Digging through the suitcase, my frustrations with Viktor were growing. Everything in this suitcase was expensive and high class, just another way for Viktor to show off his status as Don of the Russo family. 

“I might as well just ask you. What in here would you have me wear for dinner?”

“Are you asking for my help?” 

“Forget it.” I snapped and slammed the suitcase lid closed with both hands. The one with the cast on it throbbed angrily at the action. 

“Be careful Nikita. That wrist of yours is still mending.” Viktor hummed and walked over, opening the suitcase. “I’ll find you something. Why don’t you freshen up?”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by freshening up, but it was a good chance for me to sneak away and call Yuri from the bathroom. Pulling out my phone after closing the door, I turned the taps for the sink on you and dialed Yuri’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

“Nikita, nice to hear from you.”

“Huh. How did you know?”

“Your brother, of course. He sent me the number in case you called.”

“Any more leads?”

“I’m afraid not. When I have something, you two will be the first people I tell.”

“Ugh. This is pointless.” I snapped. 

“It’s pointless to get mad like that, Nikita. I am working my hardest to find out about who ordered the death of Lev’s parents. But it was years ago, and I told you I couldn’t promise anything. I told Lev the same thing. Besides, you have larger issues at hand. Marriage to Viktor Russo, you must be out of your mind.”

“I did it to save his cousin. Nothing more.”

“That guilt of yours will be your undoing, Nikita—I guess it would be Nikita Russo now?”

“I have to keep this short. But yes, that’s correct. We’ll be in touch.”

Yuri was the first one to hang up, and I shoved my phone into my pocket. Worried Viktor might find out what I was doing, I tossed water into my hair and soaked it. The feeling of soaked hair wasn’t pleasant, but it would be enough to explain why the tap was running as long as it had. I rang out my hair and grabbed a towel to dry it. I took a deep breath and returned to the bedroom, determined to keep Viktor from finding out the truth.

“I set you out an outfit,” he said, looking at the towel wrapped around my head. He got back up from the spot on the bed and went to the bathroom. He came back with a fine-tooth comb and a brush. 

“It’s fine. I’m just going to put it up.” I said and used the towel to aggressively dry my hair. Viktor grabbed the towel from me, and I could tell he was irritated with me again. For what this time, I wasn’t sure. 

“Let me dry your hair and brush it properly. You really should look after this better.”

“I’ll just cut it off.” I shrugged. 

“I promise you won’t find anything to cut it. And if you do manage to find something to ruin this beautiful hair, Nikita. I’ll break both of your wrists.” Viktor hissed, the end of his sentence, right beside my ear, and it made me uncomfortable. But again, this wasn’t new. Viktor loved my hair. He pulled the comb through it and took his time detangling it. “I’ll make sure that the house staff pick up some proper hair care for you when they are out shopping.”

“That’s really unnecessary.” I sighed, trying to turn my head. Viktor kept me from turning my head, and I sighed louder. “You and I both know that I don’t care about my hair the way you do, Viktor. I never have. Are you going to forbid me from trimming it? Eventually, I would like to have my undercut trimmed again.”

“I’ll arrange something when we are back at the Russo mansion.” Viktor said flatly and grabbed a claw clip out of the suitcase. He spun my hair and clipped it up. “Get dressed. We are a few minutes late already.”

I didn’t bother apologizing, instead; I got dressed. The form fitting tan jeans and dark brown belt fit better than most of the pants I had picked out for myself. The top was a black dress shirt, and Viktor styled it the way he wanted, leaving the first three buttons undone. 

“Why must you—-” Viktor cut me off and grabbed me by my right upper arm. “Nikita, we are already late for dinner. If you keep standing around here and talking, our dinner will be frigid.” 

He pulled me with him to the balcony and pulled out my seat. He waited until I sat down before he sat down, too. Dinner was served a few minutes later, and the lady apologized to Viktor. “Don’t apologize if the food is cold. Don’t worry about it. Nikita took his sweet time,” he said to her while he sent me a harsh look of the wineglass he brought to his lips. I watched him sip the red wine and looked at the woman pouring it into the glass in front of me. 

“Leave the bottle.” I said politely, and she sat down the bottle and brought us our food. After she set it down in front of each of us, she left. Viktor was eating some Salmon dish with veggies, and there was something Italian in front of me. 

