia catches my skepticism. “That’s what Mama always says,” she says defensively.
I catch a hint of longing in her voice. The idea that someone would miss their parents is a foreign concept to me, but Natalia is constantly talking about her mother.
It’s not something I want to deal with right now. I don’t want her interacting with the Bryusovs, not when I know that their focus is killing me and remarrying her at the soonest possible opportunity.
I suppose she’s never had to clean a thing before.I’m pretty sure she can’t cook, either. The only thing I’ve seen her eat is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Call me a sexist bastard, but I didn’t think that marriage would wind up with me doing all the housework.
I might be less annoyed if I was getting something out of it. Instead, she’s scheming to leave me, without being subtle about it. I hear her complain about me on the phone to her family, like some whiny child.
It would be stupid not to plan for that when she’s being so obvious about it.
“How is the CCTV around the docks?”
Yuri has years of experience steering the ship in my absence, while I’m still getting up to speed with the status quo.
“Outdated as shit.” He leans back in his chair and narrows his eyes. “Some of the cameras still run on film. It’s a realsecurity issue.”
“Exactly, a security issue,” I nod. “Update it. I want state of the art cameras everywhere, as soon as we can.”
“This wouldn’t have anything to do with the new wife, would it?”
I shoot him a dark look.Yuri has been vocal about his opinion that this plan is batshit crazy and will end with me being sent back to Siberia. He was much more of a fan of his own plan, which involved lying low for five years until Bryusov was weak enough to take. I’m not as patient as he is.
I think he’s still bitter about the money he lost on his bet that I wouldn’t marry Natalia. Even though this deal got the motherfucker control of the whole port. He shouldn’t be complaining.
“Already worried she’s gonna run away?”
“She’s free to come and go as she pleases.”
He scoffs at that. “Right, because Maksim Bryusov’s daughter is going to stay with you voluntarily.”
“We have a deal.”
“Romantic. Heard you made quite an entrance the other day.”
I curse the fact that I didn’t opt for a car with tinted windows. And that Friday evenings are a bustling time for the Bratva’s shipments.Half the men at the port have now seen Natalia and, judging by the smirk on Yuri’s face, they liked what they saw.
“Unfortunately.”I tighten my jaw, which only causes Yuri to smirk harder. He’s a fucking sadist when he wants to be.
“Should I be offended that I haven’t beenintroduced to her?”
“No one has been introduced to her and it’s going to stay that way.”
He looks at me as though that’s unlikely.“That girl has practically been locked in a convent since she was eleven. You think she’s not going to be curious about the real world now that she’s been introduced to it?”
I had expected that, but Natalia seems strangely content to stay in the loft with her cat. Stockholm Syndrome, maybe. Even when you open the door of the cage, some birds just feel like it’s where they belong.
I run my tongue over my teeth. “Maybe she’s not enjoying the real world so much.”
“Your life would be easier if you hadn’t picked the one girl who everyone’s been fantasizing about for years.”
I grit my teeth together. He’s right, Natalia’s legendary status on the dock is inconvenient. Another reason we need that new CCTV system.
“C’mon, how was the wedding night?”
