Chapter 8 - Vivian

My heart was in my throat as I looked at myself in the mirror and decided there was nothing else I could do to prepare myself.

Since Aristarkh didn't exactly give me makeup or anything to style my hair with, I could only make it look more presentable, and I changed into something a bit more formal. I swapped the yoga pants for tan trousers and put on a fitted black off-the-shoulder top.

I didn't know just how dressed up I was supposed to be, but I figured it was good enough.

No part of me wanted to be involved in the dinner, but it seemed no matter what, he was determined to have me there. I didn't know what angle he was playing at, especially since his family had apparently been at the impromptu wedding. Even if I didn't know them, they were still present at the time anyway, and already knew of me.

Every fiber of my being was begging for it to be over.

Regardless, I told myself to calm down. They were just people, even if they were related to someone like him.

Knowing how much of a beast he could be, I couldn't imagine what his family was like, and that thought didn't make me feel any better.

I didn't know much about the Levovs. Dad would mention their names occasionally during dinner, but of course, he never went into detail.

Given the context clues from the night he forced my hand, they had a notorious reputation in the city for being brutal and taking what they wanted, and that thought alone made my hands shake.

I didn't know what to expect, but the mental image I had provided no comfort.

With full reluctance, I was ready and standing around in the bedroom by the time a knock came from the other side, and he popped his head inside.

As much as I hated admitting it, Aristarkh looked incredible. With his hair freshly washed and full of volume, I couldn't get enough of his loose curls, and how well-manicured his undercut made him seem.

He was in a navy button-down that hugged his muscled arms, reminding me of his sheer power and strength. His leather gloves were nowhere to be seen, and instead, he wore a Rolex that caught the light as he rolled up his sleeves.

"You ready?"

The part of me that was still angry with him for what he said earlier, and how he refused to take my feelings into account in any respect so far, wanted me to lash out and refuse. It wanted me to throw myself back into bed and forget all about the dinner.

But I could hear his siblings talking downstairs. They were already waiting, and something about embarrassing myself by being disagreeable made me want to crawl out of my skin.

As much as I hated the idea of being introduced to his family, I realized it was no different from what was required of me back home.

I just had to sit there, be quiet, and bear it until the dinner was over. If they asked me anything, I'd answer them right to the point and leave it at that. I didn't want to give my family credit, but they prepared me for exactly that moment without even realizing it.

Swallowing back my reluctance, I nodded.

Relief moved through his eyes to briefly mask his look of surprise. "Alright. The food's here, and so is everyone else."

"My dad would never believe I was about to be introduced as Aristarkh's wife," I mumbled, reaching for anything that might break the awkward tension between us.

"Ari," he returned lightly.

"What?"

"My family calls me Ari, so you might as well do the same," he said, sounding surprisingly vulnerable from such a minor detail. "It's just easier, I suppose."

It was such an oddly personal disclosure, yet it seemed endearing. In a way, the nickname was disarming and almost humanizing. Ari sounded much gentler than his full name.

"Ari," I said, as if testing out how it sounded.

Something new moved through his gaze, so quickly I nearly missed it. In the time I spent trying to understand what made him soften for a beat, it was already gone, and Ari nodded once before gesturing toward the door.

"After you."

My curiosity faded as the reality set in, and I silently reminded myself to breathe, to keep it together and face his family regardless of how anxious I was.

Together, we left the bedroom and headed down the stairs. As we approached, the chatter from his siblings grew in volume, but the moment we stepped into the large dining room, it was like they all went mute at once.

Looking around the room in one initial sweep, I was startled by how much they resembled Ari. They were like carbon copies of him but with varying hair and eyes. There was certainly no denying those Levov genes.

That silence lingered for another moment before Ari cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Vivian."

In near-perfect unison, his four siblings greeted me at once. Bracing myself through the initial awkwardness, I pressed a smile for them and returned the sentiment.

"It's only fair I tell you their names too, I suppose," Ari murmured, gesturing to the brother nearest us.

He was introduced as Benedikt, followed by Lukyan, then Kir. Lastly, the only sister's name was Lara.

While they all had the same faces and similar noses, Ari and Benedikt were the only ones with black hair, which the latter had slicked back instead of maintained like the former's. Lukyan, Kir, and Lara all had dark brown hair and varying shades of blue eyes.

It was interesting to see how identical they looked at first glance, only to notice their differences upon further inspection.

