“Talk,” she demands. “And this better be good.”
“It won’t be good. But it will be the truth.” I take a breath, and then I ask, “What do you know about the Bratva?”
She furrows her brow. “The Russian mafia? I’ve seen movies, I guess. Why?”
“Because that’s what this is. What all of this is.” I spread my hands to encompass the office, the building, everything beyond these walls. “The company I acquired was a front for a rival Bratva operation. Wallace and Tillman aren’t just senior managers. They’re Volkov soldiers, embedded here to oversee their family’s interests and keep the money flowing where it needs to go.”
“That’s…” She shakes her head slowly. “That’s ridiculous. This is a tech company. We have quarterly reports and team-building exercises and a really aggressive recycling program.”
“All excellent cover for moving money. The documents you accessed? They’re transaction records from their illegal operations. Money laundering, mostly. Payments to people who don’t officially exist for services that can’t be discussed in polite company.”
She’s gone pale. “You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“And you… you’re part of this? The Bratva?”
“My family has been involved for generations. The Karpovs control a significant portion of the operations in this city. Our cousins run the main branch while my siblings and I handle our own territory.” I hold her gaze without flinching. “I’m telling you this because you’re already involved, whether you want to be or not. Those documents are burned into your memory. Wallace and Tillman know it. They were planning to use you to spy on me, and if you had come to your senses and refused, they would have made good on their threats.”
“So your solution was to marry me?” Her voice pitches higher. “That’s insane. There had to be another way.”
“There wasn’t. Not one that would protect you completely.” I stand and move around the desk, stopping a few feet from her chair. “In our world, family is sacred. A man’s wife is off-limits. By marrying you, I’ve made it clear that anyone who touches you answers to me. To my brothers. To every ally we have.”
“I didn’t ask for your protection.”
“You didn’t have to. Those men were going to destroy your life, Kirsten. They tracked every file you accessed, every second you spent looking at those documents. They had plans for you. Bad ones. I’ve seen what happens to people who becomeinconvenient to men like that. I wasn’t going to let that happen to you.”
She stares at me. I can see her mind working, processing everything I’ve told her. The fury is still there, simmering beneath the surface, but something else too. Fear, maybe. Or the beginning of understanding.
“Why do you care?” she asks. “You don’t even know me. We spent one night together. That’s not exactly a foundation for marriage.”
I think about lying. Giving her some pragmatic explanation about protecting my business interests or maintaining operational security.
Instead, I tell her the truth.
“My mother was a cruel woman. She hurt my siblings in ways I couldn’t always prevent. Beat them when she was angry. Screamed at them for things that weren’t their fault. Made them feel small and worthless just because she could. I was the oldest. It was my job to protect them. I failed more times than I care to count. But I made a vow, years ago, that I would never stand by and watch someone suffer when I had the power to stop it.”
Her brow creases. “That’s… not what I expected you to say.”
“I’m not what you expected. I know that.” I take a step closer. “But I need you to understand something. I didn’t do this to trap you or control you. I did it because it was the only way I could guarantee your safety. When I heard them threatening you, heard the fear in your voice… I knew I had to act. Protecting people isn’t just something I do. It’s who I am. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me in a world that rarely does.”
“By tricking me into signing a marriage contract.”
“Yes.”
“Without my consent.”
“You gave your consent when you signed.”
“I didn’t know what I was signing!”
“And whose fault is that?”
She surges to her feet, and suddenly, we’re inches apart. Her chest heaves with angry breaths, and her eyes blaze with a fire I haven’t seen from her before. Not at the bar. Not in our previous meetings. This is something new. Something fierce.
“You are unbelievable,” she hisses. “You think you can just swoop in and rearrange my entire life because you decided I needed saving? I’m not some damsel in distress. I don’t need a knight in shining armor, especially not one who’s apparently a Russian mobster!”
“I’m definitely not a knight. And my armor is far from shining.” I don’t back away. Don’t give her an inch. “But I am the man standing between you and people who would hurt you without a second thought. You can hate me for it if you want. That won’t change the facts.”
