Page 15 of Tyrant

“Yes, just do it.”

“Okay, I’m meeting him tonight for dinner, so I’ll do it.”

“That’s my girl! Go get your man. Whooohoooo!”

I laughed at her antics over the phone. “Your ass is crazy.”

“But you love me.”

“Bye!”

I spent the rest of the day shopping and site seeing, enjoying the city, eating lunch at a sidewalk café, getting snacks by a street vendor. I usually don’t eat street food, but if I was going to do something as dangerous as kissing someone like Zakhar, I had to get some practice in.

Zakhar

My men had picked up the girl from school. I could see the terror on her face which amused me. She should have thought twice before getting involved in my family. If she was innocent, then she had nothing to worry about.

I sat in the chair her parents offered me while they stood silently by. The parents looked as though they were about to shit their pants while my new assistant stood by my chair with a deadpan expression.

‘So your daughter is pregnant. What happens now?” I ask, only trying to be civil.

I was about to get married, this was good practice to not be as dastardly as before. I didn’t know if I could pull it off, but I would damn well try.

“Pregnant?” her mother gasped and turned to her daughter. “You’re pregnant? Is this true?” when there was no answer she grabbed her daughter’s shoulder. “Answer me!”

“Yes momma.”

Her mother seemed distraught and held her head between her palms. “What are we to do now?”

“It’s simple, there are two options. Your outcome will depend on the result,” I explained, trying to be as reasonable as possible. “We will do a paternity test to determine if the child is of our bloodline.”

“W-w-what will happen to our daughter?” her father stuttered. “Will she have to marry him?”

“You would love that, wouldn’t you?”

“No sir.”

“If the child is ours, we will take full responsibility, offering your daughter the freedom to continue her education at the best university and later, a senior role in one of our companies, away from Dubai. Perhaps in Turkey, Japan, or Indonesia.”

“S-s-s-sir…” the mother started, but I wasn’t done talking.

I held my hand up for silence. “If the child turns out to be Daniel Kapoor’s, well ... you know. Do I have to spell it out? Well, what the heck. You will wish you’d never met Nikolai Mikhailov.”

“When will you do the paternity?”

I stood to my feet. “Today...”

My assistant cleared her throat. “Sir.”

“Oh, I have a date tonight, so we’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

Tabitha

Thursday Night…

A knee length, light blue cocktail dress with silver pumps and purse to match. A diamond cluster earring was all the jewelry I needed. I wore my favorite Arabian perfume with a red lip tint that sparkled. I felt quite sexy and was hoping that Zakhar would find me desirable.

A car arrived for me and took me to an Italian restaurant a few miles away from the hotel. It was dark when I arrived and Zakhar was already there. A pretty black woman was standing beside him when I walk up to the table just as she excused herself and stepped away. I didn’t see Nathan around and I was curious where he was. I would have loved to know what was going on inside that skinny head of his and why he hated me.

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