Page 67 of Innocent Bratva Hostage

I could hardly move, my mind reeling. He had just burned everything. For me.

But there was no time to process it. The flames grew higher, the room filling with thick smoke. The police would break in any second.

Andrei yanked me toward the back door, his men close behind.

“We can’t outrun them,” I gasped, still looking back as the flames consumed the drugs.

“They’ll be too distracted trying to put out the fire. We need to leave now,” Andrei said, already dialing a number on his phone. “Trust me.”

Within seconds, an explosion rocked the house. The fire had reached something combustible. The walls trembled, and the windows shattered from the pressure. The police outside shouted in confusion.

The distraction was all we needed.

Andrei dragged me into the woods behind the house, his grip firm and unyielding. My heart pounded as we ran, the sound of sirens and shouting growing distant behind us.

We didn’t stop until we reached the hidden SUV waiting on the other side of the forest. Andrei shoved open the door, pushing me inside before climbing in himself.

Dobryn and the others piled in, and before I could catch my breath, we were speeding away from the inferno we had left behind.

I turned to Andrei, my hands trembling. “You…you really burned it.”

He looked at me then, his expression softer than I’d ever seen it. “I told you, Giselle. I won’t let them take you.”

Tears pricked my eyes, but I forced them back. I had no words. Only the overwhelming realization that, no matter the cost, Andrei would always choose me.

Even if it meant losing everything.

Chapter 23 – Andrei

Egor sat back in his leather chair, drumming his fingers against the armrest. His gaze bore into mine sharply.

A day had passed since the showdown with the police at the lake house. Luckily, we’d managed to escape after the fire, and Dobryn had his ear on the ground for any news—anything that could implicate Giselle—but there wasn’t any so far.

But that wasn’t the end of everything.

I’d gotten a text from Egor an hour ago about meeting him in one of the casinos owned by the Bratva in the city. He’d recently picked an interest in this place, and as old as it was, I had to admit it was one of the best we had.

Our frequent visitors were politicians, heads of other criminal organizations, and corrupt cops.

The music blaring from the speakers outside somehow seeped into the office, while the smell of cigarettes wafted in through the gap between the door and the frame.

I sat on the velvet couch across from the mahogany desk where Egor was sitting, gaze pinned on him as I tried to see through the blank expression on his face. More men had died for less, but I had doubts it would get to that, considering we were family and I’d done what needed to be done to protect Giselle.

Without her, we would’ve never found that shipment to begin with, and Egor wasn’t the kind of guy who would ignore that.

He’d somehow heard about the burnt shipment on the news last night and given the blank expression on his face. I couldn’t quite pinpoint how angry he was. There was no way he was happy about this; the shipment had cost millions of dollars.

But I had no regrets. I would happily bear the wrath of his rage if it meant keeping Giselle safe.

His brows rose, a wicked smirk tugging on his lips. “Tyfun-1. Gone.”

I swallowed, taking a deep breath before I replied. “Burnt.”

He scoffed. “You’re gutsy, Andrei.”

“Runs in the family.”

He nodded. “A bad trait with us Yezhovs. I want the full report on why my shipment, worth millions, is now nothing but a pile of ashes.”

---