Page 34 of Forced By an Obsessive Bratva Stalker

He hesitated. “Forgive my asking, Boss.” Another brief pause. “What’s so different about this girl?”

I glanced at him without a word.

“I mean, she witnessed our operation,” he continued. “She even had a meeting with Daniel Whitfield—a man who was willing to tell her what he knew about our underground business.” He rubbed his forehead, a hint of confusion in his eyes. “I can’t understand why she’s still breathing.”

I held his gaze for a few seconds. “She’s still breathing because I allow it.”

“But, Boss, that girl is unpredictable,” he said. “First she met with Whitfield. Who’s she going to meet up with next? Someone from the press?”

“She is someone from the press,” I said flatly.

“You know what I mean, Boss.”

“Tell me, Yuri.” I exhaled softly. “Why do you think she met up with Whitfield?”

He thought for a moment. “Because he reached out to her.”

“Why did he reach out to her?” I asked him. “What was the subject of their discussion?”

“Offshore accounts tied to shell companies.”

“Did she, at any moment in their conversation, mention what she witnessed at Meridian Solutions?”

A pause.

“No.”

“Has she, in fact, contacted anyone and told them about what she witnessed?”

Another pause.

“No.”

I leaned back in my chair. “What does that tell you, Yuri?”

“That she’s smart.” His reply was swift. “And smart people can be dangerously unpredictable.”

“You’re right. She is smart,” I said. “And that’s why I wanna know what she intends to do in this dire situation.”

“You’re getting too close, Boss—too involved,” he said unapologetically, although his tone was polite. “She already knows what you look like because you revealed yourself to her under a false identity.”

“False identity,” I repeated.

“You said it yourself; she is smart,” he replied, his gaze dropping to the document on my table. “She’s begun looking into you already. And we both know that it’s only a matter of time before this blows up in our faces.”

My expression remained neutral. “Let me worry about that, Yuri.”

He straightened, inclining his head slightly.

“Anything else?”

“No, sir.”

“You’re dismissed.”

He gave a faint nod and walked out of my office.

Yuri was the only other person outside my family who had the guts to tell me to my face when he thought I was wrong about something. He was never out of tone. And he never confronted me or questioned my decision until it was absolutely necessary.