Page 27 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

After a slight bit of resistance, she stood and followed me to the security office where I had the files I’d been collecting printed out. “This is just what I was able to dig up. There’s more, but it’s all hearsay.”

She read over the list of shady deals that I had pinned to Luca or the production company he ran. She scowled, looking over the sheaf of papers. “Yeah, this is pretty shitty, especially running a bunch of nuns out of their home just because the convent happened to be on prime beach property. And—”

I stopped her before she could tell me the things I already knew. “This is just what I could pin on him, remember,” I said. “And I can’t say I’ve never done some things I’m not proud of,but believe me, even the Bratva doesn’t mess with nuns. Do you remember an actor named Brodick Rodie?”

She squinted up her eyes and shrugged. “Yeah, wasn’t he a big deal about ten years ago, then just kind of disappeared?”

“He was up for the same role as Luca at the time. That big comic book franchise.” I made a sour face; not really into that sort of thing.

“Brodick Rodie was supposed to be Captain Thunder?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, and early gossip was that he had it locked. But then his wife died.”

“Oh my gosh, I remember now. She was killed under suspicious circumstances, but it was never solved.”

I nodded. “At the time, there was a small flurry of activity with an Italian organization that just kind of went away. It was a big deal to us because we were just gaining real power in the area. I have no hard proof, but I think it was a hit.”

Her brows furrowed. “Brodick was so heartbroken he ended up in rehab and then just fell off the face of the earth.”

“He actually lives in Montana now and is doing just fine, but yes, for all intents and purposes, he disappeared, which is just what Luca wanted and needed. He was second in line for Captain whatever the fuck, and that franchise catapulted him to world stardom.”

I reeled off a few more things I suspected Luca of doing, all on his own with no help from any outsiders. More suspicious deaths, all accidents. People he worked with had mental breakdowns and left the industry. People were just plain disappearing, but they weren’t important enough to ever make the news. Luca was crafty and had a lot of pull, so I had no proof,just whispers on the crime grapevine and my own hunches based on what I knew he was capable of.

“You can bet if something bad happens to someone and it somehow works out well for Luca, that he’s behind it.” I gave her a hard look. “And there’s what he did to you. What he would have done if you hadn’t been able to send me those messages.”

She sank to the nearest chair, and the papers fell out of her hands, which I saw were shaking. I refrained from pulling her into my arms because I needed her to really understand what the danger was. When she looked up at me to meet my eyes, I knew she was starting to get it.

“I wasn’t the first,” she murmured. “I couldn’t have been. Oh my God, how many…”

“There’s a difference between crime and being a sick fuck,” I said bitterly. “Do you understand now what kind of man keeps driving past this property? Biding his time and waiting to pounce. That’s the man who wants you for his own. The one I’m trying to keep you safe from.”

I watched as she hardened her quivering lower lip and clenched her fists. She stood, striding past me toward the office door. “This has nothing to do with you,” she said. “I’ll handle it on my own, like I’ve always done. The way I see fit. I don’t want or need you.”

Not my help, not my interference. She didn’t want or needme. That stung more than I cared to admit. Hell, it felt worse than a bullet tearing through my flesh. How had she gotten so deep under my skin in such a short time?

I stepped in front of her to block her way and grabbed her shoulders, my fingers biting enough to make her wince. Instead of shaking sense into her, I loosened my grip at the same time as I yanked her closer, kissing her roughly.

Her hands shoved against my chest as she kept her lips closed tight against my questing tongue. I backed her into the desk, her thighs hitting the sleek mahogany and knocking the small printer to the floor. She gave me a hard punch with both her clenched fists, twisting her head away from me.

“Brooke,” I gasped raggedly, snaking one hand behind her to pull her lush curves against me. The other hand tangled in her hair and tugged until her eyes met mine. “Brooke,” I said again.

Her lips parted, and her eyes closed as she stopped pummeling my chest to curl her fingers into my shirt. Her mouth met mine with an eagerness that had me swelling against her belly. She groaned, digging her fingers into the flesh under my shirt, scrambling to tug the fabric away.

I needed to feel her hot skin just as desperately and shoved her top up to splay my hand against her back. She let her body go weak in my grip, sliding her plump little ass onto the desk and wrapping her legs around my hips. Wanting to taste her skin, I dragged my lips from her mouth to kiss my way down her throat. A soft moan escaped her, followed by a short, sharp gasp.

Those hands that had been tearing at my shirt gripped my shoulders and shoved me hard. Her legs snapped shut, and she scrambled off the desk, glaring at me with so much fire that my cock nearly tore through my pants. Her whole body trembled as she shoved me again, but this time I remained immobile, close enough to feel the heat radiating off her.

“No,” she snapped, as if to herself more than me. “I won’t fall for it again.”

I laughed, every muscle yearning to pull her close to me again and make her a liar. I kept my hands at my sides. Anyonelooking at me would have thought I didn’t give a shit either way. Who would have thought I had acting skills? Inside, I was on fire, red hot for the woman who looked like she was about to crumble under the weight of our combined lust.

“I won’t,” she repeated, glancing over my shoulder at the door.

I stepped aside. “I think you will,” I said. “And I won’t even have to touch you again.”

I refused to let her look away when her eyes returned to mine, flashing with the electricity that crackled between us.

“Good,” she said, voice hardly wavering. “Then let me go, and let me deal with this on my own.”

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