Page 38 of Prey of the Bratva

“Because I believed it was necessary,” he said.

“That’s not an answer, Kliment.”

“It is the only one that matters.”

“It’s not the honest one and explains nothing. You have promised complete honesty.”

He exhaled slowly as if giving in to my demands.

“Because I didn’t trust their arrangement one bit,” he said. “And I don’t trust what I can’t control. Avgust did not feel like someone who could take care of Ilana, or maybe I had formed this image in my mind, and I was too scared to let my little sister go.”

There it was. Clean. Unembellished.

“And because you thought control mattered more than her choice?” I asked.

“Yes.”

The answer came without hesitation or apology.

“Even if it meant losing her?”

His gaze held mine. “I didn’t think I would.”

Something almost imperceptible shifted the air between us just then. It almost felt like regret, even though it wasn’t loud or obvious, and I didn’t know if Kliment was even capable of feeling something as deep as regret. But it was there. I looked away first, not wanting to pry any further into his private thoughts.

“Your deal,” I said quietly, reshuffling the cards.

The next few rounds blurred together. There were several wins and losses for both of us, which were followed by careful questions and equally careful answers, until they weren’t careful anymore. I sighed as he won again, a part of me already knowing what was coming next.

“What were you doing at the warehouse on that day, Misha? Who were you meeting and why?” he asked.

I held his gaze, and this time I knew I couldn’t deflect. I didn’t even want to. A part of me said that this was the right time. I could not hide the truth from Kliment forever.

“I was there because of Ilana. At least, you can say that she is the reason everything started.”

His expression didn’t change, but his attention sharpened. “What do you mean?”

“I saw the footage,” I continued. “Of the auction where Ilana was kidnapped and being sold. The very auction where Avgust bought her to save her. The video was on the dark web, and there was this symbol in the background. It stayed with me.”

I set my cards down slowly, knowing we had reached the end of these questions and it was finally time to just tell him everything.

“Then I saw it again one day on a shipment at the docks, and I knew it was not random. It simply could not be. I started researching and asking questions, and I found out this was not an isolated event but part of an entire network. It was organized and embedded into the port system. Shipments labeled as medical exports were rerouted through private channels and cleared without inspection. And these shipments contained women.”

His gaze darkened slightly.

“Trafficking.”

“Yes.”

The word sat heavy between us.

“Girls are being moved through this city like cargo,” I said, my voice quieter now but no less steady. “And no one is stopping it. I heard my brothers claim that these auctions are just a part of our world, and we need to accept it. They don’tsupport it, but they have also done nothing to stop it, and that pisses me off.”

“Why not just tell your brothers? Why not ask them for help?”

I let out a short, humorless breath.

“Because they would burn everything in a fit of rage.”