Page 195 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“I’m afraid not.”

“When?”

I think back to the two men at Giorgos’s house refusing to let me see him. At the time, the way they wouldn’t refer to Giorgos as their don struck me as odd, but not noteworthy.

Now, it makes sense—they already knew he was dead.

“That’s what we’re here to ask you,” Howard cuts in. “Anything you’d like to tell us?”

I frown. “You think I had something to do with this?”

Granted, if I’d found Giorgos two nights ago, there’s no telling what would have happened. He’d come after Belle—or so I’d thought—and I might have killed him just because I was in a shitty mood.

But the important fact remains: I didn’t. I didn’t even see the man.

“Listen, Nikolai,” Andrews sighs. “We have surveillance footage of you at Giorgos’s house the night he died. We have a view of his front drive. You kicked down his door.”

“It was already open when I kicked it,” I correct. “And I’m sure the security footage inside is conveniently missing. No one saw what went on in the foyer?”

“There were no cameras inside.”

I snort. “Of course there were. But whoever is orchestrating this was smart enough to get rid of them. How else would they frame me?”

“You’re saying you didn’t do it?” Andrews asks.

“We have witnesses testifying to troubles between you and Giorgos,” Howard adds. “You recently called off your wedding to his sister, didn’t you?”

“That’s when I last spoke to him. I called him the day I was supposed to marry Xena. When I went to his house two nights ago, he wasn’t there. My guess is he was already dead.”

“How convenient,” he scoffs. I turn my gaze on the young detective and his face reddens. Still, he shrugs and adds, “We all know you aren’t as upstanding as you appear.”

Andrews pats the man on the back. “Mr. Zhukova is innocent until proven guilty.”

“Aren’t we all.” I raise my eyebrows suggestively. “You have skeletons in your closet, too, I bet.”

Andrews winces. He knows who really writes his paychecks.

“Gentlemen,” I say, “listen. I called off my wedding to Giorgos’s sister. He was upset about it. I went to talk to him. He wasn’t there. I talked to two of his men who, in retrospect, seemed suspicious. You should talk to Giorgos’s employees if you want to know what’s going on. And the new boss while you’re at it.”

“Who is the new boss?” Andrews inquires.

I shrug. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have shown up on a dead man’s doorstep trying to talk to him, would I?”

Howard grimaces. “Why should we believe you?”

“You shouldn’t,” I say. “But talk to the night manager at Freewald Rehabilitation House. I bet they have security cameras, too. You’ll see me there when I was supposedly twenty minutes across town killing Giorgos.”

Andrews is scribbling across a notepad in his hand. “That’s your alibi?”

“No, that’s the truth. Plus, you know the rumors about the Greeks, don’t you?”

“About Giorgos killing his parents?” Howard asks.

Andrews shoots his partner a dirty look. He tries to feign ignorance about most of the criminal organizations in the city. As long as his checks clear, he doesn’t want to know shit. Apparently, Howard doesn’t have the same hang-ups.

I nod. “Rumor is he killed them to claim power. Maybe this is history repeating itself. So if you want my opinion, I say you track down whoever is in charge now. I bet you’ll find a trail of blood.”

The interview is as good as over after that. I know better than to answer any more questions without my lawyer present, so Andrews and Howard slink out as quickly as they arrived.

---