Page 46 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

My woman. She was now, even if she looked like she'd rather be somewhere else than in the same room with me. Frustration built up inside me for two different reasons and I forced my gaze away from her.

“You know, I think you should thank me for saving you from your crazy fiancé.”

She looked up from her lap and gave me a blank stare. “Which one?”

Flashing a smile, I rose from my chair, rounded the desk, and leaned on the edge. If she noticed the swift change, she didn’t flinch.

I looked down at her, “You think you’re funny, don’t you?

“It’s not like you’re a saint,” she added, “Logan might be despicable, a horrible person, but you’re not exactly a knight in shining armor.”

My fascination for this woman was to be my undoing. I interlaced my fingers on my thighs and studied her closely as I said. “I never claimed to be one, hermosa. I've never hidden anything from you and I'm not going to now. You see me inside out, the way I am. Unlike the other one. He lied to you, didn’t he?”

She didn’t say any more and her attention returned to her lap.

“You turned yourselves in and I know you’re a smart girl, pretty. You had your reasons, and I want to know what they were.”

Her voice was so quiet that I almost missed it. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. “I learned about his past, about the other women. And about your cousin. I know what he did. He also, um, tried to kill my father. Switched his meds so that his mental health got worse, all because he had a sinister plan to rob me of half my inheritance after we got married.”

“Hmm,” was all I said, and she looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“But you already knew all of this, didn’t you?”

“What part?” I leaned lower, bringing our faces closer. “Divorcing Irina and bringing shame on our family? Or drive her almost mad with depression. She almost ran into a brick wall because of that bastard. She distanced herself from the rest of us and tried suicide as a way out. Fortunately, it didn’t work. But it broke her. She never looked at a man the same way again.”

The edges of her eyes softened, and she shook her head. “About your cousin, I’m really sorry what happened to her. Honestly, I am. Meeting Logan is a curse, and no one should ever go through that. But I was referring to me. You knew, didn’t you? About his sinister plan to get rid of my dad.”

I nodded. “I did. Even without research, his intentions were made clearer that night, after he abandoned you.”

“And you didn’t think it was important to give me a heads up? A, ‘Oh, hey, Addison. That jerk is after your father and your money,’ would have been nice.” Now she was fired up.

“Oh, but I did, numerous times. I told you to your face that he didn’t care about you. Your head was just too far up in the clouds of love to take me seriously.”

She scoffed with eyes open wide. “You were only after one thing, weren’t you? Revenge.”

“Yes. And I intended to stick to the plan.”

Her chair flew backwards as she rose from her seat. I hadn’t seen it coming: the anger and the sudden desire to leave the office. She had already started to leave when I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

I yanked her closer and fixed her between my legs. My finger rested under her chin, and I tilted her head upwards. “What the fuck was that? Where do you think you’re off to?”

“Away.” She sniffled and at that moment I noticed the tear stains on her cheeks. Shit. I thought the beads were sweat. “I want to get away from you. Away from here. I need air to breathe, to think. And I can't get that here.”

I stroked her cheek with my thumb and wiped away her tears. This action was the result of a sudden instinct; I did it before I thought about it. And it shocked her.

Fuck, it shocked me too.

The last time I had seen a woman so utterly distraught and hurt, it had been Irina. And even then, I hadn’t wiped away her tears. And she was my fucking cousin. But this woman ... this exotic woman with the chocolate eyes, the olive skin, and the seductive lips was to be my undoing. When I saw the sadness in her eyes, it was like a punch in the gut. And I hated being hit.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t act like you care when you don’t, okay? I can’t deal with another Logan, not right now.”

Another slap in the face. And I wanted to hurt her for even daring to compare me to that piece of filth. But I thought about the possible consequences and decided that she would hate me even more. For some strange reason, the thought of Addison hating me left me with an uneasy feeling.

Stay calm.

I ran my thumb over the seam of her lips, brought her head closer, and lowered my voice. “I wouldn’t ask if didn’t care. Talk to me, I can see it in your eyes; there’s something you’re not telling me.”

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