Page 55 of The Bratva's Prisoner Bride

I could hardly breathe, feeling the weight of it all crushing me at once. "Daria..."

At the correction, she seemed to regain her bearings much faster than I did as she muttered, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Dima's brows furrowed. "Ivan said you had been handled...not brought back here."

As the reality sank in for her, Olivia's features twisted with anger. "...you've been living here this entire time?"

Aching with the burning embarrassment of being caught and not having Ivan there to back me up, I swallowed hard and nodded.

Then, Olivia's gaze flickered down to the test in my hand. Her eyes widened. "Don't tell me..."

My stomach twisted at the turn of events, and I wanted nothing more than to shrink and disappear completely.

Feeling even sicker than I had before, I wasn't prepared for the inevitable onslaught of brutal words Olivia had in store for me.

Chapter 23 - Ivan

Stepping out of the interrogation room, I winced as I pulled my gloves off and flexed my knuckles while they ached.

Despite the subtle bruising there, I shook it off and kept moving through the warehouse with the hostage's words fresh in my mind still.

Forcing myself to otherwise leave that mental state behind, pushing down the man's cries and the way my fist collided with his mangled skin again and again, I pulled my phone out and called Aleks while I headed for my car parked out front.

He picked up on the second ring, asking, "What's going on?"

"I just got done with the hostage we found snooping around the other day," I returned, closing the car door once I was inside.

"And what did you get out of him?"

Taking a breath, I started the engine and eventually pulled out of the laneway leading to the highway. "He was a Kuzmin associate...apparently Rurik has people working on his behalf...and they're making moves behind the scenes as we speak."

I caught the edge in Aleks’ tone, bording on tightly controlled anger. "What kind of moves?"

"From what we've already seen, they're scalping shipments and trying to gain some sort of upper hand. They need weapons and numbers, and it seems he has somehow scraped up more men on his side. I can only imagine they're gearing up to do something bigger...something more coordinated."

His irritation festered. "How can he do anything while held in lock up?"

Sighing, I watched my surroundings, focusing on driving despite how my mind was also fixed on the topic at hand. "I'm assuming he had some sort of protocols in place for his guys to follow if something were to happen to him...maybe he has a trusted inner circle working to hold down the fort in the meantime. That's how it sounded to me, anyway."

Aleks was quiet for a moment while he mauled over my words, and then he sighed. "Whatever it is, we can't let these uncoordinated goons get the better of us. We've been lucky enough to stop them so far, but if they are gearing up for something more, then we need to be prepared."

"We will be," I returned, confident in that fact, while I took a turn and headed for the inner city. "Given how poorly they executed that last attempt to hijack our trade, they walked away with less than they had to start, and I doubt they'll pull themselves together for some bigger hit."

"I hope so...but I wouldn't write them off just yet," Aleks murmured, sounding guarded. "Remember how Kuzmin managed to fool you, Dima, and Olivia with his sister...he might still have tricks up his sleeve yet, regardless of being locked up."

My chest ached at the mention of Daria and how my brothers still didn't know the whole truth of it.

It wasn't like me to keep anything from my family, and that guilt tried to push its way up, but I swallowed it back down again.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I knew Aleks was right. Rurik and Daria did manage to trip us up before, but I wouldn't let it happen again.

"I'll keep my eye on the situation and see if anyone else feels like spilling more information."

Aleks huffed out a breath, then hummed to himself through the phone. "All right...keep me posted. We'll beef up our numbers for deliveries moving forward."

Knowing that was the best option, for the time being, I nodded and found myself approaching my neighborhood. "Will do."

Before I could reach the house, we both said our goodbyes, and then I ended the call and forced out a breath.

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