Page 71 of Bride of Vengeance

Her phone buzzes. When she reads the message, her face goes pale.

"What is it?"

She hands me the phone with shaking fingers.

Interesting day, Agent Castillo. Or should I say Mrs. Kozlov? You have 48 hours to turn yourself in,or I release everything. Your mother's immigration status is first. - Harrison

The rage that floods through me is ice-cold and absolute. Harrison just threatened my mother-in-law. My family.

He's dead.

No—Not yet. We need him alive, talking. But after that, he’s done. Every instinct in me screams to eliminate the threat.

"How did he know?" Mariana asks. "We were careful—"

"Courthouse records. Morrison probably filed the paperwork immediately, and Harrison has alerts on our names." I'm already dialing Boris. "I need protection on Mariana's mother. Now."

"Mikhail—"

"Non-negotiable." I turn back to the phone. "Two men minimum. Former Spetsnaz if possible. Discreet but thorough."

"You can't put Russian soldiers on my mother!"

"I can and I will." I pocket the phone. "No one threatens our family."

"Our family," she repeats softly. Then her expression hardens. "We have forty-eight hours. We need a plan."

"We have to make Harrison confess," she says, pacing now. "On tape. Undeniable."

"He's too smart for that."

"He's arrogant. Arrogant men make mistakes when they think they've won."

"You want to use yourself as bait."

She stops pacing. "I want to use his assumptions against him. He thinks I'm weak, emotional, that I've been corrupted by you."

"Haven't you been?" I can't help the smirk.

"That's beside the point." She shoots me a look. "He thinks I'm just another federal agent who got in over her head. He has no idea what I'm capable of."

"And if he finds out about the pregnancy?"

"He won't. There's no way for him to know unless we tell him."

"Mariana—"

"No. Don't you dare start the overprotective husband routine now. We're partners or we're nothing."

"We're married. We're definitely something more than that."

"That still doesn't give you the right to sideline me!"

"Carrying my child does!"

The words explode out of me, too loud in the space. She steps back, and I see her hand move unconsciously to her stomach.

"Your child," she says quietly. "Your wife. Your family. What about me and what I want?"