Page 61 of Forced By the Bratva

“Maybe I am,” he said, eyes still locked on mine. “Let’s say I believe you. Let’s assume for a second that she stumbled on the files by accident. You mean to tell me that instead of putting them back, she read through all of it?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

“And instead of stopping her, you sat down and went through it with her?”

I didn’t answer right away. There wasn’t a version of the truth that made it sound better than it was.

“Ilya.” His voice dropped. Harder. “Do you understand what you just told me?”

“I understand the organization has a serious problem.”

“I’m not talking about the organization’s problem.” He leaned forward, hands flat on the table. “I’m talking about yours.”

“Oh, here we go again.” I rubbed my forehead.

“Don’t do that,” he said, his voice laced with anger. “Don’t act like I’m always sticking my nose in your business.”

“But you are, Ivan,” I shot back, glaring at him. “You’re always in my business. You’ve always been ever since Father died.”

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“I’m not a child!” I snapped.

My mind immediately flashed back to the argument I had with Iris the other night. Now, I sounded just like her.

“Ilya, I need you to understand something.” He studied me for a long moment. “From where I’m standing, it looks like you’ve given a woman with no loyalty to this family, no history here, full access to information that could burn us if it ever left this room. Why?”

“Because I trust her.”

“That’s the problem.” His voice stayed level, but there was real frustration under it now.

I didn’t respond.

“You’ve changed operational decisions because of her. You married her to protect her from the very organization you swore your allegiance to after she breached our system. And now you’re handing her internal records no outsider should ever see.”

My face twisted into a faint frown. “You forget, brother.” I held his gaze. “She’s my wife. Not an outsider.”

“She’s still an unknown entity,” Ivan said. “Marriage doesn’t erase that. It just gives her a title while the risk stays the same.”

Something tightened in my chest. Defensive in a way I didn’t like. “She’s the only reason we know this problem exists at all. Or are you so blinded by your dislike for her that you can’t see it?”

“I don’t dislike your wife, Ilya,” he said. “I’m only trying to be thorough here.”

“By shifting the focus from the problem to the one who actually found it?”

A pause.

“Ilya, have you stopped to think that maybe all of this is just a way of making herself useful enough that you never question keeping her this close?” He said it flatly.

The man was being logical as he always was, but it was already starting to piss me off.

“Oh, you’re so full of shit,” I growled.

“Look, I’m not saying she’s working against us. I’m saying you can’t say for certain that she isn’t, and you’ve stopped asking the question.”

“I know her.”