Page 84 of Ivory Oath

Again.

“You tell me by fucking telling me,” I snarl.

She flinches and I back away from her. For the first time in my life, I’m worried I’ll hurt her.

Hours and hours of conversations play back in my head. I search through every word, trying to understand how we ended up here.

“Mikhail, I?—”

“Is that what the cabin was about?” I snap.

It makes sense now. Of course there was some dark underbelly. No moment in my life can exist without one. Dante almost drowning wasn't enough, apparently. There had to be more. There had to be worse.

She blinks at me, softly shaking her head. “The cabin was—No! I don’t even know what that means. The cabin was just… us. It was perfect.”

“It was the perfect cover for you to get pregnant if you weren’t already.” I hate the words the moment they’re out of my mouth, but I can’t reel them back now. It’s too late. “Is that what happened? You lied to me about being pregnant. When it worked, you decided to make it real. You needed a baby to keep me close.”

She clutches at her chest like I hit her. In a way, I did. “Mikhail!” she gasps. “No! I didn't. I wouldn’t.” She looks horrified at the suggestion, but it wouldn’t be the first time her acting had me fooled.

“You did. And now, you’re realizing it didn’t work and you have to come clean,” I continue numbly. My throat burns like I’m spewing acid. It might as well be, based on the way Viviana stumbles back.

“You really think I’d do that to you?” she asks with a quiet kind of horror.

I don’t know what to think. About anything.

“I’ll cancel the appointment.”

“Mikhail…” She reaches for me, but I’m already out of the bathroom. I’m already pushing through the door of our bedroom.

Our family was the one thing I thought I got right.

Now, I don’t even have that.

36

MIKHAIL

Anatoly and Raoul are loading the car when I step into the garage wearing a suit. “You’re a little overdressed for a meeting with your realtor.” Anatoly eyes me warily, already suspecting what I’m going to say.

The plan was for me to be seen at coffee with my realtor. I'd be spotted signing documents for the new location of Cerberus Industries while Anatoly and Raoul discretely attended the wedding of Christos’s niece. If the wedding turned violent, I’d be across town. Plausible deniability and all that.

After this morning’s debacle, though, I have too much energy to sit down for coffee. I want to get my hands dirty.

“I signed the contract digitally and my afternoon freed up.” I throw my bag into the trunk. “I’m going to the wedding.”

I don’t need to see my brothers to know they’re looking at each other, silently trying to decide what to do. Who should speak up first.

I whip around, arms crossed. “Say whatever the fuck it is you’re going to say so we can go. It would be rude of us to walk in late.”

Raoul lifts his chin and keeps his mouth stubbornly closed, leaving Anatoly as the unwilling sacrifice. He rolls his eyes and slams the trunk closed.

“Okay. Well, first, this wasn’t the plan, Mikhail.”

“Plans change.”

“Not at the last minute. Not when you’re the one who made the plan to begin with,” he points out.

“The plan was to secure a new location for Cerberus Industries so we have somewhere to funnel the shit ton of money we’re going to make when the shipment of weapons arrives.” I shrug. “I’ve done that. It’s being taken care of as we speak. I’m not changing the plan; I’ve just finished my part of it. Now, I’m helping you with yours.”

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