Page 109 of The Cold Bratva King and His Forced Curvy Bride

“Nikita,” he amended, “I have a proposition.”

I gestured for him to sit. He didn’t. He stood in front of my desk, his spine straight, his hands clasped behind his back.

“I know who you are,” he said. “I know what you need. You need someone on the inside of the Colombo operation. Someone who can get close to Lorenzo without raising suspicion.”

“You think you’re that man?”

“I know I am.”

I leaned back, studying him. I knew of him, of course. He was Freya’s brother. I’d seen him at the gallery openings, hovering protectively near her, his eyes scanning the crowd for threats. He was invisible to most people—a background figure in his sister’s vibrant life.

I wasn’t most people. I’d seen the way he moved. I’d seen the calculation in his gaze when he thought no one was looking.

“Why?” I asked. “Why come to me? Why not the FBI? Why not a rival family?”

“Because the FBI will put him in a cage,” Ayaan said. “A rival family will start a war that will get civilians killed. I want him gone. I want his operation dismantled from the inside out, piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but ash.”

“What do you get out of it?”

“Freedom for my sister.”

He said the words quietly, but they hit me like a sledgehammer.

“Explain.”

“She’s in danger,” he said, his composure slipping for the first time. A crack in the armor. “I have… debts. Bad debts. With men who don’t care about collateral damage. Lorenzo has been sniffing around. He likes her. He wants her.”

I felt a cold prickle at the base of my spine. I’d seen Freya. I’d seen the way men looked at her. She was a lightning rod for trouble, beautiful and oblivious.

“If Lorenzo gets his hands on the debt, he’ll use her as leverage,” Ayaan continued. “He’ll break her to get to me. I can’t let that happen.”

“So you want me to buy the debt?”

“No. I want you to let me buy it. I’m going to work for you. I’m going to be the best damn soldier he ever had. When he trusts me… when he gives me the keys to the kingdom… I’m going to tear him apart.”

It was madness. It was suicide.

I looked at him—this skinny, desperate kid willing to walk into the lion’s den for a sister who had no idea what was happening.

“You’ll die,” I said.

“Maybe.”

“If you’re caught, you’ll beg for death before they give it to you.”

“I know.”

“If you succeed, what then?”

“Then I disappear, and you make sure Freya is safe. You make sure she never finds out about this. You make sure she lives a normal, happy life, far away from this shit.”

I sat there for a long time, weighing the risks. It was a golden opportunity. A mole in the heart of the enemy’s camp. It could break the back of the Colombo expansion and cement my position as the next Pakhan.

It was also a massive liability. If Ayaan cracked, if he broke under pressure, he could expose the entire Bratva operation.

“I need insurance,” I said.

“You have it.”