Page 200 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“I was wrong.” I grab Elise’s hand. Xena shifts slightly. I follow the motion to see her fingers hovering over a gun wedged between her seat and the center console. A silent threat. “Nikolai will look out for you. But you have to get out of here now.”

“No. Not without you,” Elise says firmly.

“We don’t have time for this,” Xena snarls. She hoists up the gun and points it at my stomach. “Your big sister isn’t going anywhere. Get out of the car while you still can.”

Elise’s face turns deathly pale. Her mouth opens and closes, but nothing comes out.

A tear slips down my cheek. “I’m so sorry, Elise.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not going—”

“Move!” Xena booms. Whatever charade she was playing before is over now.

Elise jolts. I squeeze her hand one last time. Hopefully not thelastlast time, though. Just the last time for a little while.

“I’ll be okay. Just go. I’ll see you later.”

I have no clue if I’m telling her the truth or not, and I can see that Elise isn’t sure, either. But she listens. With tears in her eyes, she gets out of the car on shaky legs and steps up onto the curb.

The second the door is shut, Xena slams on the gas. “Touching,” she seethes mockingly as the engine screams. “Nothing like a sibling bond.”

“I’m sure you and Giorgos are just as affectionate,” I bite back. “Scheming to kill people must really bring you two together.”

Xena snorts. “Please. I did the scheming. Giorgos just followed along.”

I try to breathe through my pounding headache, my surging fear. “This is a scheme, isn’t it? Right now? Nikolai probably doesn’t even know I worked with you.”

Xena scoffs. “It was too easy to even be called that. You trusted me so much. You didn’t even ask any questions. I told you to run, and you said, ‘How fast?’”

“Stupid,” I mutter. “I was so stupid.”

“You really were. I have no fucking clue what Nikolai saw in you. I mean, he was willing to throw away our deal and go to war…for you.It’s beyond comprehension.”

So much for women supporting women.

“So does Giorgos know you’re here with me?” I ask. “Does Nikolai know? This is some kind of blackmail plan, I’m sure. So will there be a ransom?”

My thoughts immediately turn towards Elise. What will happen to her without me? She’ll probably be sent back to our mother, which breaks my heart.

But I can’t think about any of this right now. Survival is most important.

“Everyone underestimates me,” Xena says finally. “I'm a woman, so what could I know about leading a mafia? Women have carried the world on our backs since the dawn of time, but we can't be trusted to make important decisions or, God forbid, tell a man what to do. No one ever expected sweet, pretty, docile Xena to be calling the shots."

"What about your brother?"

"He's the exception," she admits. "But only because he was fucking clueless."

"‘Was’?" I ask, not missing her use of the past tense.

"My brother never wanted to lead. He never knew how to. He could puff out his chest with the best of them, but when it came to the moments that truly mattered, he folded. Even before he became don, he came to me for advice. He swore I'd be his second-in-command."

"And were you?"

She nods. "Secretly. Because unlike so many men in this world, I don't need the recognition. Spare me the gold busts and towering statues. I'm fine with creeping behind the scenes and wielding the real power."

We're still driving way too fast, but the roads are widening and the traffic is thinning out. We're moving out of the city now. I want to ask where we're going, but I know she won't tell me. Part of me doesn't even want to know.

"The thirst for power must run in the family," I say. "Your brother killed your parents so he could inherit the Bratva, right?"

---