Once everyone's names were in my head, Ari sat at the head of the table while I sat to his left side across from Benedikt and beside Lara. Various dishes were spread around the table, along with appetizers, wine, and whiskey with a Levov label on the bottles.

There was a tangible discomfort in the air, yet I couldn't tell if it was just me. Although, given the circumstances, I could understand why they might seem somewhat off-put, or at the very least wondering how they were supposed to approach the situation.

I was still learning that myself.

Regardless, they looked mostly happy to have another person joining them.

With Ari's go-ahead, everyone started digging into what looked like a feast in front of us, and soon enough, Lara's voice broke the remaining awkwardness.

"Can I just say how happy I am to have another woman around?" she said, sounding exasperated as she put a gentle hand against my forearm and gave me a look that screamed I was somehow saving her. "They wouldn't think so, but dealing with so much testosterone in one room is exhausting."

"What?" Lukyan questioned sarcastically as the others immediately stirred, laughing at her dismay. "Too much testosterone in this family—what could you possibly mean?"

Lara rolled her eyes and reached for one of the dishes in front of her. "I mean, you only ever go on and on about guns, and heists, and whatever the hell else you get up to during the day. You bore me to death."

The others oohed at Lara's comeback, getting themselves worked up. Based on Ari's amused grin, I could tell it was a recurring thing.

"But you love us all the same," Kir said with a teasing hand on her shoulder.

"Unfortunately," she uttered, lightly shoving him off with a smile. "You Neanderthals."

Everyone chuckled at their banter as we finished filling our plates before we dug in. Initially, my stomach had been in knots, but as I tasted some of the buttered lobster on my plate, I realized just how hungry I was.

"All I'm saying is, thank you, Vivian, for giving me a break from them. I'm glad you're here," she added with a warm smile.

"I know you love yourself to pieces, Lara, but I think you'll have to share the spotlight tonight," Lukyan said with a smug look as he gestured to me. "There's someone here we actually want to hear about."

Lara scoffed at her brother and grabbed a roll off the plate, throwing it at Lukyan, who cracked himself up. "See? You're proving my point!"

"Alright, rein it in. Let's not scare Vivian tonight," Ari interrupted, raising an authoritative brow that pulled them all back in line.

Lukyan held up his hands in defense as Lara scowled at him and straightened herself out.

A small smile settled on my lips then, surprisingly amused by how warm they seemed with one another, even with the teasing.

That kind of thing never happened in my family's house, not even between my brothers, and it was refreshing to witness it for once.

"Anyways," Kir interjected as he cut into his steak. "Vivian, how have you been liking the house?"

Listening to the question, I thought about my previous resolve to be prim and proper, but at the moment, it didn't seem necessary.

Although there certainly were some aspects of being in Ari's house I didn't want to dwell on, and I chose to step around it instead.

"It's nice, and…peaceful, compared to what I'm used to," I managed, regretting how empty of a response it sounded. "I especially like the library."

Recognition filled Lukyan's eyes as he sat back in his seat. "Ah, Ari's prized collection."

Something about those words settled within my skin, and I immediately felt embarrassed for helping myself to those books without knowing it was something he apparently cared about. I assumed they were just books to him, but as Ari nodded in agreement, I knew that wasn't true.

"I'm surprised he let you get near them," Benedikt murmured with a gleam of amusement in his otherwise cold eyes. "He used to threaten to take our hands if we ever touched them."

"That's because growing up, you lot were exactly what Lara said—Neanderthals. I didn't dare let you read them with your grubby hands, let alone look at them," Ari retorted, waving off the accusation. "Vivian, on the other hand, is welcome to them. It's good for them to be read, anyway."

Heat filled my cheeks at Ari's consent, even if I had gotten it after the fact. It moved something in my heart, too, knowing he didn't mind if I occupied myself with his collection.

"Do you read often?" Lara asked, steering the conversation away from her riled-up brothers as they chuckled.

Nodding, I immediately thought back to how many books I had stashed in my room—even the ones I'd read front to back numerous times, either out of boredom or because I needed to hide away from my brothers. It left a bittersweet taste in my mouth, but I pushed through it.

"My dad couldn't keep up with how fast I was going through the ones he bought me."

She smiled at that, making me feel welcome every time she looked at me with her kind eyes. "You should feel right at home with Ari's books, then. I'll have to keep that in mind for future occasions."

The dinner went on with more teasing and laughing as we cleared our plates, and by the end of it, I was surprisingly relaxed compared to how I started.

