Page 121 of His Forced Bride
He's changed from his earlier clothes into dark pants and a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal the dark tattoos covering his forearms.
His hair is still damp from washing, pushed back from his face, and he carries the scent of soap.
I feel tension coil in my chest as I turn to look at him.
It's his expression that captures my attention—the fury that burns beneath the surface, the way his jaw remains rigid even as he closes the door behind himself.
This isn't the explosive rage from earlier, but he isn't pleased with me at all.
"You've had time to think," he says, and I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
He moves to the chair across from the desk and settles into it.
His dark eyes never leave my face, reading every micro-expression and every shift in my posture.
"And what have you concluded?" he asks finally.
The words stick in my throat.
Admitting the truth means accepting that everything I believed about my childhood, my family, my mother's love was built on lies.
But the evidence is there, and I'm tired of living in denial.
If Yuri is telling me the truth, I have to admit that perhaps my mother doesn't have my best interests at heart and he really is trying to protect me.
"She didn't come here to save me," I say, almost a whisper.
"No. She didn't."
"She came for something else."
His face displays grim satisfaction, though I don't think he enjoys making me squirm as much as he thought he would.
"Very good. What else?"
I close my eyes, feeling the last of my illusions crumble.
"She's been planning this. The timing, the approach—none of it was coincidence."
"Continue."
"And she's probably not working alone."
I open my eyes and meet his gaze as something dawns on me.
"She's working with your enemies?"
Yuri reaches into his shirt pocket and withdraws a manila envelope, placing it on the desk between us.
The paper is thick, and my hands tremble as I pick it up.
"Open it," he says.
The photographs inside are grainy but clear enough to recognize faces.
My mother sits across from a man I don't know in what appears to be an upscale restaurant.
Her posture is relaxed, as if they've met many times before.
