Painted Scars (perfectly Imperfect, #1)

Painted Scars is a standalone novel in the Perfectly Imperfect series by Neva Altaj.

Roman Petrov, the pakhan (head) of the Russian Bratva (organized crime syndicate), survives a car bomb that shatters his knee and leaves him using a wheelchair. While sedated, he overhears conspirators discussing how his disability might lead to his replacement. Three months later, his second-in-command, Maxim, warns that Roman's prolonged absence and unmarried status have fueled dangerous rumors, arguing that a wife and heir would project stability and prevent internal war.

Maxim proposes blackmailing Nina Grey, a twenty-four-year-old artist whose father, Samuel Grey, embezzled three million dollars from the Bratva and lost it in a Ponzi scheme. Maxim shows Roman a video of a teenage Nina demonstrating extraordinary acting abilities, arguing she could convincingly play a devoted wife. Roman reluctantly agrees. Nina is horrified when her father reveals the situation but accepts a temporary six-month marriage to save his life.

At a closed restaurant, Nina is surprised to find Roman is thirty-five and handsome rather than the elderly man she expected. He outlines the terms: The marriage must be legally real, they must live together, and anyone who suspects it is a sham will be killed. Nina's condition is that her father be released from further obligation. She agrees, privately relieved that Roman uses a wheelchair. Proximity to tall men triggers panic attacks rooted in a past assault by a man named Brian. Roman plans a public party where they will stage their first encounter, after which Nina will leave with him.

At the party, their flirtation proves unexpectedly electric. When Roman kisses Nina in front of the crowd, her response is genuine: She drops her wine glass involuntarily. He cleans wine from her foot before onlookers, creating an intimate spectacle, and Nina announces she is leaving with him. At his mansion, they stage further scenes of intimacy for the household staff, but their chemistry is increasingly real.

The next morning, Nina encounters Roman standing on crutches and has a panic attack; his height triggers her trauma response. Roman sits at her request, and over the following days begins lifting her onto the kitchen counter so they meet at eye level. Nina reveals that Brian attempted to assault her, but she smashed a laptop into his head and escaped. She sets firm boundaries: Roman must never hold her wrists, squeeze her neck, or pin her down. Roman vows to kill her attacker, but Nina refuses to give Brian's name, insisting she will not make anyone a murderer.

Roman asks Nina to plant listening devices throughout the house to identify the bombing conspirators, suspecting his uncle Leonid, who oversees finances. Nina creates a persona as Roman's shallow trophy wife, obsessed with shopping and interior design, to enter every room without raising suspicion. Varya, the loyal housekeeper who has known Roman since childhood, advises they marry immediately. A brief civil ceremony follows, with Varya and Maxim as witnesses.

Roman introduces Nina to his inner circle at dinner, including Leonid; Mikhail, a man with an eye patch; and the volatile Sergei, secretly Roman's half-brother. Nina settles into mansion life, borrowing a Chihuahua named Brando from her aunt as a pretext to enter restricted rooms. Roman's physical therapy progresses as his therapist Warren introduces forearm crutches and the cane, though Roman manages only a few painful steps. His greatest fear is that crutches will be permanent.

At a dinner with Albanian business partners, Tanush drunkenly mocks Roman's disability. Roman puts a knife to his throat, but Nina defuses the situation with charm despite having a fever. Nina also plants a listening device in Leonid's room by chasing Brando inside and plugging the device into a concealed socket while a maid is distracted.

At Nina's art exhibition, Roman anonymously purchases every painting. Her centerpiece, a figure in a red wolf-jaw helmet smashing a landscape with a sledgehammer, is a metaphor for what Roman has done to her mind, an indirect confession of love. Nina tells her father she is no longer pretending: She is genuinely in love. Roman reveals to Nina's parents that he bought the paintings and declares the original deal off.

Roman takes Nina to his nightclub, publicly abandoning the wheelchair for the first time. He removes her heels so she can stand on the booth seat and meet him at eye level. She confesses her love, and Roman admits the feeling is mutual. After a night that leaves his knee swollen, Roman asks if Nina will leave him if crutches are the best outcome. Nina compares his anxiety about his disability to her own trauma and points out that he has quietly instructed his tall men to sit whenever she enters a room. They agree to accept each other fully.

The bug recording reveals that Leonid and Tanush conspired to plant the car bomb; Tanush acted out of spite after Roman rejected his daughter. Roman waits in Leonid's room and kills him. Immediately after, Leonid's phone rings and an unknown voice announces he has found Nina, revealing a connected threat. Nina is then targeted in a shooting while shopping. Ivan, one of Roman's men, shields her and eliminates the attacker, though Nina sustains a serious wound from shattered glass. At the hospital, a frantic Roman declares she will never leave the house without him again.

At the club, Roman spots Brian. Nina freezes, and Roman has Brian ejected but secretly orders him detained. After Nina falls asleep, Roman tortures and kills Brian in the basement. Nina wakes to find Roman gone, follows sounds to the basement, and witnesses the aftermath. Horrified, she leaves the mansion by taxi with Brando and a suitcase.

Nina sends divorce papers three times. Roman writes "No" in red ink on the first set, burns the corners off the second, and returns the third as ashes. Nina calls and explains she cannot bear the guilt of Brian's death or the terror of Roman's world. Roman signs the papers and includes a note offering his number if she ever needs him and asking her to call Varya, who misses her. Nina clutches the note as her heart breaks. Over the following months, Nina sinks into depression while Roman provokes a war with the Italians and personally leads raids alongside Sergei, getting shot during one mission.

Varya visits Nina and reveals that Roman has been recklessly endangering himself since signing the papers. She shares the backstory behind his violence: Roman's father beat and eventually killed his mother when Roman was six, and Roman later killed his father after witnessing him choking Varya nearly to death. This history helps Nina understand Roman's compulsion to eliminate threats to those he loves. She discovers he has kept a security detail on her for months, gets in the car with Vova, one of his men, and rides to the mansion. Roman agrees to end the war on one condition: She must marry him again.

Nina agrees, insisting on a proper wedding. Roman slides her rings back on, and they reconcile. He confesses he still needs crutches at times; Nina tells him she already noticed and does not care. In the epilogue, set two months later, the couple works through Nina's remaining trauma. During an intimate scene, Nina successfully has Roman lie above her for the first time, guided by his voice and reassurances until her panic subsides. She reveals she is pregnant, and Roman reacts with overwhelming joy and protectiveness. The novel closes with their mutual affirmation of love and the promise of their growing family.