Page 33 of Embrace of the Russian Tiger

And now, he was the reason she was gone. Rossi and him, together.

“Mikhail,” I said again, my voice quieter this time, but no less deadly. “How far does this go?”

Mikhail’s gaze darkened. “I don’t know yet. But he’s been hiding more than just this. His movements, his meetings—everything points to him working against you. He’s been careful, but not careful enough.”

I nodded, the weight of the necklace heavy in my hand. The betrayal was deeper than I had realized. This wasn’t just about Katya. This was about power, about control, about the empire I had built from the ground up. And Nikolai had been there, watching from far away, waiting, ready to strike.

“I want you to keep watching him,” I said, my voice cold, detached. It was the only way I could maintain control. “Don’t let him know you’ve found this. Stay close, but not too close. I want every detail, every piece of information. I want to know who he’s working with, what he’s planning.”

Mikhail nodded, his jaw tight. “Understood.”

He turned to leave, but I stopped him. “And Mikhail…”

He paused, looking back at me.

“No one else knows about this,” I said, my tone leaving no room for argument. “Not yet. Not until we have all the pieces.”

Mikhail gave a sharp nod, then slipped out of the room, leaving me alone with the weight of the truth. Alone with the memories.

I stood there for a long moment, staring down at the necklace in my hand, the pain and rage twisting inside me like a vice.Katya’s death had shaped me. It had turned me into the man I was today—cold, ruthless, calculating. But this... this was a wound that would never heal.

Nikolai had committed the ultimate betrayal. He had stolen from me in a way that words couldn’t express—he had taken her from me. My sister. My blood. My everything. The one person I had sworn to protect, the one person whose memory fueled every action, every breath I took.

And now I knew the truth.

Nikolai hadn’t just betrayed me. He had murdered Katya. The realization hit me like a fucking freight train, the weight of it so intense I felt my world shift, collapse, and explode all at once. He had looked me in the eye, pretended to be my brother, my ally, while all along, he was the devil in disguise.

Katya’s face flashed in my mind—her smile, her laughter, the softness in her eyes when we were younger, before this world of blood and violence consumed us both. She had been the light in my darkness, and Nikolai had extinguished that light. He had taken her innocence, her life, and left me with nothing but this pit of rage that threatened to swallow me whole.

The walls closed in around me, my vision narrowing to a blinding point as fury consumed every inch of my body. My hands trembled with the force of it, my pulse roaring in my ears. My fucking sister—gone. And Nikolai... he had been there. He had watched it happen. Hell, he had orchestrated it. That smug bastard had engineered her death, just to satisfy his sick, twisted hunger for power.

I could see him now, standing over her, watching as the life drained from her body, his hands stained with her blood. The thought made me want to rip the world apart with my bare hands. My heart pounded, each beat a deafening drum of vengeance.

He didn’t just take Katya from me—he ripped out the very heart of who I was. And now, he thought he could come after everything I had built. He thought he could strip away my empire, dismantle everything I’d fought tooth and nail to create. He thought he could take everything—my life, my legacy, my bloodline—and leave me with nothing.

But what he didn’t know... what he didn’t understand... was that I was already dead inside.

Katya’s death had taken whatever remained of the man I once was. I had buried my humanity with her. And now, all that was left was a monster—a monster that Nikolai had created with his betrayal. He thought he could come for me and walk away unscathed. He thought I would crumble, that I would break under the weight of the truth. That the revelation of his deceit would destroy me.

But he didn’t realize who the fuck I was.

Iwas destruction.

Nikolai had no idea what was coming for him. No idea that the very ground he stood on was about to burn beneath his feet. I was going to tear him apart—piece by piece, limb by limb—until there was nothing left of the man who took everything from me. I was going to make him suffer in ways he couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

I would show him what real pain was. What it felt like to lose everything.

He had made a fatal mistake by crossing me. He had signed his own death sentence the moment he laid his filthy hands on my sister. And now, there would be no mercy. No forgiveness. No escape.

Nikolai had sealed his fate.

And I would be his executioner.

I sank into the chair behind my desk, the necklace still clutched in my hand. The memories of Katya’s death werea constant, painful reminder of everything I had lost. Of everything I had built to protect myself. But now, those walls were crumbling. Anna had slipped through the cracks, and Nikolai had found a way to exploit that weakness.

I thought of Anna, of the way she had looked at me that night, her eyes dark with desire, her body trembling beneath mine. I thought of the way I had claimed her, the way she had let me in, despite everything. But I hadn’t told her the truth. I hadn’t told her who she really was, or what role she played in all of this.

If I told her now, if I revealed everything... would she stay? Would she trust me? Or would she hate me for keeping her in the dark?

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