Page 10 of Crowned

“Where is Lilia?” I ask.

“Why do men like you want to know where mykroshkais? She has had enough pain in her life already. When my Lilia was five, she lost her poor, abused mama to a terrible illness. Herpaparaised his hand to his little girl. A tiny, innocent child. Again and again, he beat her until he threw her away like a piece of trash.”

“That piece of shit,” Elyah growls.

The old woman isn’t impressed by his outburst. “And you? Can you sit in herbabushka’skitchen and swear that you never laid a hand on my Lilia?”

Elyah drops his eyes to the tablecloth. “I made a mistake.”

The old woman sneers at him. “The lie that every man tells himself, and that every woman knows better than to believe.It was a mistake.I will not do it again.”

“I will not,” Elyah insists. “I would sooner cut off my own hands.”

The old woman gets to her feet, pulls a large knife from the block, and slaps it down in front of him. “Here. Get started.”

Kirill grins from ear to ear, his knees spread wide as he lounges in his chair. “You are feisty for an old woman.”

“And you are a scruffy young man,” she bites back, poking him in the stomach with a bony forefinger. “Look at you. Slouching. Messy. Sit up straight at my table.”

Kirill winces at her jab and does as he’s told, rubbing his belly as he sits up.

“Lilia Aranova has got herself into trouble,” I say, ignoring my tea. My scar throbs. My impatience burns. “We wish to help her out of it.”

“You have helped no one but yourself in all your life,” the old woman replies. “Break all my fingers. Tear out my fingernails. I will never speak a word about Lilia to men like you.”

Kirill glances at me. “Now we see where Lilia gets it.”

The woman smiles a little and lifts her chin, as if proud to have a mouthy, troublemaking granddaughter just like her.

I cocked my head to one side, watching her closely. “Why has Aran Brazhensky gone to Italy?”

Her wrinkled face drains of color and her hands tremble ever so slightly in her lap. “Has he? I don’t know. What thatmudakdoes has nothing to do with me.”

A nasty smile spreads over my face. She knows exactly why Aran Brazhensky went to Italy. Five weeks have passed since the pageant ended, and I would never have dreamed that Lilia could still be there after all this time. It’s the perfect place to hide from me.

“Spacibo,dama,” I say, getting up from the table. “That’s all I wanted to know. We will leave you in peace.”

Lilia’s grandmother grabs my arm, panic glistening in her watery old eyes. “Why do you even want to find Lilia? Can’t you leave her in peace?”

When I pull my wrist from her grasp and straighten my cuffs, she turns to Elyah, who’s getting to his feet, his expression determined.

“And you?” the old woman asks. “Why can’t you leave her alone?”

“Because I need her. I love her.”

She gives him a scornful look and turns to Kirill with a questioning expression.

He gives her a wicked, pointed grin. “Yourkroshkais the most fun I’ve ever had. Do you know how rare a woman like her is? I haven’t had my fill yet.”

“What will be left of her when you have?”

Kirill runs his tongue over his teeth and smirks at her. “I haven’t decided.”

Finally, the old woman turns to me. “Why must you hunt her down like an animal? Why can’t you just leave my granddaughter alone?”

“I have unfinished business with Lilia Aranova,” I tell her. “Fourteen million dollars’ worth of unfinished business. I will get my money back, or I will drain every drop of blood from her body.”

“We will get the diamonds back,” Elyah insists. “It will not come to that.”

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