Page 43 of Kidnapped Prisoner By the Bratva
“Filled with rage, the shepherd didn’t just slit its throat. No, he gutted the beast slowly and painfully so everyone could see what happens when you hide teeth behind a fuckin’ smile.”
They exchanged glances, a glint of fear flickering in their gazes.
“Wh—what’re you saying, Boss?” Dmitri asked.
“Which one of you is the wolf?” I asked, blunt and straight to the point.
“What?” Sergie’s eyes widened behind his wire-rimmed glasses.
“I have reasons to believe that the attack on the mansion was done with the help of someone from the inside,” I answered, watching them closely.
“Boss, that’s preposterous,” Yakov said, disbelief flashing in his gaze. “It’s betrayal, and no one in this room is capable of that.”
“He’s right,” said Anton, “and I thought the guard, Mikhail, was killed because he was the one in cohorts with the assassins.”
It turned out that Mikhail wasn’t working alone. I received an anonymous tip this morning with the information that one of my most trusted men was behind the attack. But that’s not all; according to the intel, I wasn’t even the target that night. Wren was.
Apparently, her presence in the estate had sparked a lot of mixed reactions from other Bratva officials. Her existence in my life was now a window to make this whole thing political.
According to the information on the email I received earlier, Wren was now a bargaining chip for a rival Bratva faction aiming to weaken my standing and force me out of power.
The first person that popped into my mind was Elder Akim. The man hated me for opposing his proposal and going ahead to marry Wren. He wasn’t exactly known for his forgiving spirit, and rumor had it that he’d always had an ax to grind with me.
He might be behind this.
“Mikhail wasn’t working alone. He had an ally, and that ally is still walking free,” I said.
They all looked at each other, suspicion creeping into their gazes.
“I don’t get it.” Sergei rubbed his forehead. “Why would any one of us want you dead?”
“Who said anything about anyone wanting me dead?” I shot a quick glance at him.
He tilted his head, confused.
“Okay, I think you lost me there,” Anton said.
“I wasn’t the target that night,” I replied. “My wife was.”
Again, the room fell silent, the hovering tension thick and uncomfortable.
“So, you think one of us in here is responsible for the attack on your wife?” Dmitri asked, his voice laced with a hint of disappointment.
“I don’t know. You tell me,” I answered, looking straight into his eyes.
He paused for a second. “Do what you must. But I can tell you for free that I had nothing to do with it. I might be stupid—but I’m notthatstupid.”
“Me neither,” Anton said. “I have nothing to hide and I know where my loyalties lie…with you.”
Sergei and Yakov also claimed to be innocent, and they even encouraged me to do a background check on all of them just to confirm their innocence.
Trust had always been dangerous in this world, and after what’s happened, it’s even more dangerous now. I had no idea who sent me that email, nor could I confirm that whatever was in there was true and not some elaborate prank.
But the fact that I felt this way long before the email was enough to let me know that something wasn’t right.
The message was specific; one of my most trusted men had betrayed me. So, it was either that the email was false, or one of these men looking right at me was the Judas amongst us. Either way, I wouldn’t stop until I got to the bottom of the situation.
They had better watch their backs, because now they had my full attention.
