Page 34 of Forced & Owned By the Bratva Boss

He isn’t wrong, and that’s precisely what bothers me. It’s also what makes me truly believe he wouldn’t be dumb enough to pull a move like that on me.

My gaze drifts over both men, studying every twitch of muscle, every hesitation, every breath. Fear has a smell. Lies have tells. So far, I see neither.

“Then tell me how somebody knew I was going to the port, Villalobos.” I lean over his desk and point an accusing finger right in his face.

“You’ve just made quite a bold accusation, Nazarov.” Joaquin’s gaze grows icy, but he doesn’t dare to look away from me. “How do I know you aren’t trying to mess with our alliance?”

I bark a humorless laugh. “My wife was almost killed. You think I’d risk my wife just to fuck with you?”

For the first time since I entered this office, the confidence leaves Joaquin’s face. He frowns while Emiliano straightens up in his chair.

“I didn’t know about that.”

“Of course you didn’t. Now you see why I’m pissed as hell.”

“You know our rules, Nazarov. We don’t attack women and children.”

I watch him closely. His pulse doesn’t accelerate, his breathing stays calm, and he doesn’t look away from my eyes once. Either he’s being completely truthful with me, or he’s one of the best liars I’ve ever met.

Either way, he called me to the port, so if anyone has to sort this shit out, it should be him.

Emiliano clears his throat, drawing my attention. It’s the first time he’s chiming into the conversation.

“In recent weeks, we’ve had several calls regarding shipments, route schedule, security shifts…we found it suspicious at first, but concluded it was about a shipment we were receiving later, and just tightened security.”

I scoff at the silly explanation that I couldn’t give two fucks about. “Well, looks like you were mistaken.”

“So it appears.” Emiliano nods. “Whoever planned this must’ve been keeping tabs on our conversations, either on our end or yours. And while it seemed like you were the target, have you considered that maybe it’s your wife they were after?”

I drum my finger against my temple, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. How didn’t I think of that earlier?

Someone knew that Audrey would be right beside me, and it can’t be a coincidence that they chose to hit us during my first outing with her as my wife. But only Sergei and my men knew she was going with us, and there’s no way any of them could’ve betrayed me.

“Do you have any suspicions from your end?” I ask him.

Joaquin quickly looks at Emiliano, then answers. “There are always those who are eager to take advantage of a good opportunity, but there isn’t any fool who would sabotage an alliance worth this much.”

Before he can say another word, my phone vibrates inside my jacket, and when I take it out, the screen lights up with Sergei's name.

The first thing I think of is Audrey. I wonder if she’s awake now, and shaken by my absence.

I answer. “What?”

“We’ve got something.” His voice is calm, but I’ve known Sergei long enough to recognize the urgency beneath it. “One of our tech guys pulled the call records from the burner phone we recovered from one of the corpses.”

My fingers tighten around the phone. “And?”

“Someone made a call twenty minutes before the attack,” Sergei says. “You were right about this being an inside job.”

Every muscle in my body goes still. “Who did it?”

“I don’t know for certain yet.” He pauses. “What we do know is that it was a call from someone inside the Villalobos organization.”

Slowly, I lift my eyes from the phone and look at Joaquin.

He notices the change in my expression immediately, and even though he tries to hide it, his expression shows the restlessness growing inside him. “What happened?”

I ignore his question. “Send whatever you find to me. I’ll be home soon.”