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Hazel told me that there was someone in the Bratva collaborating with the police.
My stomach turns as I look up at Ivan and bite my bottom lip. Could this entire situation have been avoided if I had told him about the informant earlier?
I must tell him now.
“There is an informant within the Bratva,” I say, shifting out of his lap and kneeling in front of him on the bed. “Hazel called me the day after the wedding. I’ve been trying to figure out the right time to tell you. I was going to on the plane, but you were busy with that call and then you had more calls and had to leave for that meeting last night.”
“What the fuck does Hazel know?” Ivan’s tone is sharp as his eyes narrow. He exhales slowly before getting out of bed and pacing across the floor.
“She has looked through her mother’s files. She knows you are the Pakhan of the Bratva, but she believes we married for love. She wanted to know if there was anything that could bite me in the ass. Instead, she found out that someone within your organization works with the cops.”
“Fuck!” He interlaces his fingers behind his head and stares at the ceiling. “We’re going back to New York right now. I need to find that bastard before he ruins us.”
“Ivan, there’s more,” I say quietly. My voice wavers, but I stand up anyway and put my hand on his chest stopping his pacing for a moment to make sure he’s listening. “It’s someone from your close family circle.”
Ivan spins away from me, his face a mask of rage. He grabs a vase and throws it across the room. The vase smashes against the wall and shatters into a hundred tiny pieces. I watch him with wide eyes, my heart hammering against my chest.
There is no way I can tell him that I believe that it is Nik. Not when he's in that kind of rage.
If I want him to believe that Nik is the informant, then I need to find proof.
Chapter 18 - Ivan
It’s been a few days in New York, and I haven't gotten any closer to sniffing out the snitch than the first day we came back.
Sighing, I close my eyes and lean back against the seat in the car while I wait for my wife. I’ve hardly seen her in the last few days. I spend all the free time I have with my men.
However, there is little good that it is doing. Sophia said it was someone from my family, but Nik would never betray me. He would never cooperate with the police. Lev is only interested in me succeeding. When I lost my father two years ago, Lev was there to support me.
It could be Roman.
Although Roman has done nothing but stand by my side since we were young, he is also the person who has the most access to me. He’s been there for every big deal. He's there for important meetings and when I need to clear potential threats out of the way, he does the job for me.
There’s more than enough information he could feed to the police to get me locked away for a very long time if he wanted to.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath. It’s not easy to be around him every day when suspicion is buzzing around in my head.
Roman’s been nothing but loyal.
Only in the last few weeks has he disappeared without an explanation. One moment he is still in a meeting with me, and as soon as we have left, he disappears. I assumed he was taking care of other areas of the business, but it was time I thought about what he could have been doing instead.
Damn, he was supposed to come with us to LA. Although he stayed behind to keep the Bratva at bay while I was gone, he had first asked to stay behind because of a family emergency. I squeeze my eyes shut. I need to start looking at him more critically. As much as I want to trust him and believe he would never betray me, I know the world we live in. At the end of the day, everyone is looking out for themselves. The men in the Bratva are ruthless bastards because they have to be. Roman is no exception.
I cannot trust my own shadow in this world. What makes me think I can trust Roman completely?
I open my eyes with a groan and run my hands over my face. First, my men started a problem with the Italians. Then I find out that someone on the inside is working against me. The same suspicious people are at the center of both problems.
I have no idea yet who has turned against me, but I will find out. When I do, they will regret the day they decided to fuck with me and hurt my wife.
Not only are they trying to lock me away forever, but they are also endangering Sophia. There's no way I’m going to let that happen. I swore to protect her, and I’ve already failed to do so once.
I’m not going to fail again.
The front door opens as I try to keep myself from spiraling too deep down the rabbit hole to find out who's trying to screw me. Tonight was supposed to be a good night. I should be relaxing with my family. But that’s hard to do when one of them is betraying me.
Get it together and try to have a good night with Sophia.
Damn, she is gorgeous! My eyes follow every curve of her figure as she walks to the car, her heels clicking against the concrete steps. Her lilac dress is simple, the neckline cutting across her collarbones while the back drapes low. It flares out slightly just above her knees, looking timeless and elegant as she opens the door and slides into the car.
