Page 165 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

I watch her eyes shift as she does the mental math. The color drains out of her face, and I know she’s thinking what I’m thinking.

“You’ve been throwing up,” I say. “You’re tired. Emotional.”

“I just found out I was your secret mistress and I lost my job,” she hisses. “Of course I’ve been emotional.”

I step forward. She tries to back away, but there’s nowhere for her to go. Her back is pressed against the countertop, pinned in the corner.

I stop in front of her, looking down. “Belle.” My voice is gentle, but she still flinches. “You’re pregnant.”

“I’m not pregnant,” she spits. “I’m not. Because… I can’t be pregnant. I can’t, okay? I’m not. This isn’t happening.”

“Who did you sleep with last?”

She glares at me. “Who?Who?Who the fuck do you think, Nikolai?”

I arch an eyebrow in response, although I have to clasp my hands together behind my back so she doesn’t see them shaking violently at the thought of another man laying so much as a finger on her.

“It was you! You’re the last person.” She crosses her arms tightly over her midsection, almost like she might be able to hide the truth with her arms. “And I should have had a period a month ago… but I was feeling sick and stressed, so I thought I just skipped a month. Maybe I did. Maybe this is nothing.”

“You need to see a doctor.”

“If I want to do that, I’ll do it on my own.”

I ignore her, mind racing already. “You’ll come back to the city with me, and I’ll make an appointment with the best OBGYN there is. Then I can set you up in a nice place with a chef who can make sure you don’t lose any more weight. That can’t be good for the baby.”

“We don’t even know if there is a baby!”

“And Elise will come, too, obviously. You’ll both come with me, and—”

“I’m not coming with you!” Belle shouts. Her eyes dart to the hallway where I assume Elise’s room is, and then she clears her throat. “I’m not coming with you. I’m staying here. It doesn’t matter if I’m pregnant or not. I don’t want to be with you. I’d rather raise this baby on my own.”

“Luckily for the child, you don’t get a choice in that.”

“The hell I don’t! This baby is mine and—”

“This baby ismine,” I growl, cornering her against the counter again. Belle tries to back away from me, but there’s no space. Nowhere for her to go. “This baby is mine. And as long as you’re carrying it, you’re mine, too.”

So much for making her think I don’t care. Then again, I’ve never done “aloof” very well. Tepid isn’t an option. I run hot or cold.

And when it comes to Belle, I’m burning up alive.

40

BELLE

Nikolai’s body is pressed against mine. The hard, flat expanse of his abs and the steel beams of his arms might as well be a cage.

“This baby is mine,” he growls, his gray eyes alight with a possessiveness I’ve never seen before. “And as long as you’re carrying it, you’re mine, too.”

And there it is. The other shoe.

Ever since he showed up outside the bar, I’ve been waiting for it. I’ve been trying to understand why he’s here at all. What has changed since Iceland? Is he going to call things off with Xena? And if not, am I fine with being “the other woman”?

The answers, respectively: nothing, no, and absolutely not.

So back to the original question: why the hell is he here?

And here’s one final answer. He’s here for this. This maybe-baby.

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