Page 32 of The Russian's Bought Bride

She shakes her head while she struggles to accept it all and backs slightly. “I don’t even know what to think right now.”

I watch her carefully for every reaction and subtle shift, trying to gauge where she’s landing in all of this.

The fear and anger are definitely there, but underneath, there’s also something conflicted. As much as this surely changes things in her mind when it comes to me, it doesn’t erase what she has already seen or what she’s experienced.

“You said I was safe here,” Dani murmurs after a moment, voice soft enough to make something splinter inside me.

“You are,” I reassure her, even if it’s impossible to see. “That hasn’t changed, regardless of what you know now.”

She lets out a slow breath, avoiding my gaze. “I don’t know if I believe that anymore.”

That stings more than it should, but I force that down, well aware that she has every right to feel that way.

“I don’t expect you to.”

The silence hanging between us doesn’t feel as explosive as it had, but now, we’re standing in new territory, and neither of us knows how to navigate it.

Chapter 10 - Dani

Regardless of how I try to rationalize things in my head, I don’t recognize my life anymore.

A few days ago, I was sitting in a hospital, waiting for my dad to come out of surgery, only to receive the worst news imaginable.

Now I’m standing in a stranger’s house. Beyond that, he’s a liar, a criminal, and a man who just admitted he’s part of something I’ve only ever heard about in movies and crime documentaries. Something that sounded entirely fictional until this very moment.

And somehow, I’m stuck here against my will.

Letting out a slow, shaky breath, I drag my fingers through my hair as I pace the living room, still hearing the echo of his words.

Bratva. Organized crime. Nikolai.

Every piece of it feels like a new betrayal, and even thinking about it makes me feel like I’ve been an idiot for even thinking he was being honest with me.

As that registers in my mind, I stop pacing abruptly.

No…I wasn’t an idiot.

I was grieving and desperate even before he told me what was happening. He took advantage of that to make me more compliant and to keep me from lashing out at him. He has known far more than he let on, and that alone digs under my skin.

My jaw tightens as anger rises again, immediate and burning.

“I can’t believe you,” I mutter, facing him again while I try to get a grip on the situation, but it’s more like water slipping through my fingers. “You acted like you wanted to help me, but you’re only making this worse.”

Nikolai hasn’t moved much. Instead, he’s standing where his brother had been, posture straight and expression unreadable in that infuriating way of his.

“I did want to help you…I do,” he returns with zero hesitation. “I just need you to work with me.”

“I was starting to trust you,” I snap, my voice shaking despite the force behind it, not recognizing it in my own ears. “Do you understand that? I was actually starting to think maybe you were better than them.”

Better feels like a low bar, but even then, he ended up being too similar for my liking.

With his reassurance, I thought he was someone I could rely on to fix the mess those doctors made, but now, all of that feels stupid.

“I know you were,” he says, almost solemnly now.

But that’s all he gives me, and it only makes the bristling panic in me rise faster.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I say, more quietly now but still just as firm as I lift my chin. “I want to leave.”