“Sometimes, I wonder how Anton and I are gonna make anything work,” I admit. “Especially given what happened between him and Marina.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
I shrug, trying to act carelessly detached from the situation. “She was born into the Bratva. She knew what to expect and so did he. And still, the marriage blew up in their faces.”
“Because they were all wrong for each other,” Yulian says. “Maybe what Anton needed was not a mirror of himself, but someone completely different.”
“A mirror of himself?”
He smiles, though it’s thin and tight. “I know you may not want to hear it, but Marina was a lot like Anton in many ways.”
“How?”
“She was confident and opinionated. She was all alpha, all the time. She was highly intelligent, very perceptive. She knew when to be charming and when to be ruthless. She could wrap people around her little finger without them being any the wiser. She would have made the perfect wife—if only Anton had known how to handle her.”
“I know this is a controversial question but… did you like her?” I ask.
Yulian raises his eyebrows. “Are you asking if I had the hots for my brother’s wife?”
I shrug. “Might as well while we’re being honest.”
He nods. “Truth?”
“Please.”
“She was nice to me,” he admits. “Sometimes. But I barely had contact with her. We shared a dance on their wedding day. It was the deepest conversation we ever had. Probably the longest, too.”
“What did you talk about?”
“I wished her happiness with her new marriage and she looked… hopeful. Gotta give it to her, she made a beautiful bride.”
Of course I can see that, too. She is a beautiful woman. But it’s still hard for me to reconcile the friend I thought I had with the murderous wife of the man I was in love with.
“She was always easiest when she had things her way,” Yulian continues. “And she certainly got the wedding she wanted. It was the grandest thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”
“It was a big ceremony?”
“A thousand guests,” Yulian says. “She had Rodion book out the entire hotel for the week of their wedding.”
“Wow.”
“She liked to make a statement.”
“I can see that,” I say. “What did she look like?”
Yulian pulls out his phone and starts scrolling up. “I might still have a picture or two on my phone. I don’t usually delete shit.”
It takes him a minute before he finally locates the photo. “Here,” he says, holding it out so I can see.
Immediately, I have the urge to suck in my breath. Not only does Anton look more handsome than I’ve ever seen him—but Marina looks like she was made for him.
She’s wearing a lace dress that hugs her perfect body to perfection. Bits of her tan skin show through the thin fabric. The skirt of her dress is embellished with crystals and silk. It hugs her hips before flowing out to give the shape some drama and body. Her golden hair is piled into a chic but messy updo with a tiara resting on top.
She looks like modern-day royalty.
As if that weren’t enough, Anton and Marina are standing in front of a spectacular backdrop made exclusively of roses. It’s easily a million dollars’ worth of floral arrangements alone. God only knows what their clothes cost.
“Whoa,” I breathe.