Page 58 of The Wrong Brother
His jaw tightens.
“Who did this to you?”
The question isn’t really a question. And I don’t have to give an answer, because I know he can read it on my face.
And suddenly I have the horrifying feeling that this morning, in the back of a white SUV, Andrei Cheney sealed his fate.
Chapter 14
Ruslan
The bruise changes everything.
One second I’m irritated that Emma disappeared for half the morning without checking in. The next, all I can see is the shape of fingerprints darkening her wrist. Someone put their hands on her.
My pulse drops. It does not rise. It drops.
The dangerous kind of calm settles over me.
“Emma.”
She looks distinctly alarmed by my tone. She should be, because whatever happens next will not be civilized.
I take another step forward, closing the already thin distance between us.
“Who.”
Her throat moves.
“Rus—”
“Who.”
The word comes out sharper this time. More Russian than English. MorePakhanthan businessman.
Emma glances toward the bedroom like she’s considering escape. Interesting. Very interesting.
She’s seen me angry before. Yet somehow, she looks more concerned now.
“Say something.”
She exhales slowly.
“Andrei.”
I stare at her. She stares back. Waiting. Perhaps wondering if she should run.
A reasonable instinct.
“Andrei.”
Emma nods. “He took me. Not for—I don’t think he was planning on?—”
For one brief second, I genuinely don’t understand the sentence. Then it clicks, and the room goes cold.
“What.”
“He grabbed me outside a coffee shop. Or, he had one of his men do it.” Her brow knits as she relives the memory. “I’ve never seen those kind of men with him before. I don’t even know how he found me.”
