Page 29 of The Russian's Bought Bride

I’m in trouble, and not the kind that can be fought out of with a gun, a threat, or a well-placed lie.

This is everything I’ve been deliberately keeping separate, colliding in one room, and I have no clean way out.

Roman’s still standing a few feet away with his arms crossed and posture loose but coiled with restless energy underneath. I’ve dealt with my brother long enough to know when he’s one wrong answer away from snapping.

His gaze flicks between Danielle and me, brutal and silently assessing, while he tries putting pieces together that I haven’t even had the chance to explain yet.

Danielle, or Dani, is staring at me like she doesn’t recognize me. Like the ground just shifted under her feet, which, in a sense, it did. Now she knows that I haven’t been completely honest about myself.

“Who is she?” Roman asks with no hesitation or patience. He’s straight to the point, as usual.

Not answering immediately, I clench my jaw while my mind starts running through options, and none of them are good. None of them will both sate him and keep the important parts hidden.

“Nikolai,” he mutters, dangerously quiet now. “I asked you a question.”

Dani’s eyes narrow a bit more as she hears my actual name again, and it’s almost like it burns her from the inside out.

Forced to ignore her for now, I look at Roman and hold his stare, regardless of how scathing it seems. In a silent plea, I give the smallest shake of my head.

I can’t tell him here…not like this with Dani in the room.

“I’ll explain, just give me a chance.”

He doesn’t move. “Now.”

With a slow exhale, I drag a hand down my face and try to push the look of betrayal on Dani’s face out of my mind.

I don’t have time to ease into this, as much as I’d like to. “Roman, I need you to trust me on this.”

That earns me a short, humorless huff, but he just fixes his gaze on me harder. “You’re hiding a woman in your place, refusing to tell me why, and you want trust?”

“I said I’ll explain,” I repeat, firmer this time. “Just not like this.”

His gaze narrows, looking even closer to unloading on me right here and now. “You don’t get to dictate terms when you’re the one creating problems.”

Dani flinches slightly at the shift in his tone.

I catch it, and that alone puts me on edge.

“Enough,” I say before it can get even more out of hand, and before we risk ruining whatever scrap of trust she might still have for me.

Roman’s eyes lock onto mine without saying anything, and that near-murderous gleam threatens to take me out on the spot. We hold it for a beat too long, but he at least gives me the chance to speak.

“I’ve been working on something,” I tell him. It isn’t the full truth, but it’s closer than I’ve given him before, and bordering on too far for comfort.

His expression shifts slightly. Rather than softening, it becomes more focused, like he’s prepared to pull every wordapart until he gets the answer he wants. “What kind of something?”

“Off-books.”

That definitely gets his attention as he scoffs, and disbelief cuts through his voice. “You went off-books without telling anyone?”

“I had my reasons.”

“You better,” he mutters, expecting me to elaborate regardless of how badly I don’t want to.

I glance at Dani again, and I know she’s listening too closely, which means I need to control what she hears even while Roman is demanding more from me.

“I’m closer than I’ve been in months,” I continue, keeping my tone low and intentional as I don’t flinch. “But I need more time to finish it.”