Page 129 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“They denied you?”

She nods, but I can see in her face that there’s something else. Something she isn’t saying.

So when she reaches for the notebook, I pull it back again. “I want the whole story,lapochka.”

“It doesn’t even matter,” she mumbles. “It was so long ago. A dead dream.”

I tap the notebook. “It doesn’t seem dead.”

“Well, it is,” she snaps. “One of the professors on the board wanted me to sleep with him in exchange for the scholarship, and I refused. So it was over before it even began. It’s fine.”

My chest tightens with rage. “Fuck that. It’s not fine at all.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear self-consciously. “It is. I’m over it.”

“Well, I’m not. Who was the man?”

Her eyes widen. “I’m not telling you his name.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll kill him!” she blurts. “Or… I don’t know. But it won’t be good. And there’s no point. I got a different degree, a different job. It’s fine.”

“There’s always time to start over.”

“Starting over takes more than time,” she says. “I have Elise to think about now. I can’t waste my life living in a daydream, pretending that I have a picture-perfect family that lives in a picture-perfect house. I have to live in the real world. And in the real world, I need money. So in the real world, I’m an accountant.”

“Is that why you wanted your dad to buy you that dollhouse? So you could pretend it was where you all lived?”

Her hazel eyes are glassy now. Without meaning to, I stepped into a touchy subject.

She holds out her hand. “You said you’d give it back.”

“You’re right. I did.”

She steps forward, reaching for the notebook. But just before she can grab it, I yank it away and tear out her latest drawing.

“Hey!” she shouts. “That’s mine!”

“It’s mine now.”

“You said you’d give it back.”

I hold out the black notebook. “I said I’d give the notebook back. And I am. But the drawing is mine.”

She’s twitching angrily for a second. Then, with a scowl, Belle snatches her notebook back and spins on her heel.

“Where are you going?”

“To see if Elise wants breakfast,” she says. “Because I have responsibilities, remember? Dependents. I can’t sit around playing house with you all day.”

She grumbles something else I can’t hear, then a door slams closed.

I fold the sketch and slide it into my back pocket. My cock is hard and my hands are trembling.

But just as I turn to head towards the small office off the living room, I hear Belle scream.

“Nikolai!”

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