Page 16 of The Bratva’s Innocent Sold Bride (Fokin Bratva #9)

I was in shock, but in a good way, if that was possible. My mind was reeling, and my feelings were in turmoil. I was furious, but for once, not at Mat. Learning about where we were going and why broke my heart. I could have lived the rest of my life not knowing things like that happened.

When we got to the dilapidated house where the dogs were being hidden before the fights, there was a moment when I wanted to stay in the car, pretend it wasn’t happening.

What horrors would I see in there? It was when Mat solicitously told me I didn’t have to go inside that I stiffened my spine and followed him.

Not out of stubbornness alone, but because I had something to prove.

I had to see what went on in his life.

I was not prepared for the stink and the filth and the chaos of all those dogs running around, recently freed from where they’d been stuffed in crates in a bedroom.

Masha and her men worked as efficiently as machines, calmly rounding them up and getting them into vans.

If there had been any people there when they arrived, there was no sign of them when Mat and I turned up, and it was too dark and disgusting in there to make out any signs of a fight.

A dozen murders could have taken place in that house, and it all would have blended in.

One half-grown retriever mix instantly sought me out, wrapping his shaggy body around my legs.

The poor thing was trembling and looked like he could use a meal.

There might have been a minute or two when I thought I hated Mat, thought I wanted to see him suffer, but those times were dwarfed by the hatred I felt for whoever had masterminded this dogfighting ring.

The most overwhelming feeling of all, I couldn’t put a name to.

I looked at Mat, speaking in low tones to Masha before pitching in to help catch the dogs, and saw him as a completely different person.

How could he be the same man who threatened my father on a daily basis, stole me, and forced me to marry him, and then be so tender to these lost and forlorn animals?

I couldn’t help as much as I wanted with the puppy clinging to me and tripping me up, and when it came time to hand him over, my chest felt like it would burst. In less than half an hour, I had become completely besotted by him, and the way he buried his head against me when I knelt down to hug him goodbye told me he’d grown attached to me, too.

Maybe I could find out what shelter he was going to and start working on Mat. I would promise him anything if he let me adopt this dog, even go back to my stupid chore schedule in the ridiculous maid costume. I’d even…

Then, just like that, he said the dog was coming home with us. No begging, no bargaining. I had a dog. And his name was going to be Thor.

“His name is most definitely not Thor,” Mat said when I told him.

I laughed pretty much the whole way home.

It had only been three weeks since my new life began, but it seemed like I had forgotten how to do it, as well as how to be happy.

Thor brought something into this life that gave me a reason to wake up in the morning.

And he showed me a completely different side to Mat.

Was he, way deep down, actually kind of sweet?

At the mansion, he refused to let Thor into the house, hoisted the skinny dog into his arms, and headed around back. I followed, as anxious as a new mom. Dumping him into the tub in the pool house, he pointed to the bottle of shampoo and then at Thor.

“If I see a single flea…”

“Thor doesn’t have fleas,” I said indignantly.

Thor did, in fact, have fleas, but after one of the guards gave up a sturdy, narrow-bristled comb to run through his belly fur, and I had scrubbed him down twice with the high-end salon shampoo, it seemed like I had conquered the problem.

Still, Mat refused to let him into the house until I could get him to the vet in the morning for medicine.

“It’s perfectly comfortable out here,” he said.

The pool house hadn’t been furnished except for the kitchen and bathroom essentials, but Mat laid out a pile of towels, stating it was better than where he’d been, and better than the shelter, too.

“That’s not the point,” I said. “He’ll be alone.”

Mat took me by the arm and led me out, warning me not to get all mushy or that would just work the dog up more.

But Thor was whining and wrapping himself around my legs before we even made it to the door.

Once we were outside, he started to howl, and it was such a plaintive sound that tears welled up in my eyes.

“It’s one night,” Mat ground out. “And don’t even think about saying you’ll sleep in there with him.”

That was just what I was about to say. He continued to grumble under his breath about not having his wife sleeping with some dog when I wouldn’t share a bed with him, and I stopped dead halfway to the main house.

“Are you jealous of Thor?” I said, almost scared to tease him, he looked so gruff. But I wasn’t actually teasing. It seemed like he might just be jealous of Thor.

“Damn right I am,” he growled.

Inside the house, he flipped the coffee maker on, and the soft burble couldn’t hide the pitiful sounds coming from the back.

“He’ll stop in a minute,” Mat said as I paced and peered out the window.

Thor did not stop in a minute, or ten, or twenty. That was how long it took before Mat stormed out of the kitchen, snapping at me to stay put. I wrung my hands with worry, but surely the big softie I had seen at that house of horrors wouldn’t hurt my dog, would he?

No. Thor gamboled into the house, nearly tripping Mat in his excitement to see me again. I caught him as he leapt at me and buried my face in his newly fresh fur.

“I knew it,” I said, looking triumphantly at Mat. “I knew it was bothering you, too.”

