Page 15 of Sinful Embers

“My mother?” I snap, my voice hard.

“Wait!” Sabrina lifts a hand, her expression tight with disbelief. “What are you saying?”

“Leigh was there?” My mind spins, confusion blurring my thoughts. “You’d better start at the beginning. Fast. My trust in you is tanking.”

Nikolas gestures for us to sit. “You both should probably sit down.”

Sabrina’s glare softens as she points to the journal in his hand. “Is that what’s in there?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Sit.”

Reluctantly, Sabrina and I settle into our seats, facing him at her murder board like students awaiting judgment.

“Two days before the event, Sabrina found Vivienne’s journals and brought them to me,” Nikolas begins. “As Sabrina will tell you, the first three journals are… shocking. I knew Vivienne was evil, but I didn’t realize how deep her depravity ran.”

“Your uncle beat the crap out of Oleksi when Judy turned him down, and while she watched, she and your father fucked each other,” Sabrina says bluntly, her words knotting my stomach. “They put Oleksi in the hospital because Judy rejected his marriage proposal and confessed her love for someone else. Your uncle wanted Oleksi to teach Judy and her new love a lesson for daring to say no to a future Pakhan.”

“Jesus Christ.” My pulse thunders. I’ve done fucked-up things as Pakhan—things I’ll never be proud of—but this? “My mother’s number-one rule was never to turn on family unless they were threatening your life.”

“Well, Oleksi didn’t threaten anyone’s life. He refused to punish Judy, and then had to endure it himself,” Sabrina explains. “I don’t like your cousin, but I respect what he did.”

“Hold on.” My brow furrows. “Oleksi took a few days off from UCLA to propose to Judy. That was—”

“A few days before your father and uncle were killed,” Sabrina finishes.

“The reason Gavriil and I weren’t at the hotel that day was because we were at the hospital with Oleksi. He told us he’dbeen attacked when he finally came around.” My blood boils, the anger from that day reigniting. “Fuck. That was my uncle?”

“You don’t even want to know what he did after dumping Oleksi at the hospital,” Sabrina mutters darkly.

“That’s why you didn’t want me reading the journals,” I realize.

“That and other things I didn’t think you wanted to know about your family,” she says softly, a rare note of compassion in her voice.

“You’re remarkable, you know that?”

Her lips twitch into a faint smile, but the seriousness in her eyes remains. She turns back to Nikolas. “Okay, so I gave you the journals. Then what?”

Nikolas nods. “I called Galina after reading the fourth journal. It’s her blackmail journal—a list of abbreviated names and coded numbers tied to every person she had dirt on. While the others focused on her twisted pleasures…” He holds up the journal. “This one detailed her blackmail victims and her plans.”

“And I’m in there?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“You and Leigh,” Nikolas confirms grimly. “In fact, it’s where your mother got the idea for a marriage between you two.”

“Is that why you didn’t want me to see it?”

“Not just that.” His tone hardens. “There’s a plot in here to kill your mother and, eventually, your father. The goal was for you to ascend as Pakhan. Then, once you married Leigh and had an heir on the way—”

“She’d get rid of me,” I finish bitterly.

“Not Vivienne.” Nikolas’s voice tightens. “Gunther.”

“Gunther?” My brows draw together. “No fucking way.”

“I’m afraid so. Gunther wanted it all—with Vivienne as his wife.”

“Jesus.” I rake a hand through my hair, my mind spinning. “What the fuck is wrong with these people?”

“Criminals,” Sabrina states flatly. “It’s the world you live in, so I don’t see why you’re so surprised. Of course he’d want his family to have it all.”

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