“It’s Chicken Cacciatore, you will like it, Nikita.” 

“I’m sure.” I said, before taking a deep sip of the red wine, and hoping to get drunk and pass out so I didn’t have to spend any more time while sober looking at his face. 

“Nikita, please go easy on the wine.” Viktor said while he ate. To spite him, I topped off my glass with the bottle, and tipped the whole glass back. Setting the empty glass back down on the table, I wasn’t a wine drinker. To me, it was like drinking vinegar. He hid his annoyance with me well, only letting out a sigh before he had someone come over and fetch the bottle of wine. 

“Please bring a pitcher of water. Thank you.”

I started eating. Chewing the food slowly to get every flavour, since it was something I had never tried before. Viktor finished his food before me and watched me eat the rest of my dinner. She brought the pitcher of water came at the same time as they brought dessert out. 

The woman set down my portion of the desert and then Viktor’s. She also poured me a glass of water and set it down alongside the desert. The ice cream had a slight orange tint from something in it. 

“Please enjoy this Chili Vanilla ice cream,” she said, and took off again. Viktor ate his ice cream while I inspected it. This wasn’t a flavour combination that I would have thought worked. But after the first bite, it was pretty good. The heat played well with the cold of the Vanilla ice cream. 

“Do you like it?” Viktor asked. 

“It’s strange, but not bad. I would eat it again.” 

Finishing the ice cream first, it surprised me he was eating it, since I knew Viktor didn’t exactly enjoy spicy things, but maybe he didn’t find this spicy. I felt a little buzzed, so I drank the glass of water and waited for Viktor to finish. 

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. “Leave the dishes, someone will get them,” he said, and walked away. Standing up, I stacked the plates and set all the dirty cutlery on the stacked plates. I moved the glasses towards the plates, and made sure to tuck the chairs in so no one tripped over them while coming to get the dishes. 

Viktor and I were from different words, even though I knew it was hard to witness again. Hell, it wasn’t like Lev or I or even our sister were hurting for money, but we didn’t act like this because we weren’t born from money, or raised around it. Lev’s parents weren’t normal people with normal jobs, but they didn’t make the kind of cash that Lev did. And my parents weren’t anything special. From what I could remember of them, my mother had been a schoolteacher and my father was private security. Whether that was legit or mafia legit, I had no clue. The latter was probably the truth, since someone had killed them. 

Absent-mindedly, I touched my exposed neck and felt the scar. Though it was fading, you could still see it, and it made me self conscious when it was visible. The woman returned, and she looked shocked to see me still standing here. 

“I cleaned up a little.” I said, before leaving. I didn’t hang around, I wasn’t looking for a thank you or anything, I just didn’t see the reason to leave everything around like a slob. Viktor wasn’t anywhere to be seen when I went back to the bedroom. I changed into the most comfortable thing in the entire stupid suitcase. A thin black silk robe. 

Taking the clip out of my hair, I gave my hair a shake with my fingers. It was still damp, in some spots. Moving the suitcase off the bed, I set it on the floor by the wall and went to the bathroom. Viktor wasn’t around, and the giant tub in here was free, so I took advantage of that. 

Running the water, I poured some of the body wash on the shelf into the water, and watched the bubbles forming. Casting the robe onto the counter, I left the door open and got into the tub. I shut the water off when it reached a pretty decent level. The bubbles covered everything up to my nipples. I lounged in the hot water, figuring out quickly how to turn the jets on. Laying back against the indented spot made for comfort, I sighed. I kept my hair out of the water, because Viktor would probably lose his fool head if he saw it re-wet again. 

I heard him come back later, and didn’t bother to get up. It wasn’t my job. 

“You look comfortable.”

“As comfortable as I could be, it was better when you weren’t here.” I muttered, opening my eyes and turning to look at him. 

“You shouldn’t fall asleep in the tub. It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t drown. My luck isn’t that good.” I snorted, flicking my eyes closed again. I heard his shoes on the tiles as he got closer, and I felt his breath on my face, opening my eyes again. He was bent down and he pressed his lips to mine, before he pulled back and stood up, looking down at me.

“Enjoy your bath, my husband. I have a late meeting to attend. Don’t wait for me.”