Page 7 of Forced Bratva Bride

But she was anAjello, and every Ajello I’d known was a snake. She was a beautiful woman, one who had this siren around her calling to be protected and safeguarded, but as they said, never judge a book by its cover, and I knew there was more to her than she let on.

After all, she’d been following me with that dog, Dom.

“Let's try this again,” I said, walking closer until I stood over her. “What did your brother send you to find out?”

She dropped her hands and looked at me wide-eyed with a trembling lower lip. “Please…” she said in a choked voice, shaking her head as though she had no answers.

It might have convinced a lesser man. But I was certain this was a part of her game, that she underestimated just how shrewd I could be.

She played well, I’d given her that.

“Larissa…” I sang her voice in warning, a technique I used on men in the torture chamber, to tell them I was here and I held the cards.

Her aquamarine eyes fluttered and she let out a choked breath, wrangling her hands on her lap in nervousness. “Please, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know anything, and unless if you want me to lie—”

“Drop it,” I said, in a cold voice. She froze and watched as I began to pace in front of her, my eyes always fixed on hers. “Today wasn’t a coincidence, was it? You were following me.”

“I…I wasn’t following you!” she shrieked like a desperate woman tired of speaking her truth. Or at least, that’s what it sounded like. An act, I reminded myself. “I was only out doing some chores. That’s all.”

“Chores?”

“I was buying groceries and picking up some dry-cleaning,” she said in a calmer voice now.

There was a silence, and I watched her shoulders fall in relief, as though that explanation was good enough.

“Really?” I said, in an icy tone. “Where were the groceries? Where were the clothes? When I took you, you were empty-handed.”

Her mouth hung open in shock so genuine that I had to wonder if she had ever taken acting classes. She jumped off the couch and walked over to me with her hands outstretched as though pleading. “I was on my way to the grocery store, I swear. My bodyguard Dom was picking up the dry cleaning while I got a coffee.”

I frowned, remembering the coffee she’d dropped when I’d grabbed her. She made a good argument, I’d give her that, but at the same time, it could have been a concocted story.

She took advantage of my silence and confused thoughts. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not like that. My brothers, they…” her voice quivered. “They never involve me in their business. Dom was only there to protect me while I was out. Whatever it is you think they did, I would know nothing of it.”

Then she looked up at me, a defiant look coming over her face. She stood taller, and through the curtain of innocent on her face, I saw mild rage. “Besides, I know my brothers. They never cross a line, so I don’t know what it is you’re so angry about. Maybe before holding on to this anger, you need to cross-check your facts. I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong person.”

I cocked an eyebrow in her direction, surprised at how despite her precarious situation, her loyalty shone through.

“Larissa,” I said, clicking my tongue as I slowly circled her standing frame. “On one hand, you tell me your brothers don’t involve you in the family business. On the other, you claim they’re incapable of having crossed me. Which is it? You know enough about the business to consider them innocent, or you don’t know, and your trust in your brothers is just an illusion.”

I watched her chest heave as I stood before her again, and her lashes dazzled with wetness, from tears she was trying to hold back. She hurtled out choked words. “They’re my brothers. I know them in my bones. I know they’re good. There’s nothing more I can say,” and then, the silent tears fell down her cheeks.

I watched her face and felt a small clamp in my heart, twisting the truth enough to make me question myself. Then I remembered my conversation with the twins. My spies had told me that the Ajellos were holding secret dinners without us and involving the smaller families to return to ‘traditions’. They were essentially stating that we had betrayed our Italian heritage by colluding with the Russians.

All the evidence I had pointed to the Ajellos. It pointed toher.The way I saw it, the Ajellos were the loudest to speak against us. We were attacked, and I had a car following me from the warehouse after the attack. Somehow, an Ajello and their most trusted man were at the same place where I held a meeting with my spies.

There were too many moving pieces at the right place, at the right time, for it all to have been a coincidence. No matter how truly petrified and innocent Larissa looked, I couldn’t completely buy her act.

I had to remind myself to remember that families like ours were trained to maintain innocence when caught by an enemy. Chances were, Larissa knew just how to throw wool over my eyes, and she’d chosen to train in the whole innocent act.

I had to remind myself to not get caught up in her trap.

“Gastone wouldn't send his precious sister into the wolf's den without a purpose.” I stepped toward her, towering over her. The movement made her flinch. Good. I wanted her to be afraid. “Did he think I wouldn't notice? Has he kept you from the world to spy when needed? Who else are you spying on? Are you following the Vadims? The Ustinovs?”

She averted her gaze and whispered into nothingness, her gaze fixed on a spot in the floor. “I don’t know who they are,” she insisted in a flat tone, as though she was slowly giving up on explaining even. “And I wasn't sent by anyone. I told you, I was there for chores.”

My laugh was dry, humorless. “A coincidence, then?

She furrowed her brows and looked up at me like a desperate, feral cat. When she spoke, her voice came out in nearly a scream, filled with frustration. “I don’t know what you want me to say! Yes, it was a coincidence. But you don’t want to believe that, do you? So go ahead, do what you want and get this over with.”

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