Page 19 of Brutal Reign (Bratva Kings #3)

“What?” Roman’s voice drops to something dangerously quiet, his entire frame going rigid.

“I didn’t implant the chip.” I hold each of their stares, refusing to look away. “I made a call that Hope was innocent, that she didn’t deserve to live her entire life under our watch.”

“Innocent?” Niko slams a palm down on the desk in front of him. “She’s about to marry Simon Lau in three fucking days.”

I drag a hand over my face, but what I really want to do is throw my fist through the wall.

“Christ, Pavel.” Maxim’s tone cuts deep. “We’ve been operating under the assumption you could find her if needed.”

Roman’s mouth flattens. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

I sigh, feeling the full weight of my failure.

“I wanted to protect her. The woman I followed in London was surviving on scraps, working in a shitty pub and living alone in a flat the size of our closets. She wasn’t a danger.

She wanted nothing to do with this life.

Maybe I was stupid, but I made the only choice I could live with at the time. I was wrong, and that’s on me.”

The room goes quiet. Maxim exhales slowly. Roman looks away. Even Vadim’s jaw ticks, like he’s biting back judgment.

“Anyhow, we need to consider another possibility.” Eva stands, breaking the tension. “From everything our intel tells us about Simon, he’s ruthless and power hungry. It’s possible Hope is being forced to marry him.”

That thought makes something dangerous stir beneath my ribs.

“Or Hope joined up with Simon and is following in her father’s footsteps,” Romans spits out.

“Maybe they fell in love?” Nikolai adds with a shrug. “Stranger things have happened.”

My hands ball into fists, and I feel a dull throb take hold at the base of my neck.

Anything is possible. Hope could be a victim, or she could be the instigator. I don’t know which truth is worse, but I’m going to find out.

“We’re wasting time debating,” Vadim says, pulling out his phone. “I still have intelligence contacts in Hong Kong from my Special Forces days. Give me a few hours, and I’ll sniff out where the wedding’s taking place.”

Some of the tension eases, but Roman’s disappointment radiates from across the room. I raise an eyebrow and stare him down. If he has a problem, he can say it to my face.

Nikolai rises from his seat, stretching out tired muscles. “Assuming Vadim gets us a location for the wedding, what’s the plan?”

“Break up the wedding and take the happy couple as prisoners. I’d like to have a thorough chat with both of them,” Maxim says, his tone cold.

I don’t fucking like the thought of taking Hope as a prisoner, but at least it means keeping her alive until I can figure out what’s actually going on.

Niko nods grimly. “Vadim, Eva, and I will pull together everything we need to fly out to HK tomorrow.”

Once the room clears out, we say goodbye to Maxim. I know he’s pissed, but he’s not the type to dwell on past mistakes when there’s work to be done.

Roman, on the other hand, is my partner, and I put him in a shitty position. It’s why I’m not shocked when he turns to me and drives his fist into my face. The impact sends me staggering backward, my vision swimming.

I work my jaw, testing for damage. “I deserved that,” I admit. “And for the record, I didn’t exactly lie to you. I was going to insert the tracker, but in the moment, I couldn’t do it. I just never updated you on that fact.”

“That’s a lie by omission.” Roman’s eyes narrow, and his stance goes rigid. “What happened with you and Hope in London? You weren’t the same person when you came home.”

I scrub a hand over my jaw, feeling the stubble rasp against my palm. We’ve bled together, killed together, and built our lives from nothing. I owe him the truth.

“I slept with her.”

“You did what?”

“Save the lecture,” I say, pressing my thumb to the bridge of my nose. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I got close to her for the job, but then… something about her messed with my head.”

Roman’s face darkens like a storm rolling in. “Tell me you didn’t compromise the mission so you could fuck some triad princess.”

“I didn’t compromise anything,” I say through gritted teeth. “She doesn’t know who I really am.”

“It was still reckless.”

I won’t argue with him there, but what’s done is done.

Roman shakes his head, watching me closely. “Is she why you haven’t fucked anyone else in five years?”

I shrug defensively. “Didn’t realize you were keeping count.”

“It was pretty hard not to notice that you’ve turned down every invitation to fuck in the last five years. And I’ll hand it to you, man, you’ve had plenty of opportunities.”

“No one seemed all that interesting.” After Hope, that is.

Roman runs a hand down the back of his neck.

“I know you’ve been dealing with a lot after finding out how Kamilla really died and everything.

I get it. We all go through shit, but you have to get your head in the game.

If we’re going to fight the Black Company, you have to be willing to do what needs to be done. ”

“I’m good,” I assure him, straightening to my full height. “I know what needs to be done.”

He stares at me for a few beats longer. “I sure as hell hope so.”

After Roman leaves, I sit alone in the empty office, staring at a blank wall.

For years, I’ve thrown myself into work—expanding our counterfeit operations across three continents, taking the most dangerous assignments.

Anything to keep my mind off her. But she’s always there, lurking at the edges of my thoughts.

I’ve turned down every woman who’s shown interest, pretending I was too busy, too focused.

The truth is, no one else has ever measured up to her memory.

What Hope and I shared that night wasn’t only physical; it was the first time I’d felt anything real in years. She looked at me like I was a man worth saving instead of a monster worth fearing. That kind of connection doesn’t come around twice in a lifetime.

Whether she’s marrying Simon by choice or by force, the outcome is the same.

I’m stopping that wedding. And when the smoke clears, Hope King will be mine.