Page 59 of The Bratva’s Stalked Pregnant Bride

“Do you ever feel bad about it?”

He looked down the path toward the soundproofed toolshed he used for interrogations, furrowing his brow in confusion. “Why should I?”

“No, I meant Katie. She didn’t grow up like us, right? How did she adapt?”

He chuckled. “Sometimes I think she’s more bloodthirsty than any of us. She knows I don’t start things. She’s fine with me finishing them, though.”

“Laurel still doesn’t know what we do,” I admitted. “She probably thinks I have a problem with strip clubs since I’m out all night with no explanation.”

“Then tell her the truth already,” he said, as if it were so easy. “She’s your wife.”

Yes, she was, and she would stay that way. Was it so wrong for me not to want her to hate me, though?

We arrived at the shed, where a guard was standing near the door. After a nod from Aleks, he unlocked it, and we both went in. I had only punched the guy once, but it was clear someone else had taken a few liberties since he arrived there.

One of his eyes was swollen shut when he looked up at the sound of the door, squinting painfully when Aleks snapped on the overhead light. As soon as he recognized the head of our family, as well as the guy who captured him, he started thrashing against the ropes tying him to the folding chair.

He almost tipped himself over, and Aleks’s foot jutted out to kick him back into place. A single barked command to knock it off did the trick, and he went still.

“Please,” he said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Idiot bit his own tongue in his panic. He must have been new at this. “I already said I’d tell you everything I know. I don’t give a shit about the Collective or whatever the fuck they call themselves now. I just want to get out of here alive.”

“So you recognize the name Yuri Drugov?” Aleks asked, staring at him coldly in the clinical overhead light.

He nodded vigorously, then groaned at the pain that caused. “Yes, he’s in charge. He hired me, but I’m not from here, and I don’t give a shit about what he wants. I just want to go home.”

“Where’s home?” Aleks asked.

The man sniveled for a moment before answering, clearly afraid for his family. “Calistoga,” he finally said. “It’s up north.”

“Napa Valley?” I asked, stepping forward.

The man nodded, then really looked at me. “I know who you are.”

“I’m the guy who’ll end you if you don’t keep talking,” I said. “Do you also know someone named Rand Eckvald?”

I could sense Aleks looking at me, wondering why I was taking over when I was only supposed to be background intimidation, but he waited in silence for the man’s answer.

“He’s the asshole who got me into this,” he said, bursting into tears.

Aleks sighed impatiently and kicked the leg of his chair. “What does he have to do with Drugov? Or us?”

“I don’t know that, and that’s the truth,” he said, still crying and now ducking his head like he expected a blow. “But he sent me down here and set me up with some guys who work with Drugov to help shake down some restaurant.”

“That’s my restaurant,” I growled, my fists clenching. “You threw those bottle bombs?”

“Yeah, it had to be those bottles. I brought them down with me. It’s fucking stupid, and I wish I never started working for him, but…”

“He paid you a shitload of money, and you got greedy.” Aleks filled in the rest as he nodded miserably, tears mingling with the blood on his face.

“I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.”

“What about the shooting?” I demanded, thinking he must have been either the driver or the one who ran away. “You could have killed someone.”

“I don’t know about any shooting, I swear. I just made the firebombs and met up with Drugov’s guys who had the truck and…” he stopped. “Swear you’ll let me go and I’ll tell you the last thing I know.”

“How about you tell us before I start peeling your fingernails off,” Aleks snapped.

He blubbered for a few more minutes but eventually calmed down, realizing he had no choice. “The last thing I was supposed to arrange was to let those guys know there’s a bounty on some woman’s head.”