Page 24 of Arranged Marriage By the Bratva

“She said she wasn’t feeling well. Maybe something is wrong.” Yegor shrugs, and even with their rocky start, he seems to be concerned.

“Hmm, I’ll have to talk to her,” I reply evenly, his information marrying up to how sullen she’s been since I’ve gotten back. Bogdan enters, waving his phone, but I ignore him at first. Bogdan can be irritating at the best sometimes.

“I told you, Boss, that the Italians can’t be trusted!” he rages, Yegor regarding him with the same level of disinterest as I do.

“Bogdan, what are you going on about now?”

“I heard things…. Things about Elena having an affair. Forgive me, Boss, but I think Elena is involved in some sort of entanglement. I had somebody tail her.”

Irate, I glare at him, bored with his constant disruption and stupidity. “Bogdan, what are talking about? You better not be lying,” I bark as Yegor chuckles.

“I’m not. Here. Look!” Forcefully, Bogdan directs my gaze to his phone. Grabbing the phone from him, I pore over the photos, livid with what I see in them. Elena’s angled in the first photo in such a way that it appears as if she’s kissing Matteo on the mouth.

The next photo is the back of both of them walking into the hotel together, Elena’s arm clutching on to Matteo’s for dear life. Another of her smiling goofily at him, and the fucker smirking back at her. How dare she defy me in such a way? Did she not know what I could do to her?

Oh, L’vitsa, you are in so much danger, and you don’t even know it. Still, the instant urge to flee and make her pay runs through me. I want to make sure she pays for betraying me. I even bargained with her, vowing not to sleep with Elena.

See. This is why you should feel nothing for her. Nothing. She will ruin everything if you let her.

Seething, but not wanting to lose too much control in front of Yegor and Bogdan, I continue scouring through the photos, each one of them, more disturbing than the last.

“Fuck me, she’s having an affair with that son of a bitch, Matteo.”

Bogdan shrugs triumphantly. “See, Nikk, I didn’t want to have to think this way, but look my doubts have become true.”

“When were these pictures taken?” I ask.

“They were taken on the same day the bastard left New York. We can’t attack him in Italy,” Bogdan replies succinctly.

Standing up, I pace a hole in my office floor, royally pissed off about the situation, but not sold by Bogdan’s timing.

“What made you suspect in the first place?” I grill him, wanting the truth, and it’s a tall order because the truth is not something Bogdan specializes in.

“I… ah, don’t know. It was a crazed hunch, something like that. What does it matter how? Look now!” Bogdan insistently points to his phone.

“Hmm, it doesn’t makes sense, Nikk. She’s made the charity more money than ever. She’s smarter than this.” I look at Yegor’s ashen face, but there’s a gut instinct I’ve always possessed, and it’s the reason I’m the head of the Bratva, not Yegor or Bogdan.

“I’m asking because, Bogdan you’re a troublemaker,” I yell, disbelieving the words flying out of my mouth. I’m defending a woman—no, an enemy who I wanted to conquer.

“I might be a troublemaker to you, but I would never betray the family in such a way,” he retorts with a defensive snort, looking pleased with himself for discovering the information.

Elena. Oh Elena. You’ve created a mess for yourself, haven’t you? I’m burning up inside, but it’s best I calm down so I can think clearly about the next moves, but the explosive volcano inside won’t let the landslide of hot lava stop.

Yegor nods with a mumble. “I wondered why Elena asked me a strange question when she was last here.” He taps the desk as if trying to rack his brain to recall.

Bogdan’s face shifts, the energy changing in the room. I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but it reeks of fear. I should know because I feed off the fear of other men. I’m a master of it, but now he wears its cloak.

“What strange question did she ask you?” I ask Yegor.

“She asked what the cost of betrayal in the family was, and I told her,” he replies simply, but it doesn’t appear as if he’s siding with Bogdan, who is clearing his throat to speak.

“See! There’s nothing else you need to find out, Nikk. She’s a threat to the Bratva. You must kill her.”

“We do have a peace treaty,” I say, playing devil’s advocate, but there’s so much evidence, it’s inevitable she cheated. I have to end her.

“Fuck a peace treaty! She’s having an affair, and it’s going to implicate things. If she’s in bed with Matteo, she’s pillow talking, and that puts the entire Bratva at risk. Both of them are likely plotting together, working to take the Bratva down. You have to get rid of her, before she gets rid of all of us. I can do the cleanup,” Bogdan grunts, and if nothing else—he’s good at that task.

“No. You won’t handle anything, but I will,” I tell him. “But don’t worry, there’s going to be a cleanup, Bogdan, and you will have plenty to do.” Smirking, I nod in Yegor’s direction.

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