Page 38 of The Russian's Bought Bride

“They take the patient under, extract what they can, and dispose of the rest. They’re clean in how they cover their tracks, and efficient, too. No one looks too closely, which helps them stay under the radar.”

Mikhail swears under his breath, and Roman’s stare sharpens into something dangerous.

“You’ve been tracking this?”

“Yes. For months.”

“And you didn’t think to mention it?” He retorts with evident anger now.

“I was close to bringing it down. I had an angle in and enough to tie the whole operation together, and I couldn’t risk everyone being involved. It was too sensitive,” I admit, still feeling the lingering resentment I have for myself over it.

“And where does this Danielle fit in?” Mikhail asks.

“Her father was one of the patients,” I reply.

Ivan lifts a brow as he fills in the blanks. “He didn’t make it, I assume?”

“No.”

Silence settles again, but it feels different this time while they process it all. Rather than just the information, it’s about the scale of it too. It’s obviously more sophisticated than a shady at-home ploy.

“Those people…” Sergey mutters. “They’ve made a business out of selling organs, which isn’t anything new. But you can’t tell me doctors and nurses are facilitating black market deals on the side.”

“The professionals do the hands-on work and make it look legitimate, but the head doctor has an associate who handles the arrangements. From what I’ve gathered, he has his own ranks.”

“Another enemy…” Roman utters under his breath as he drags a hand down his face. Then, he forces out a breath and fixes me with a hard stare. “And you went after them alone.”

“Yes.”

“Why?” he demands.

That’s the question I don’t have a clean, straight answer for, regardless of how often I try to come up with one for myself.

I shrug slightly, trying to play it off. “I didn’t want it interfering with our operations.”

“That’s bullshit,” Roman snaps immediately. “I know you, Nikolai. You might not shy away from the difficult parts of this life, but you’re not stupid. You know cover is important, regardless of what you can handle on your own.”

I hold his gaze, feeling torn by the claim. I do know, but that doesn’t mean I always have to run back to my brothers when things get tough. Even if I’ve been fumbling pieces of this, I know I’m capable. I know what I’m doing.

“Maybe I wanted something that was mine.”

That shuts him up, and something shifts in the room, like understanding but not total agreement.

We’ve always done everything together as a unit. Everything we’ve built is due to that foundation we’ve laid since day one, but it’s only normal to want to branch out. We’ve all tried to in ways, big or small, and even they can’t deny me that.

After a breath, Mikhail murmurs, “I hope you realize how this looks.”

“I do.”

“You went off-books,” Roman adds, gesturing vaguely with barely-restrained anger. “You put yourself in the middle ofsomething like that without backup or something as little as a warning for the rest of us. What the fuck would you have done if something worse had happened? We would’ve had no clue, Nikolai. That’s reckless, even for you.”

Bristling internally, I grit my jaw a bit tighter to keep from bending under the pressure. “There were too many risks, both for what I had in the works and what we have here. I had it handled.”

“Did you?” He demands, eyes still blazing. “Because from what I’m gathering, it sounds like they slipped away.”

The words taste sour on my tongue as I force them out. “For now.”

“For now,” he echoes, unimpressed with a shake of his head.