Page 39 of Forced Bratva Hostage

“I’m sorry,” I say, with genuine sympathy. “Your brother is a hard man. He’s always been that way; it’s not just with you. He’s like that with everyone. When I worked for him, he treated everyone like shit.” I shake my head, remembering how much I hated it. Why in the world did I stay with the Enzos for so long? I should have left way before things got as bad as they did. Way before I lost my best friend because of them.

When I look at her again, her eyes are wide as she stares at me in shock.

“You worked for my brother?” she stammers. Her mouth is hanging open and her brows are raised high.

Shit.

Fuck.

Did I really just do that? Giving away information about my past was not on my list of things to do today.

I’m not supposed to let her knowanythingabout me, and now I’ve just blurted out shit about my history with her brother.

“Andrei—did you work for Boris? When? What happened?” she pushes.

My insides go cold.

“You need to get out. I have work to do,” I snap, grabbing her arm and pushing her towards the door.

“Andrei, what did he do—"

“Tatiana, I told you to get out.” I push her right through the door and quickly pull it shut behind her.

She stands on the other side of the glass door, fuming and glaring at me, but I turn my back on her and walk to my desk.

Dammit.

She managed to pull my guard down completely and get some very sensitive information out of me.

I need to be so much more vigilant when I’m around her. She’s dangerous.

She shouldn’t knowanything,as myprisoner.

Why the fuck haven’t I kept her locked away where she can’t get in my way? I’ve been too soft on her.

I let out a sharp, angry breath and sit down at my desk, lifting my laptop open to try and distract myself with work.

I punch out an e-mail, hitting the keys too hard, taking out my frustration on the machine.

I want an update on how the meeting ended.

I should have chased her out of my office right away and carried on with work. Instead, I ended up letting her have all of my attention, andthenI ended up letting her know things about me she shouldn’t.

Chapter 12 - Tatiana

I came in here to tease him a bit, with my dress that is too short and my nonchalant attitude. I wanted to annoy him.

I was even proud of myself when I came up with a decent answer for his business-related question that was meant to embarrass me.

Then, to my surprise, it almost, just for a fraction of a second,felt like we were connecting and having a real conversation.

But that ended abruptly.

Now, I’m outside his office, and my eyes are shooting daggers at him through the closed glass door. He was so quick to shut me out the moment he slipped up and mentioned his past involvement with my half-brother. What did he do for Boris? How long did he work for him? Why did he stop? When did this all happen?

My mind is racing with far too many things, and I can’t get a grip on one single thought.

Fear.