Page 28 of The Bratva King's Claimed Bride

He takes in my outfit and licks his lips. There’s something almost primal about him that certainly gets my panties in a bunch. I get my emotions under control.

Igor leads me down to his offices on the floor beneath us, and he motions next to his chair. “You can stand beside me while I deal with this.”

I stand where he gestured, and he sits down behind the heavy oak desk.

We wait in silence, a guard on either side of the room. The door suddenly flies open, and two young men are thrown inside onto the floor in front of the desk.

Matvey enters after them and nods to Igor, who nods back.

The two men look like each other, one looking slightly younger.

“Liam, you know why I’ve brought you before Igor.” Matvey paces around them. His voice is cold and unfeeling.

“You and your little brother have been stealing from us,” he says.

“We haven’t, sir. I swear we haven’t,” Liam says, shaking his head. “We would never…”

“I have it on camera,” Matvey roars, kicking Liam in the ribs. I wince as the man tumbles backward, groaning.

The other man tries to scramble up, but Matvey kicks him in the face. “Stay down, Christopher. I’ll get to you.”

Liam looks up at Matvey angrily. “Don’t kick him.”

“Watch how you talk to me, or I’ll cut your tongue out of your mouth,” Matvey says, pointing at Liam. “Why are you stealing from us? What made you think you could get away with it? We gave you family when you had none.”

“They had none?” I whisper to Igor.

“Orphan brothers,” Igor whispers back.

I look at them, and my heart breaks for them. This is how my adoptive family treated me.

Matvey grabs Liam’s face and leans in close. “Before I fucking kill you, you best apologize to Igor, so you go to your death with a clear conscience.”

“I admit it. I stole,” Liam breathes heavily. “We owe some guys money and just wanted to pay them back. We were going to put the money back. Spare Christopher, he didn’t want to do it.”

“Whether he wanted to or not, that doesn’t matter because you did. You stuck your dirty little hands where they don’t belong, and now you’re going to face the consequences of those actions.” Matvey takes out a gun and points it at Liam’s head.

“Stop!” I shout. “Don’t!”

Everyone looks at me dumbfounded, and Igor grabs my hand. “Stay out of this, Arina,” he says. “This is family business.”

“I’m family now, through marriage. Please, Igor, spare them. They have no family to teach them better.” I squeeze his hand. “Please show them mercy.”

Matvey growls. “There will be no mercy here. You don’t make these decisions. They have betrayed us. An eye for an eye.”

“Makes the whole world blind,” I add as he finishes talking.

Igor squeezes my hand again, warning me, but I look at him. “Please, you can put a stop to this.” I let go of his hand before he could say anything and walked around the desk to stand between Liam and Matvey. “As Igor’s wife, I demand you punish them less harshly.”

The room falls silent, and Matvey and I face off. He walks toward me and raises his hand, but I don’t flinch away.

The sound of furniture toppling fills the room, and Igor catches Matvey’s hand on its way to my face.

“You overstep your boundary, Matvey,” Igor growls. “She is my wife, and you will respect her.”

“She is interfering in family business. Are you just going to allow that?” Matvey hisses. “After everything they have done to us, you’re going to let them go because your wife says so?”

Igor glares at him and then pushes his hand away. “If you ever try to strike her again, you’ll find you’re on the receiving side of my bad mood.”

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