Page 23 of Forced By the Bratva Beast

“I wish. She might have been the one who showed up in court, but she’s not the one who laid the charges.”

I’m surprised. Makar and I walk down the stairs, and I keep my hand on my gun, just in case. “Oh. So, it’s not that easy?”

“No. She’s only a front, I’m guessing. Whoever did it is behind her.”

“How do you know?” I ask as Makar and I keep an eye out.

“The court documents. A few insiders, but I don’t have the details yet.”

“What you’re telling me is she was put up to this?”

“Exactly. Now you got it, Boss.” Reaching my car, I sigh, chuckling and slapping a hand on Makar’s shoulder.

“And you’re going to find out who it is, right?”

“Yeah. Already on it.”

“Who the fuck would dare mess with us. Especially now?” I ask in confusion.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. You going back home?”

Grinning, I shake my head. “No. You hunt your prey, and I’ll hunt mine.” I snicker, the courtroom victory amping me up enough to track down Sophia.

Chapter Eleven - Sophia

Shamefaced, I sit in front of Dr. Perri, dreading her asking what happened at the prison. How the hell am I going to explain what’s on the tape?

“Thank God my daughter was alright. I’m so sorry I had to leave you in the thick of things like that. I really am.”

“Is she okay now?” I ask with concern, a million and one other things on my mind. She’s going to get rid of me after she finds out why, but I have to tell her the truth. There’s no point in lying to her.

“Yeah, she’s fine. Plus, I let her stay up all night watching all the movies and eating a tub of ice cream. Anyway, enough about that. Let’s talk about the research project and how you handled the interview process.”

“I… um, I couldn’t get through the full interview with Andrei,” I blurt out.

Dr. Perri’s expressions softens. “Did he try to intimidate you? Because remember what the protocols were if they were noncompliant? He shouldn’t have been, he signed the document advising he was happy to divulge information.”

Flabbergasted that I have to spill the beans, I drop my face into my hands for a second. Dr. Perri places a hand on my back. “Shit. This is so bad. Please don’t hate me. I’ve made a huge mistake. It’s so bad,” I groan, sitting back up as the blood rushes from my head.

“No. I bet you haven’t. It’s an interview, and I remember the first one I did too. I was so nervous I almost peed myself.”She laughs, pointing to herself in a self-deprecating manner. “And I’m the one who would be so bold as to interview criminals.”

Cringing, I tilt my head. “No. That’s not the reason I stopped the interview, and it is worse than you think.”

Dr. Perri’s face doesn’t change. “Alright. Let me stop guessing. Why didn’t you keep going with the interview?”

“I had this thing, like an infatuation with Andrei. I was out with my girlfriends at Destiny Bar, and he was there. I had no idea that Andrei was a Mafia boss at the time. I swear.” Terrified of what she’s going to say, I brace myself for the bad news.

“Okay, so it was a little infatuation at the club. Like a crush type of thing. As you saw him in the bar, kissed or something?” she deduces, only picking up the most innocent version of events.

“That’s only part of the story,” I mumble, truly wanting the conversation to end.

Dr. Perri sighs. “Hey, you’re young. We’ve all had some screw-ups with the opposite sex or same sex, whatever you’re into, but I swear it gets better. I swear I’ve got plenty of stories about wanting the bad boy.” She grins, her empathy reassuring, but not enough. “That’s all huh?”

Shaking my head, I shut my eyes, feeling the sting of tears. “No. That’s not it.”

“Okay… what else is there?”

I look skyward trying to stop the tears from falling. Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m going to lose everything. This isn’t the life I planned. Not one without my parents being alive, and not one ofbeing knocked up by a Mafia man in prison. “I… I’m pregnant,” I sob, tears falling onto her desk.

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