Page 107 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

Arslan chuckles in the background, but Giorgos Simatou isn’t laughing. He just nods solemnly.

“I hear you, Nikolai. I do. But you went against our deal. On the same day we sat down together, no less.” The frustration is clear in his voice now, but he’s still trying to restrain himself. I still have a gun in my hand, after all. “You disrespected me. You disrespected your wife.”

“She isn’t my wife yet, Giorgos.”

“My sister won’t see how that makes any difference. Xena is prideful. You know this.”

“Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know,” I warn him icily.

“Fine. Then I’ll tell you whatIknow,” he says. “If this deal between us can’t work, then I’ll have no choice but to align with someone else.”

“Come on now, Giorgos,” Arslan calls over. “Be specific. Say it out loud.”

I bite back a smile. Arslan has always had a world-class bullshit detector. He knows as well as I do what Giorgos is saying. The man is just too much of a coward to say it himself.

He sighs. “The Battiato mafia is interested in a partnership. I may not have another choice.”

The name alone has my hackles rising.Fucking Battiatos.“Are they holding a gun to your head, too?” I seethe.

“I’d take a bullet to the head over my sister’s wrath anyday,” Giorgos says with a dark chuckle. “She won’t like that you’ve set your sights on another woman.”

“You don’t know what I’ve set my sights on.”

“I know that woman you were with before—Belle Dowan—was seen leaving Zhukova Incorporated late last night. It’s not difficult to assume what you were doing.”

I ignore that Giorgos was watching my movements again even after I warned him to stop. Mostly because I went back on my word, as well.

But I can’t forgive being shackled like an animal to his sister for the sake of a business deal.

“Your sister is the one who introduced the marriage terms. You have the power to take it away. So do it,” I tell him. “I want to work with you, not your sister.”

“How will I know our union is lasting without the marriage contract?”

I shrug. “You could take comfort in the fact that I’m not spilling your brains on the cement for spying on me again. That’s a mercy I wouldn’t extend to most people.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t. This means too much to my sister. And if marriage means nothing to you, then why not go through with it? Is this girl really so special?”

“This has nothing to do with her,” I snap, loudly enough so Arslan can hear me as well. “This isn’t about a woman; it’s about me. I am not interested in monogamy. Not with your sister or anyone else.”

“I already announced the engagement.”

“So unannounce it,” I snap.

“My sister wouldn’t take the embarrassment well. Actually, she wouldn’t take it all. She’d be on the warpath.”

“Good thing you’re the boss then, right?”

Giorgos smiles, but there’s no humor behind it. “So it would seem.”

“I don’t know many men who are afraid of their sisters,” I remark.

“That’s because you don’t know many Greek women.” Giorgos scrubs a hand down his face and sighs. “Listen, Nikolai, kill me if you have to, but I’m going to be honest with you.”

“Careful with what you say next, Simatou,” Arslan warns. “Step over the line and I’ll kill you myself.”

I wave Arslan off. “No one is dying today. You have my word. Yet another mercy I’m offering.”

“I’ll remember the kindness,” Giorgos says with a small bow. “I can’t renegotiate this deal, and I can’t back out. Not without blood being shed. Not without retribution.”

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