Page 99 of Owned Bratva Bride

I held my robe close to my body as I barreled down to the study.

His rejection stung like a bitch.

Thinking that I kept reaching out to him shattered my pride. It was painful how he looked at me like we were strangers.

I banged the study door as I went in, not in the least concerned that it was night. I was about to sit on one of the chairs at the far end of the room when I heard the shattering of glass.

A hand came over my mouth as I turned toward the broken window.

Oh, no!

I didn’t know whether the blunt pain I felt was on the back of my head or my neck. All I felt was the heaviness before all went dark.

Chapter 20 – Eduard

“The texts have been deleted. The whole thread, including the one in the surveillance video,” Viktor answered.

“It has to be retrieved,” I demanded without a second thought. “Call Yves and have him retrieve them. As soon as possible.”

Viktor was the closest thing to a techie among my men. So if he couldn’t get access to the texts, I needed a professional.

I had noticed Marielle looking around for her phone in our bedroom. Of course, the atmosphere between us wasn’t warm enough for her to ask me. I didn’t feel good about withholding the location of the phone, but I had to do it. She didn’t leave me with any other choice.

“Okay, Boss.”

He turned around to leave before returning.

“Boss, Tiara and Jim are waiting to see you. They came shortly after you arrived, but you asked not to be disturbed.”

Truth was, I still didn’t want to entertain visitors, business or not. But the hours I’d spent cooped up hadn’t given me any answers so far. The message from ‘L’ still nagged me. I had been observing her silently, but all that gave me was more tightness in my chest.

So I told him, “Let them in.”

The nonidentical twins had their usual serious expressions on their faces as they entered.

“Eduard Yezhov, long time no deal,” Tiara greeted, going ahead of her brother to the leather couch.

“Hello, Tiara. Jim,” I returned. “It’s a temporary pause. You know how it is.”

“Hi, Eduard. We thought we’d have to jump on your Porsche tonight to see you,” Jim said, bringing a hand on the couch behind his sister.

“I was busy.”

“We’re here now. Period,” Tiara pointed out. “We have a deal for you.”

“Do you remember the huge delivery made late last year? Three trailers of heavy metal,” Jim uttered, sitting upright.

“Of course,” I replied.

“The guys who worked on most of them want to enlarge their scale. They’re German, with a small cartel over there. They’ve been getting tons of clients and some government hands, too. But they don’t have the capacity,” Jim explained.

“They don’t have that space. But what they need more is financial partnership,” Tiara continued.

“A loan?”

“Surely not. Why would I ask anyone to borrow from you? They aren’t that desperate,” she answered.

“What they need is someone to stock them up with the unassembled machinery they need. They remake, reassemble, and customize as usual. Then they sell to their clients. So, we thought of you. You’re our biggest supplier. Been for years,” Jim disclosed.