Page 196 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

The second they’re gone, I pick up my phone.

Arslan answers on the second ring. “The detectives have been asking around about you,” he says. “No one has said anything, obviously. Anything I should know?”

“Get to my house.Now,” I hiss. “Call an additional security team to check on Belle and Elise.”

I hear shuffling on his end as he shifts me to speaker and starts tapping out a message on his phone. He’s carrying out my order before he even knows why.

“What the fuck is going on, Nikolai?”

“Giorgos is dead, and I suspect the Greeks are under new leadership.”

“Who?”

“Fuck if I know,” I say. “But we’d be stupid not to assume this has something to do with us. Their new leader is trying to frame me. Which means that until we have this all sorted, I don’t want Belle out of our sight.”

Arslan curses under his breath. “I’m on it. I’ll head to your house myself right now.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

I hang up and grab my keys, but before I’m even out the door, my phone rings again.

“What?” I answer, assuming it’s Arslan calling me back.

But instead of Arslan’s deep grumble, I’m met with Xena Simatou’s grating voice. “Is that how you greet your ex-fiancée?”

“No, you’re right. How about ‘Good riddance,’ instead?”

“Always the charmer, Nikolai.”

“Why are you calling? I’ve just heard your brother is dead. Shouldn’t you be mourning?”

“You know as well as I do that there’s no time for mourning. Not in the lives we lead.”

I sigh. “What is this about, Xena?”

“This is a warning. Not that you deserve it,” she snipes. “You know, I was already in my wedding dress when you called it off. I was ready to walk down the aisle. You don’t think you could have given me some more forewarning?”

“You knew I didn’t want to get married. Don’t act surprised.”

“But I am. It’s not like you to let your emotions take the wheel,” she says. She pauses, then adds, “Is she worth all of this?”

I grit my teeth together as I see red in my vision. “Don’t talk about her.Ever.”

She chuckles. “Fine. Then I’ll be brief: Giorgos’s second-in-command has taken over. They’re working with the Battiato mafia. Prepare for war.”

Before I can say anything, Xena hangs up the phone.

49

BELLE

It’s been hours, but I’m still riding high from the doctor’s appointment, scrolling through the sonogram pictures the doctor’s office emailed. Nikolai took the ones they printed out. I won’t be surprised if our baby’s first sonogram ends up framed in his office next to my sketches.

The thought makes me unbelievably giddy. I’m grinning when my phone rings.

It’s an unknown number, but I know with a sickening drop in my stomach that it’s Xena.

“Hello?”

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