Page 39 of The Bratva Enforcer and His Virgin Bride

For the first time tonight, I hesitate.

Briefly.

Samuel notices. “Oh, this is bad,” he says. “You paused.”

I ignore him, then say it plainly. “He gave me a condition.”

Sebastian watches me carefully now. “What condition?”

I hold his gaze. “I have to marry someone of his choice.”

Silence.

Complete silence.

Samuel blinks once, then twice. “No.”

Konstantin bursts into laughter first.

Timofey follows immediately after him.

Sebastian actually chokes slightly on his drink.

“You?” Konstantin says between laughs. “Marriage?”

“I know you punched him into the ground and walked out of there,” Dimitri scoffs.

Ideally, that’s exactly what I should’ve done.

Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been.

Karl Jonathan isn’t a man I trust. Men like him survive because they know how to manipulate desperation inside other people.

And unfortunately for me, I am desperate.

The dormant accounts cannot remain inaccessible forever. Not when there are people outside the Bratva still searching for them. So no. This isn’t normal circumstances.

“I already said yes.”

This time, the silence is absolute.

Samuel is the first one to react. “Hell no.”

“Samuel, calm down,” I say evenly. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?” Timofey asks sharply, fixing me with a disapproving stare. “Because even if marriage became necessary, it shouldn’t be to a woman Karl selected for you.”

Konstantin nods once. “That part feels like a trap.”

I raise a hand slightly before the conversation can spiral. I’m not usually the mediator among us. But this morning apparently demands the impossible.

“Relax,” I say calmly. “I understand Karl is manipulative. I understand he’s likely hiding something. But if this leads us to the code needed to access the dormant accounts, then the risk is worth it.”

“How?” Mike asks from across the room, finally speaking for the first time tonight. “What if the girl is working with him?”

My gaze shifts toward him. “She isn’t.”

“You don’t know that,” Mike counters immediately. “Imagine bringing an enemy directly into your home. That’s a perfect setup for disaster. And death.”