Page 90 of Nash

“He’s fighting it,” Axel interjects.

“I’m not fighting it,” I answer, “because it’s not happening. She’snotmy queen.”

“Son,” Nadine calls me, “you are one sandwich short of a picnic if you think there’s any other woman who is.”

I’m not sharing her.

It’s my fight with Axel, but I won’t say it aloud. It’s disrespectful.

To Nadine, it’s sacred. All queens have two kings. All wives have two husbands, a primary and a second. And all kings protect their queens, while the queens give us a future worth fighting for.

It’s how Nadine escaped Moscow with her six sons—her primary husband, the head of the Russian Bratva, was sadistic and violent, but her second husband, one of his men, truly loved her. He got them out.

Nadine studies me. Axel, too. I keep my face stoic and my mouth shut. I may fight Axel, but not his mom. Not after everything she’s done for me, Alena, and her mom, Lainey.

“It’s only one night.” Nadine reads my mind. “One night, one ceremony, and then she’s all yours until the day you die, and when that happens, she will always be safe and provided for.” She grins tenderly. “I can already see the pretty babies you two will make.”

That punches my heart so hard I have to stifle my inhale.

To make a baby with Vale? To have a family with her? I’ve dared to dream about it.

Nadine points her brow so high. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? To grow your family with her?”

“Ahem.” It hits too hard. “It’s just a dream,” I reply.

“Well, darlin’.” She gestures to the window behind her, to the muffled music and moans below. “It’s my business to make dreams come true; for my sons, it’s my mandate.”

Rising in her blush skirt and jacket trimmed in black with gold buttons, she’s taller than the average woman and still more beautiful than most. You can see why, tragically, an evil man kidnapped her at age fourteen. He forced her to marry him and did every brutal thing to her, but she was tougher. Nadia Kholodov survived, and love made her Nadine Faye.

She tents her French-manicured fingertips over her desk and lowers her honey voice, aiming her tender glare at me.

This woman has given life and proudly taken it. She’s raised her sons and me to do the same. We aren’t evil. We kill evil.

I believe in her. I’m loyal to her.

“Hear me now,” she commands me. “I gave you one of my sons. You know our bond. So you will make Vale Monroe your queen, and then you will tell Alena after her wedding.That’smy mandate.”

Guilt crushes my bones, humility flooding my veins, loyalty pounding my chest. Nadine’s family has given me everything, and we’re about to be bound by blood even more.

It’s the ultimate insult to her, what she endured, and what she fights for now if I break a vow my brothers have made to me.

Yes, one of her sons has given me the ultimate gift. I’m lucky it’s what he wanted, but still, he was willing, so why can’t I be? Why can’t I, for one night, form a bond that will protect Vale? Why can I see a future with her and a family, too, if I’m willing to do this?

Once.

For the first time, I can see how I can finally be happy. I can have the woman I’ve always wanted.

“Nash?” Axel gets my attention. He tents his tattooed fingers, like his mother, but his icy eyes glow warmly. It’s rare. “You’ve always loved her, and now you can have her. Do it. Be happy. Make her yours. Trust me, Alena will understand.”

Something softens his tone, his heart, too. Yes, he has one; he just hides it. It’s all Axel has known: hiding.

But I’ve known him for too long. He’s telling me something about Vale and me.

Or him

…and who?

I want to ask who has claimed his heart, too, but his phone chimes. It’s Grant. I know his unique tone.

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