Page 55 of Owned Bratva Bride
The corners of his lips twitched.
“He once told me that he was skimming a lot of money off the Bratva—”
“He did, but we stopped him. We gave him a deterrent. It was years ago. That’s why you’re here,” he cut in.
I shook my head.
“Not the shipment, whatever you stopped years ago. He told me about that. But he’s intercepting some of your suppliers, although I don’t know which suppliers. He makes a fortune by skimming off your purchases. He does it in bits but regularly, so you don’t notice. I remember him drunkenly telling me that he’d run away if the Bratva suddenly came for him.”
Eduard’s eyebrows furrowed.
“He has a secret route through the desert that he uses to smuggle his stolen merchandise through. He mentioned that it’s difficult to trace because the Arabs have a nearby route, and nobody would think another one was so close to it.”
I sighed, folding my arms tighter as my stomach churned.
“I’ve told you everything he’s ever told me. Now, I’m not anything to anybody.”
When his gaze landed back on me, it was controlled as usual.
“Clearly, he’s not after you just because you might have learnt one or two small things by association. He categorically told you things. Key things about his shady deals. You know what we didn’t know about his secret deals through us. He knows you being here might imply revealing that to us.”
“Well, I just did.” I chuckled sadly.
“You have two choices,” he declared. “Marry me. Or die when the next wave of attack hits.”
No, I didn’t hear that right.
“Marry you?” I repeated, my eyes dilating.
He didn’t flinch.
“Lucien won’t stop,” he stated. “I protect what’s mine.”
As I slid away from the desk and backed away from him, one word echoed in my mind.
Mine.
I opened my mouth but couldn’t find the words. With trembling hands and a racing heart, I left the study.
I felt like a pawn in a game of power and violence. Of all the awkward types of proposals I had imagined, I never thought of anything like Eduard’s.
Could I even call it that?
It was a proposal when there was a choice.
Do I have a choice?
If I refused to marry him and said no to staying with him, I couldn’t protect myself. Lucien’s men would kill me, quite literally.
It was no longer about being a hostage; I was about to be claimed.
***
“Have you made a decision yet?”
Eduard’s voice practically made me jump from behind me in the hallway.
It had been a day since he mentioned marriage.
