Page 80 of Claimed By the Pakhan

“You have something to say,” I grunt, pinning Alexander a glare. “Say it.”

Alexander chuckles, looking straight past me, focusing on Fia instead. “Tell me, sweetheart, how did you find out about your husband’s Bratva in the first place?”

Fia pinches her eyes, looking straight at Alexander without fear. My little spitfire never disappoints, the hatred surging through her body leaving no space for fear. “It landed on my desk. Why?”

“And you never questioned the client?” Alexander glances at her pointedly, the smile growing on his face. “I can always trust you to do a good job, Fia, so engrossed in the facts, never stopping to think about the rest of it.”

“You planted the document there,” she states, realization drawing her eyes further apart.

“Almost. I paid your boss because I heard good things about the company, particularly from you, Fia. You were the youngest in the team, but showed great potential, winning over every single case that landed on your desk. I knew you had what it took to destroy Emil’s Bratva, and you were so close.”

Fia keeps watching Alexander, her searching eyes darting across his face. “Thank fuck I failed.”

“You would have succeeded, had Emil not kidnapped you and threatened you into silence,” says Alexander, letting that last sentence ring for a beat before starting his next. “You were the key, but instead you fell for manipulation.”

I mop sweat from my brow, agitated. No fucking wonder the Kuzmins attempted to kill Fia when she was wandering through the dockyard, searching for clues. They knew she switched sides. They wanted her gone…

“It was a double-edged-sword, hitting you with that car. Your death would have solved everything,” continues Alexander. “As well as Emil being weakened, we could have stopped your obsession with truth seeking, living between the facts like your life depends on it. Ignorance can be very blissful sometimes, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me sweetheart.”

“Your curiosity, along with Emil’s stupidity, is what has led you here today,” says Alexander. “If you refused manipulation and remained firm with your boundaries, you would never have been in this situation.”

“I’m glad I’m in this situation,” quips Fia, her lips pressed into a tight line. “Unlike you, I’m willing to die for love, knowing it will find me again in the next life, taking any shape, any form. We should hit you with a car, send you into a coma and see who sticks around when you’re a stranger to your own mind. Your men will go find another leader to worship, one with money. You’ll wake up in that hospital bed alone, with not even your own mind to count on. And when you die, the only mark you willleave behind is a foul taste in my mouth,” says Fia, glancing at Luka. “Both of you.”

We should speed up their deaths. I want both of them dead this instant.

“For a while,” continues Alexander, “I succeeded when you woke up with amnesia. You forgot your memories, which should have been your strength in all of this. Instead, you saw the amnesia as a weakness, counting on Emil to jog your memories, allowing yourself to be manipulated all over again.”

Fia catches my attention, the corner of her eye twitching, like she’s trying to communicate to me telepathically. Dragging her gaze down to the guard, she blinks rapidly, staring at the dead guard’s hip.

Patting under his suit jacket, I grab the knife lodged under his belt, equipping myself with two while Luka and Alexander’s attention is still on Fia.

When I have everything I need, I stand in front of Fia and place a hand around my back, blindly searching for the zip ties.

“I’ll take it from here,” I say, facing Alexander and Luka myself.

“Sure you will, ruining people before they have a chance to defend themselves.”

I stay focused on Alexander. I can always rely on thatmudakto chat bullshit, buying me more time as I run the sharp blade over Fia’s arm, concentrating on the zip ties.

My men are stationed outside like dogs waiting for an order but setting them loose doesn’t feel like a fair fight. I will prove Alexander and Luka right, showing them my power without needing accomplices.

With everything out in the open, I now have more of a reason to gloat. Alexander, in a roundabout way, has admitted to failure. He thought Fia would solve all of his problems, but my spitfire threw a giant spanner in the works, complicating everything.

Thank fuck she was unable to resist my charms.

And now Alexander has a proposition for me, wanting me to join forces with him after plotting to destroy me for years?

I stifle a laugh, amused by how foolish he is.

His propositiondoesappeal to the little boy still existing within me. Belonging after spending countless years alone, losing my family at a young age, feels like a dream come true, but dreams are facades.

Three leaders can never work, not even two. One will always come out stronger, and I intend to show them that their plan will fail miserably, as soon as Fia is out of here.

I tap the flat side of my blade against the zip tie, ensuring the knife will penetrate plastic and not Fia’s skin. After hooking the blade under the strap, I lift up, the satisfying sound of tearing plastic filling the room.

I pin my men waiting outside a glare, telling them to stay put.