“Of course, it was bothering me. I’d never get to sleep with all that racket, and it’s unfair to the staff to have to put up with it, too.”

“Okay,” I said, letting him have his excuse.

“He’ll be confined to one room until he gets his flea treatment. He probably has worms, too. Come with me, Artem.”

To my surprise, Thor actually followed him. “Thor!” I said, but he didn’t turn around.

Mat gave me a smug look. “We had a little chat in the pool house. He agrees his name is Artem.”

“Did you threaten him?” I accused, making him crack up.

“I don’t think I’m quite that good. But Artem is a better name, so that’s his name.”

I looked it up on my phone with a scowl until I learned that it was derived from the goddess of the hunt. “Are you going to be a mighty hunter, Artem?” I asked.

We decided to put him in one of the unfurnished downstairs bedrooms, and I ran to find him some proper blankets as well as bring in a bowl of water and some finely chopped up chicken from the dinner leftovers.

Mat had found a tennis ball and also had the good idea to tie knots in a dish towel and swung it around in front of Artem until they were playing a rowdy game of tug of war.

“Were those people your enemies?” I asked. The cute scene was making me warm inside. I had to understand what made a ruthless mafia king rescue a bunch of scraggly dogs.

He shrugged. “They were of no consequence to me as far as I know.”

“So why did you interfere?”

“Are you so shocked that I might be capable of a good deed?” he asked with a dark look, pausing in his game with the dog. “If it’s bothering you, rest assured, it was Masha’s plan, not mine.”

“But you went along with it. You’re…”

“What? Nice? An animal lover? You know my restaurant is a legit business, along with many of my businesses in Moscow.”

“Why keep doing…” I couldn’t seem to finish a sentence.

“Crime?” he asked, and I nodded.

Artem yipped, wanting to play some more, and instead of continuing the tug of war, Mat lightly tossed the tennis ball so that it bounced off the opposite wall, sending the hyper puppy leaping after it.

“Why not just run the legitimate businesses and do more of what you did tonight?”

Mat sighed. “It’s in my blood. This has been my family’s way for generations, and it’s all tied together. I’m no vigilante, and this caper tonight cost me a lot of money—”

“How?” I demanded.

He raised an eyebrow. “Masha’s worse than you. If I hadn’t promised a hefty donation and some of my men to make sure this fighting ring is completely squashed, the other wing would be full of those dogs.”

“Liar,” I said easily. “You don’t care about the money, and Masha’s too busy to turn this place into a dog sanctuary.”

He tossed the tennis ball again, and when Artem caught it this time, he settled down to gnaw on it. Mat was sitting cross-legged next to me and leaned closer. “Maybe I did it to see you smile.”

I couldn’t help doing just that, and not only because of Artem. “I never had a dog before,” I said.

“What?” Mat yelped. “Sacrilege. A cat, then? A bird? One of those fluffy rats?”

“No, nothing. Before my parents got divorced, I traveled with my mom a lot, and my dad didn’t think it was fair to leave the care to the staff, so I never had a pet at all.”

He told me about his parents’ place in Russia, outside the city, where they had retired full-time.

They had horses, dogs, cats, and even chickens, and that was where Mat had spent many of his summers before he started working in the family business.

When I asked what his mother did, he looked at me blankly and said she was his mother.

“No job?” I asked.

“Do you think she did nothing with three sons and a busy husband?”

“I don’t mean that,” I said, feeling like I’d stuck my foot in my mouth. I believed stay-at-home moms had hard jobs, but I only meant to ask if she had a career.

“She was Bratva, she did what needed to be done,” was all he said in answer to that.

Did he take me along with him tonight because he considered me part of the Bratva now, and he wanted to see if I could do what needed to be done? He was starting to look stormy, but I couldn’t help but ask. He huffed out a breath before he answered.

“No. I only took you out tonight because you were asking so many questions at dinner, and it just so happened that there was no danger. You won’t be involved in what I do.”

I looked over at the dog, who was drifting off to sleep, curled up on the blanket mound with his ball under his paw and the knotted dishtowel beside him.

For some odd reason I couldn’t figure out, Mat’s answer stung my feelings.

Did he not consider me capable of helping him?

Not even worthy of being trained? Or did he not trust me with something that mattered?

Why the hell did any of it matter to me? I sighed. Just when he was getting friendly and warm and leaning in close, everything went to hell. I could still turn it back to the way it was, get off this track, but my intractable nature overruled my desire for peace.

“So, I just do nothing?” I asked. “No job, no helping you?”

Mat stood up with a long, low rumble, as if he was rejecting multiple answers before speaking. Looking down at me, he shook his head. “There is plenty for you to do. You have this dog now, and you have the house.”

He left, quietly shutting the door so he wouldn’t alarm Artem. That was the end of the conversation, because Mat was gone, stomping down the hall. I scooted over and curled up next to my dog, who tossed his paw across my neck.

Nothing had really changed. Everything was the same, but at least I was no longer alone.