Page 68 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

Nikolai frowns as he pushes his hair away from his forehead. A gold watch on his wrist catches the light. Underneath it, I see the edges of a tattoo peeking out.

I don’t know if Nikolai is a rich businessman trying to play with the bad boys or if he’s a crime boss in his own right.

But I don’t want to find out.

15

NIKOLAI

“A formal invitationandpastries?” Arslan says gleefully, settling into the seat across from me and grabbing an apple fritter from the box on my desk. “How rare. I’m honored.”

“Don’t thank me. Bridget bought them.”

Bridget showed up with the pastries about ten minutes after Belle left. “The accountant told me you wanted them,” she said when I looked at her blankly. “She said you trusted my taste. Do you not like these? I just thought…”

I almost laughed. Belle read Bridget like a book. The woman has been throwing herself at me since I hired her. I wondered why she wasn’t breaking my door down to apologize for letting Giorgos in to see me, and now, I have my answer: because Belle diverted her attention.

Smart girl.

“Well, I already had one asshole in my office today,” I tell Arslan. “Why not add another?”

Arslan frowns, his temperament shifting in an instant. “Who?”

“Who do you think?”

He sighs. “What is Giorgos thinking? The man is going to get himself killed one of these days.”

“I told him as much when he called me last night.”

Arslan tosses me a worried look, just as I knew he would. “I’m all ears as soon as you’re ready to elaborate.”

“He as good as told me he’s having me followed,” I explain. “I told him that if I catch any of his men tailing me, I’ll kill them. And him along with them. He should feel grateful I gave him a warning.”

“Fuck. But the deal is still on?”

“As long as Xena isn’t too upset about me being out with Belle last night.”

Arslan blinks a few times before slowly dragging a hand down his face. “I take one night off and the shit hits the fan. What were you doing out with the accountant last night?”

“Believe it or not, my intentions were pure.”

He snorts. “Of all the lies you’ve ever told, that might be the least believable.”

“Her sister got involved with some shithead punk I hired at the hotel. It was my duty to make it right.”

“Oh yeah, totally. Because you’re so well-known for righting your wrongs.”

I arch a brow. “I’m all ears as soon as you’re ready to elaborate,” I drawl.

“I’m saying you don’t do a damn thing that doesn’t benefit you or the Bratva. And we love you for it,” he adds hastily. “It’s how you rebuilt your family name from the ground up. It’s why you’re the big man now. So color me shocked to hear you were out doing acts of service last night.”

He isn’t wrong. If anyone asks me for a favor, I quote them a price. But with Belle, I didn’t even hesitate to step in.

“She has our books. If I want her to help cover our tracks, I can’t let her sister get date raped by someone with my signature on their paychecks. It doesn’t exactly foster feelings of goodwill.”

“That’s what fucking her is for,” he retorts. “That fosters a lot of goodwill.”

“And that’s why you’re single.”

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