Page 99 of Reclaimed By My Ex’s Bratva Brother

"A little?"

I looked at the photo of the woman diving down to collect shells.

Brinny didn't answer. The few seconds of silence were enough. She knew what I was asking. Knew what I suspected.

"Varlam, I really was scared that day." Her voice changed. "I'm not healthy, you know that. The water was cold, it was getting dark, and once I panicked, I couldn't do anything. Briony and I were both in the water. She's so much stronger than me, so much younger. Everyone would save her first. I have a heart condition—if you hadn't come, I might really have died."

I stared at the traffic outside. The answer came through the phone—pale, thin, weightless.

When she mentioned Briony, something sharp edged her tone.

"So you lied."

"Being able to swim doesn't mean I could swim then. I'd just left the hospital. Why are you interrogating me like this?"

Her voice started shaking. In the past, that tremor would've made me stop. I'd remember her pale face, the doctor saying she couldn't handle stress. I'd take back the question, tell myself she was just being difficult. This time, I only heard the holes.

"I'm not interrogating," I said. "You're the one volunteering explanations."

Brinny's breath caught. Then more words poured out. The waves were huge. Her leg cramped. In that moment she couldn't control her body. Those photos were just good angles, friends watching her the whole time.

Each sentence patched up the last. Each one made the cracks wider.

I didn't interrupt. The more she talked, the more she felt like a stranger. The woman on the phone had the same voice as the Brinny in my memory. They both had that slight lilt at the end of sentences. But the girl in my memory used to hide injured birds in her coat. Used to sneak me medicine after my father punished me. She was willful, but not cruel. Never treated life like a game.

Had that girl ever existed? Or had I stitched together a few childhood memories into someone who wasn't real? For the first time, I couldn't be sure.

"Varlam, believe me."

"I only believe facts."

She went quiet. I remembered how she'd cried, said Briony splashed water on her, looked fragile and innocent. While Briony had bristled like she'd tear into someone. I hadn't even asked what happened.

And this yacht trip—Brinny had insisted I bring Briony along. Then they'd both ended up in the water. Hard to keep calling that coincidence.

Briony's resignation letter floated back into my mind. She usually had a temper, fought for every inch. But this time, she didn't even waste energy cursing me out. What the hell had happened to her?

Done listening to Brinny's repetitive, hole-filled explanations, I hung up. Silence filled the car again.

I opened my messages with Gleb.

"Investigate every contact between Brinny and Briony since Brinny came back. I need to know what happened between them."

"Understood, Pakhan." Gleb's message popped up.

I'd made the stupidest mistake in the world. I'd known they were completely different, but still judged the present with old habits.

I'd abandoned Briony when she actually needed me, for reasons that sounded pathetic now.

This was on me.

Right now I just wanted to see her. Hear her curse me out. Let her throw every word she didn't put in that resignation letter straight at my face.

Then I'd ask her exactly what the hell happened on that yacht.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Varlam