Page 40 of The Bratva's Innocent Forbidden Bride
She accepted and took a long, grateful sip of the coffee I poured over a glass full of ice. “Ah, thanks, that hits the spot.” She instantly turned business-like. “Do you mind taking a look at these pictures to see if any of them are your shooter?”
“Not at all,” I said, desperate to be helpful and starving for a breakthrough that would get me closer to saving Papa. “I mean, he’s not mine, though. He killed Kon’s guard and tried to kill us.”
She tutted and shook her head. “I can’t believe he took you with him to a stakeout like that. Ninety-nine percent of the time nothing ever happens, but when it does…”
“Please don’t say things like that to him. He’ll never let me—” I cut myself off. CJ might not know all the details about me being there, or that I was essentially a prisoner. I preferred her to think I was on their side.
I was, in a way. At least until we found Papa. Then it was everyone for themselves.
As I pored over the pictures, I tentatively asked if she knew why the men were shooting at us. Perhaps I’d get some information out of her without her knowing she was sharing too much.
She sighed. “I know we’re looking for your father, and I know he’s working with the Yakuza, who want to kill Kon. And take over my husband’s family’s territory.”
Okay, not on the same side at all.
“Do you just believe Kon without knowing all the facts?” I asked, shoving aside a group of pictures that didn’t includeanyone I recognized. “Are you going to help condemn an innocent man?”
CJ didn’t look offended by my outburst. Instead, she gave me a slightly pitying look. “I adore my husband. Mat would jump in front of a bullet for me, and I’d do the same for him.” She smiled slightly as if lost in a memory. “But it wasn’t always like that. I wanted to gnaw off my arm to get away from him in the beginning.”
Despite my rush of anger, I was drawn in and waited while she took another sip of her iced coffee. Now her smile was gone, and she blinked away sudden moisture from her eyes. “My father sold me to him,” she said, spitting out the words as if they tasted bad.
“What?” I asked, horrified. “What kind of father would do that?”
“Mine,” she said with a half shrug. “And before that happened, I believed he hung the moon. He gave me everything I ever wanted, well, almost. He was never unkind. He was my hero. And none of it was real. The man he really was came out when he was on the verge of losing everything. If Mat hadn’t been the wonderful man he is… well, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now.”
“I’m sorry your father was like that,” I said. “And I see that you’re trying to make a point. But—”
She stopped me by patting my hand. “I never believed it could be possible either.”
I withdrew my hand and pulled over the next batch of pictures, studying the faces and trying to get myself under control, not sure if I wanted to cry or scream. What if…
No. There was no way CJ was right. My father wasn’t a monster like hers. Money, reputation, or even his own life would never be more important to him than me.
“I understand what you’re feeling,” she said after I shoved that group of photos aside. “And I hope you’re right, I really do. One thing I do know, though, is that Kon will keep you safe. No matter what.” She sighed. “Unless…”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence. Unless my father had done exactly what he was being accused of, setting Kon up to be killed and making off with a load of money. CJ was trying her best to be nice, but made it clear whose side she was on. No one in the Fokin family trusted my father or me.
But they were all I had right now, and despite the fact I’d already looked at more than a dozen pictures, I took the seemingly useless chore seriously and pulled over some more. The first three I glossed over. Too old, too fat, too bald, nowhere near the appearance of the shooter. The fourth made me pause, and I leaned closer, then just as quickly pretended to move onto the fifth while my eyes lingered on the man I knew to be the shooter.
I had seen him at our house in Moscow at least a month before Papa disappeared. Things were going so well in Tokyo that he’d invited some of the Japanese businessmen for a tour, and this man was among the ones who came for dinner.
I was rarely invited to play hostess when the guests were among the criminal element that Papa did business with, so I assumed they were just ordinary CEOs he was wining and dining. I shoved the photos away and mixed them in with the others.
“I recognized him,” I said, leaning back and refusing to glance at the photos for fear my eyes would give the answer away.
“Oh, fantastic,” CJ breathed, looking down at the jumble of pictures with a frown. “Which one? This will make finding him so much easier.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Not without getting some answers of my own.”
With a huff, CJ rose and hurried back to Kon’s office. He stormed out, leaving her in his wake, his eyes blazing with fury. “What do you mean you’re not going to tell us who it is?”
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms and giving him back a glare as fiery as his own. “I will, but not until you promise not to shut me out. And if you don’t keep your word, then you’re exactly the kind of man you say you hate.”
There. Would he betray his promise to me? The way he was looking at me, I should have been more worried about living through the next five minutes.
Chapter 24 - Konstantin
Damn this stubborn woman, who was nothing like the meek mouse I once believed her to be. But she had me over a barrel, because we were at a dead end, with no more leads to follow. Was I willing to break my word and shut her out, like she feared?
