Page 12 of Forced & Owned By the Bratva Boss

More of my men hurry into the faint light. Two of them stand behind Sergei, breathless and grim-faced, and when they’re done whispering, Sergei’s expression is grave.

“What’s the problem?” Ruslan asks.

Sergei doesn’t hesitate before dropping the hammer: apparently, Emiliano followed our movements after the cops interrupted the event. He reported back to Joaquin that I’d apprehended Audrey.

Now, somehow, the entire cartel believes Audrey is both my informant and my lover.

“Bullshit!” Ruslan growls, then gives a deadly side-eye to Audrey, who doesn’t seem fazed by the accusation. “He would never stoop so low.”

Audrey snorts and stands there, perfectly still, looking even more annoyed that I won’t let her go.

I begin racking up different ways we could handle this news before it gets out of hand. It’s bad enough that the Mexicans are doubtful of our agreement, but I can’t have them peddling wrong information about Audrey informing the cops on my behalf.

I glare at her.

Ruslan is right; I wouldn’t stoop so low.

There are better ways to sabotage the delivery than calling in a police raid, ways that wouldn’t implicate me, and Audrey is the last person I’d think of hiring for that job.

Think, Igor. Damn it.

If I kill her right here to prove she’s not a Russian ally, the cartel will view it as a cover-up for a betrayal, which would risk an immediate, bloody war.

If I simply release her, it will confirm their suspicions that she’s working for me, making me look compromised.

My men start a murmured argument, but their voices fade into background noise.

I look back down at her and the stubborn lift of her chin.

“Are you going to let me go now?” she asks.

“No.”

“This is silly. You have nothing on me!”

“Didn’t you hear what they just said? Or are you fucking deaf?” My voice booms louder than I intended, and the lot falls quiet.

“So?” she fires back. “We both know those accusations aren’t true. I’m neither your informant nor your lover. I have nothing to do with this. Let me go.”

Logically, I should release her. I should find a way to end this cleanly, to disassociate from her before things blow up.

But a nagging voice at the back of my mind protests at the thought of watching her walk away from me again.

There’s another downside: Joaquin won’t let her go. Releasing her would be like letting a zebra into a lion’s den. They’d tear her apart piece by piece without listening to a word she says.

A ruthless solution forms in my mind. It’s reckless and irrational. My brother won’t agree. Sergei will raise a finger, respectfully. None of my men will understand.

Hell, I don’t either. But I’ll do it anyway, because I can.

I look Audrey dead in the eyes as my thumb traces the sharp line of her hip one last time.

I’ll marry her publicly.

Either she’ll die bound to me by law, or she’ll live carrying my name, forever trapped under my control.

Or maybe I want to do this because I simply don’t have the courage to let her get away again.

Chapter Three