I hated admitting it, but I felt strangely at ease with them. They all had good senses of humor, and while their jokes could've gotten out of hand, they seemed to consider one another's feelings before crossing any lines.

It was easy to see how close they all were, and how they respected Ari without question. That fact alone made me curious, and I couldn't help but wonder how they got there, or how that respect seemed to come so easily.

Above all, there wasn't any genuine bickering, and nobody was fighting for Ari's attention. Everyone had their place and seemed just as supportive as one another.

It was nice to see a family that didn't operate like the one I was used to. In a way, it made me hopeful.

By the time dinner was done and everyone needed to head home, it was approaching late at night. They said their goodbyes, with Lara taking her time to welcome me to the family again.

Trying to wrap my head around the fact that Ari and I were married and being welcomed into the family was a necessary step was still incredibly difficult, but with her poise and kindness, it felt a little easier to bear.

Once everyone left and Ari and I were the only ones in the house, he made his way to the kitchen to put the open bottles away, and I followed, not knowing what else to do.

Since I hadn't spent much time downstairs, I took the chance to look around and familiarize myself with the place.

"That went well," Ari murmured as he closed the fridge door behind him.

At first, I wanted to agree. But I was riding on that mild high of knowing it was behind me, and how everything didn't implode in the middle of dinner. But with the others gone, I was forced to see the situation for what it really was again.

We may have been legally married, and his family welcomed me easily enough, but nothing about the situation was ideal.

I didn't ask for any of it.

Regardless of how well it went, at the end of the day, I was a kind of prisoner in that house. I didn't have my autonomy, and I couldn't choose to go home—or go anywhere else, for that matter.

Despite my previously good mood, it all crumbled as I looked at him and felt deceived by his relief, as if it were a kind of victory to him.

"Well?" I questioned as that familiar anger swelled inside me. "You think any of this is going well?"

Ari looked startled by my response, like he'd surely expected me to feel the same. "Vivian—"

"You were parading me around as if I consented to any of this. Like you didn't force me to marry you just to humiliate my dad," I snapped, cutting him off.

Overwhelmed by the fact that I was trapped in that house, forced to play the role of his happy little wife despite how much it made my stomach turn, I let go of the reasonable mask I had been wearing for him.

Recognition moved through his eyes then as Ari raised a calming hand toward me, along with at least a sliver of guilt. "That was the idea initially, but it's more than just that."

"How?" I questioned, feeling the last of my patience slipping away. "You forced all of this on me, and despite hauling me here like I was nothing, you want me to act like things are normal for your family? You want me to pretend like I'm not losing my mind being here? You can't really be that delusional."

I watched as he fluctuated between emotions as I spoke, landing on irritation at last. He put his hands against the island counter and leaned closer, narrowing his eyes at me. "Was it such a bad thing that I took you away from that place? I saw those bruises on your wrists that night, but I didn't pry because it's none of my business. I don't imagine marks like that come from a happy home."

Bristling at the reminder, aware that he was right to think so, I turned away from him and averted my eyes. It seemed he was good at striking that nerve in me.

"You have no right to bring that up to excuse what you did," I muttered, feeling the surge of emotion in my face. "Going from one cage to another isn't mercy."

Ari was taken aback by the statement, and he scoffed. "You think this is a cage? You weren't even locked in that bedroom, for Christ's sake! I've left you alone to do whatever you want in this house, but you spent your time moping around and longing for a place you were clearly mistreated in."

"Stop," I mumbled, hating how he used my upbringing as a weapon against me, as a way for him to earn points in some kind of good book.

"You have no idea the kind of fate you'd have if your dad was successful in selling you off like he planned to. You would've been married to someone two to three times your age, to a brutal man who didn't care about what you wanted or needed. You'd be forced to carry his children, no matter how much he demands from you, and you'd be left to rot like any other breeding mare in the world of organized crime," Ari said, voice raising as he went on. "I offered you an escape, whether you want to see it or not! I gave you a warm bed, clothes, food that you hardly wanted, and all the space you could ever need to come around to the idea of being my wife. Is that such an impossible role to have?"

"You say it like you aren't a brutal man," I retorted, meeting his gaze again. "You did this to me. I never asked for any of it! I'm so sorry a nice bed, food, and complete isolation from the outside world couldn't make up for being forced to marry a man I don't even know!"

Ari gritted his teeth, and I had the feeling we weren't done yet.