Page 44 of The Bratva's Arranged Bride

“Well? Anything?” Yuri questioned, glancing around the space before looking back at our older brother.

Daniil sighed, looking visibly agitated about it all. “Nobody knows who these men are or where they came from…as far as we can tell, they’re faceless scab workers. They could work for anyone.”

“And did they get away with anything?” I asked, well aware that part was the most crucial of all.

He shook his head and ran a hand over his stubble. “Fortunately, no. They were as competent as you’d expect scab workers to be…but still aggressive, apparently.”

“And because we don’t know who they work for, we have no idea if this was a random hit or not,” Yuri concluded while giving a disinterested look at the bodies.

“That’s right.”

As much as it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, the thought still irritated me.

We took pride in what we did, regardless of the legalities, and having anyone attempt to take what was ours was infuriating.

More than that, not knowing who they were just felt wrong. It was hard to believe anyone would be able to gain that kind of insight into our trades on a whim.

“I know that look on your face,” Daniil said to me directly. “You think this is more than a coincidence.”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, so do I,” he affirmed, crossing his arms. “But until something else happens, we can only assume it was random. And if that opportunity comes, hopefully, we’ll have at least one man alive to question.”

Letting out a vaguely annoyed breath, I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I’d just rather not go back to Alex empty-handed.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Daniil said, dismissing it. “We’ll get to the bottom of it eventually…for now, it’s getting late. We’re getting out of here.”

With everything said and done, neither Yuri nor I felt like arguing with that, and we both followed Daniil’s lead back to the SUV.

Once I was back in my car and heading home, I tried to force the frustration out of my head and focus on the fact that it was the weekend.

Regardless of the mystery surrounding the hit, I just wanted to blow off some steam.

More than that, I just wanted to spend time with Tia, despite all the ways she might pull back from me.

I could only hope she wanted the same thing.

Chapter 16 - Tia

As much as I didn’t want to acknowledge it, I felt…odd.

An unsettling feeling had settled in my stomach a few days ago, and ever since, it hasn’t seemed to want to leave.

It lingered there, vaguely aching without causing any real harm. It was just enough to make me feel off-kilter, like something wasn’t quite right.

That queasiness felt like as much of a companion as Bear while I tried to focus on my work.

But as much as I wanted to push through it, I found it hard to stand for long periods…and even sitting on one of the tall stools didn’t help.

I spent more time lying around than I wanted to in the hopes it would pass.

Coffee was getting harder for me to drink, and certain foods didn’t appeal to me like they once did.

Val and I were still in a weird, somewhat rocky place after everything, and I had the feeling it was just the stress of it all finally getting to me.

A lot changed in the last little while of my being there, and though I had nothing but time, it still felt like I hadn’t truly processed everything as I should have.

I told myself it was probably some kind of stomach bug that I’d be able to shake eventually, or even just a period of lethargy.

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