Page 84 of Obsessed Bratva King

My throat tightens. I force myself to breathe, my heartbeat hammering like a war drum. My eyes flick to Ivan for the briefest moment, but his expression doesn’t change.

Slowly, I swipe the screen.

A message.

You have my attention. The flash drive for one million dollars. Tonight. Pier 17. Come alone.

Ivan turns to me so fast it’s like I’ve slapped him. His entire body shifts, going from ice-cold strategist to something far more dangerous. “Now you’ve done your part,” he says. “You stay here.”

“What? You agreed.”

His expression doesn’t change, but something in his gaze sharpens. “I needed you to get the meeting set up. It’s too dangerous for you to go in person, alone. I’d have to be insane to allow that.”

The air between us crackles, charged with heat and fury.

I feel the others watching—Maxim, Dmitri, the Bratva lieutenants—but I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but the way Ivan is looking at me, the way he’s shutting me down like I don’t matter in my own damn war.

“You don’t trust me,” I accuse, my voice rising. “You never have. You don’t think I can handle myself.”

His jaw flexes. “I know you shouldn’t.”

Anger surges through me, hot and relentless. “You think you’re the only one who can do this? You think you’re the only one who’s lost something? I got us the flash drive. I got us here.”

“Job done,” Ivan snaps. “Now it’s my turn.”

I step closer, my heart pounding. “Fuck you.”

His nostrils flare.

One second I’m standing my ground, the next his hand clamps around my wrist in a steel grip.

“Ivan—”

I barely get the word out before he’s dragging me from the war room.

My boots skid against the stone floors as he pulls me down the hall, past the rows of heavy doors, past the Bratva men who pretend not to notice.

“Ivan!” I jerk my arm, trying to wrench free, but his grip only tightens. “Let me go.”

My pulse pounds.

I know where he’s taking me.

“No. No. You are not doing this!”

He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t even look at me.

And then?—

A door swings open.

I barely have time to fight before I’m shoved inside.

I whirl around just as the door slams shut.

Click.

The lock slides into place.

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