Page 201 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

"Giorgos?" Xena laughs. "That rumor always killed me. Forgive the bad pun. The fact that people think he’d have the guts to do something like that… Baffling.”

“I wouldn’t say you need guts to kill your parents. More like a diagnosable mental disorder,” I mumble.

Xena snaps her attention to me. “Idid it.”

I practically swallow my tongue with shock. “Youkilled your parents?”

“And God, I made it hurt. So it looked like an enemy carried it out,” she says. “Giorgos couldn’t handle the sight. He stayed outside and kept watch. I did everything myself.Ikilled our parents and handed him the crown.Iarranged the details of the deal with Nikoali. ThenIshot up the club where he and Arslan were drinking after I found out he was seen dancing with you.”

“You tried to kill him?” Nikolai never told me that.

“He’d been warned what being with you meant for our deal. But he didn’t seem to take it seriously. I decided to up the stakes. Of course, all that did was send the two of you off to Iceland together.” Her nostrils flare. “He was insistent on embarrassing me.”

“But I thought there were no feelings between the two of you? You said it was an arranged marriage.”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll let myself be made a fool of!” she screeches. “The fact that my future husband would prefer to be in the arms of some penniless accountant instead of me? It’s ridiculous. But I’m sure if I was a naive little whore like you, he’d be a lot more interested.”

“He’s not with me because I’m young,” I spit. “It’s because we’re in love.”

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize how ill-advised they were. I fight the urge to clamp my hand over my mouth.

Xena turns to me slowly, her eyes narrowing to slits. “Then I was right to make my move now instead of waiting. Giorgos thought I was being rash. He wanted to try to talk to Nikolai again. Toreasonwith the son of a bitch.”

“Maybe he’s right,” I protest weakly. “Nikolai would be willing to work with you, I’m sure. You can come up with a new plan.”

“This is the new plan! The first plan was to marry Nikolai and then kill him when the opportunity presented itself. A honeymoon hike to the cliffs, thenoops,he slipped. How tragic.”

My heart squeezes uncomfortably. And I was just going to let Nikolai get married. For weeks, I sat at home, miserable and missing him, but I was just going to let him get married to another woman.

A woman who planned to kill him.

The thought is enough to steal my breath. Nikolai’s death would have been unbearable then. But now… it would kill me, too.

“What did your brother think about that?”

“He wasn’t a fan,” Xena sighs like she’s bored. “That’s why I killed him first.”

We’re on the far edge of the city now. Soon, there will be nothing but open country around us.

“You’ll never get to Nikolai,” I tell her. “He’s stronger than you. Smarter than you.”

Xena shrugs. “I guess we’ll see. You certainly wouldn’t be the first to underestimate me. And Nikolai doesn’t even know I’m in charge now. That’s an advantage. An advantage that will probably help me get close to him. Close enough to do what needs doing.”

Xena’s eyes are on the road, lost in her plotting and completely unaware that she’s done to me exactly what has been done to her her entire life. She has underestimated me.

I may not be born and bred for the Bratva lifestyle. I may not be Xena, always ready with a plan and prepared for what is coming around the next corner.

But I have something she doesn’t have: a heart.

And it belongs to Nikolai Zhukova.

Xena presses on the gas, accelerating through the next turn, and I don’t hesitate. In one fluid movement, I unbuckle my seatbelt and throw myself across the center console.

She shouts in alarm as I smash into her side. I feel the car jerk, the steering wheel spinning wildly.

It’s a chaos of tangled limbs. But for the first time since getting in the car, I’m calm. My heartbeat is strong and steady.

And it’s his.

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