Page 99 of His Forced Bride
"Good."
"Where were you today?"
I probably have no right to ask, but my curiosity gets the better of me.
"Handling our problem."
He straightens in his chair, rolling broad shoulders.
"Those men who torched your showroom won't be setting any more fires."
Maybe I should be appalled, but relief floods through me so suddenly my knees feel weak.
Someone finally fought for me.
Someone finally made them pay.
"All of them?" I ask him, not fully believing that he would do that.
My own fucking mother never did that.
"All of them."
His eyes don't leave mine.
"Along with the man who hired them."
"Who was it?"
"Kozlov's contact in the city. A broker who thought intimidation would bring me to negotiations faster."
Yuri's mouth hardens into granite.
"He was wrong."
I sink into the chair across from him.
Today's emotions—guilt, anger, relief—swirl together until I can't separate them.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I see them as weakness and I refuse to allow Kozlov's men to make me feel weak.
So I clench my jaw and dig deep to hold back the tidal wave that wants to drown me.
"My employees didn't deserve this."
"No, they didn't."
He leans forward, forearms resting on his desk.
"But it's finished now."
"Is it? Or will there be another attack tomorrow, another fire, another message?"
I raise my head to meet his gaze.
"How many people have to get hurt before this ends?"
"I don't know, Inessa," he says bitterly.
