Chapter Four
1231 Words
~Valentina~
"I always knew something was not right about that Adam guy", Mia blurted out as she rubbed my back in consolation.
I shrugged off her hand and glared at her. She shot me a grin and started looking through my purse.
"This isn't the time for "I told you so's". I don't think I can go dress shopping today. I am emotionally drained and can't feign any form of excitement", I said, as I snatched the chocolate bar she found in my purse from her.
"Don't worry about excitement, Val. I have enough for the both of us", she said.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"We'll have to go tomorrow", I suggested.
"You'll be signing the wedding contract with your husband tomorrow by 4pm. We might not be back by then", she reminded me.
"We have to make it work somehow. Let's leave as early as possible. Okay?", I said.
"That's fine by me", she shrugged, and pulled out another chocolate bar from my bag. This time she moved away from me before I could get it back.
"I can't believe you'll soon be Mrs. Bratva", she squealed which made me to roll my eyes again.
"He has a last name you know", I told her, as I crawled into my bed.
"Which is...", she asked taunting me.
"We both know what his last name is, Mia. Don't make me kick you out of my room.", I said, as I glared at her.
" Alright, alright", she said, as she crawled into my bed with me.
She pulled me into her arms and I sighed.
"Don't get used to this", I grumbled, "One wrong move and you're out of my bed".
She giggled and a small smile touched my lips.
"Good night, Val", she said.
"Good night, Mia", I answered.
♣♣♣
"Mia, we can't continue any more", I groaned, " My legs are aching badly".
We have been here the whole day and I can't wait to leave. At least we bought the mall for today, so it was just me and Mia with the shop owners.
Mia looked away from the current wedding dress she was fawning over.
" We can't leave without a dress, Val. It's not my fault that you've rejected every dress I pulled out".
I let out a sigh.
None of these dresses felt right.
It's either it was too tight for comfort.
Or too boring.
Or not sophisticated enough...
Maybe I was just the problem.
"At this point I wouldn't mind buying a white towel and calling it a day", I grumbled, as I shook my head at another dress Mia pulled out for me.
" That would make me look like I'm trying too hard", I complained, which made her to throw the dress at me in frustration.
"It's your f*****g wedding, Val! Of course you're supposed to look like you tried hard", she yelled at me.
I ignored her and continued searching. Mia kept on pulling out multiple dresses and so did the bridal consultants.
I was about to give up when a dress Mia held caught my eye.
"Can I have that?", I told Mia and stretched out my hand.
She placed it in my hand and I just knew this had to be it.
"I'm going to try this on", I told her, then made my way towards the changing room.
Once I had the dress on, I looked into the mirror and my eyes watered.
This was... perfection.
It was a trumpet-silhouette wedding dress, long sleeved with a high neck illusion. The bodice had a sheer corset style that snatched my waist and lifted my chest, which showed an ample amount of cleavage through the front chest cutout. I loved the fabric as it was a nice illusion mesh topped with floral lace appliqués that scattered down the tulle skirt.
I stepped out of the changing room and Mia's mouth literally dropped to the floor.
"You looked so beautiful, Val", she gushed and rushed over to me. She took my hands in hers and swirled me in circles.
"Calm down, Mia", I laughed, "You're gonna make me ruin my dress".
She put me out of my misery and stopped.
"Let's have the dress wrapped up" , she said to the bridal consultants but her eyes were fixed on me for confirmation.
I nodded my head and she pulled me into a hug with a huge smile that I mirrored.
Once my dress was wrapped up, we paid for it.
We were about to leave when I noticed strange movements outside the glass windows of the dress shop.
"Everybody down!", I yelled just as the glass windows shattered to pieces and bullets rained down on us.
Mia and I crawled over the shards of glass until we reached an area in the store that wasn't in line with the bullets.
We sat up and pulled our legs to our chests. I winced at the pain that shot up from my knees.
Women were screaming.
Men were yelling orders.
Chaos was everywhere.
I checked inside my purse for my gun and pulled it out in case the need for it came.
"Do you have your gun?", I asked Mia.
"Nope. But I have my daggers", she said, a huge grin on her face.
I chuckled under my breath, despite the chaos. Mia could never go anywhere without her daggers.
I pulled out my phone to call Luca. He picked on the third ring.
"How may I help you, princess", Luca answered. He sounded annoyed.
"Hello to you too, brother", I snapped, "We need your help—"
"Am I hearing gunshots", he interrupts me.
"No s**t Sherlock. That's obviously why I'm calling. We're at the wedding dress store—Lace and promises. Could you come get us?", I snapped.
I heard shuffling from his end before he spoke again.
"I'm on my way now but I'll be sending someone over, in case I'm not there on time", he said.
"Who should I be expecting?", I asked my hands still on the gun.
"Nikolai Vetrovski", he answers.
Aka. the Pakhan.
Aka. my husband.
"s**t", I cursed, as I ended the call.
"What's up", Mia asked.
The gunshots had not stopped yet, so her eyes moved around the place.
"Luca is on his way but so is Nikolai", I told her.
"Nikolai Vetrovski? Your husband?", she asked, a small smirk on her lips.
I gave her my middle finger.
Suddenly the gunshots increased and I could only guess that our men—or Nikolai's—were here.
Gradually, the sounds of gunshot reduced until there wasn't any at all.
We heard the bell of the store ring and we stiffened. Someone just came in.
" Valentina", a male voice called my name and I relaxed a bit.
I took Mia's hand and pulled her up with me.
When we stood, my eyes caught familiar blue ones that belonged to the head of the Bratva.
I glared at him.
This was not our first time meeting. And unfortunately it can't be our last.
When Luca told me I would be getting married, Mia and I had to do a little research on this guy. Imagine how surprised I was to find out that the man I bumped into at the cafe last week was Nikolai Vetrovski himself.
A coincidence? Maybe or maybe not.
- Writer
