Page 54 of Reign of Psychos

“I’ll think about it.” He waved his hand and pushed my business plan onto a pile of other paperwork, where it would no doubt be forgotten in a week. I’d expected this, which was why I’d come prepared.

“I don’t need you to think about it,” I stated calmly. “We have the funding we need, so your approval is optional.”

“I am your pakhan as well as your father!” he roared, slamming his fists on his desk. “I demand respect from you!” The temperature in his office turned glacial. “You’ve forgotten what’s important since you started fucking that littlecyka.” Heknew about Thea? “And yes, I am aware of her relationships with your friends.” From the way his lip curled, he wasn’t happy about it. Oh dear.

There was a time when I respected him. Listened to him.Admired him. Not anymore.

“Pot, kettle, black, old man.” I smiled coldly. “I share Thea with my close friends because we all love her. I trust them to protect the mother of my child.” His eyes widened at the realization I’d fathered a child. An heir. “A good pakhan knows when his whore of a wife is fucking other men under his nose. He deals with her.”

“Ekaterina is loyal,” he spluttered. “She’d never cheat on me!”

“Really?” I whipped out my phone and played a condensed Dimitri clip. The shock on his face was almost comical. “I guess you are also unaware she groomed me when I was still a kid. Wheedled her way into my bed until I was old enough to fight back.”

“She… did what? I don’t believe you!”

I pulled up the clip from the night I almost strangled the bitch.

“She tried to turn me against you,” I told him before hitting play.

“We could be good together, powerful!… Let me rule by your side. Your father is weak, old, but you…You’re strong, virile… Everything a pakhan should be.”

“And what about my father? He’s still pakhan, and he isn’t about to step down anytime soon.”

“I can deal with him. Make it look like an accident. Then we could be together, lyubimyy!”

Dad sank into his chair, his hands shaking.

“I should have known.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “She came along when I was weak. Still grieving for your mother. I needed…” He’d needed comfort. Like I had. I understood but wasn’t ready to forgive him.

She stole my innocence while he was too focused on his own wants and needs. He might be my father and pakhan, but he should have protected me better. Instead, he treated me like one of hisvors, willfully ignoring the signs his wife was predating on me.

“I’m sorry,” he said, face ashen, but it was too little too late. I’d accepted his brutal methods for making me a stronger heir. The violence and training camps with his men. I understood why I needed to be strong, impervious to pain, and willing to do whatever it took for the sake of the bratvah. I could forgive him for all that but not turning a blind eye to Ekaterina’s behavior.

“Deal with her or I will. The kind of sickness she has can’t be cured by a stint in an expensive clinic.”

Dad nodded. He knew what he had to do. As I watched, he picked up the phone and murmured something. Five minutes later, Ekaterina sashayed in, her makeup on-point and her outfit polished like always.

“Darling, are you ready to leave? The table is booked and the car is waiting.” She fiddled with her diamond bracelet. Yet another trinket my father had given her. The bitch did so love her pretty jewels.

“Come here, my precious.” He pointed to his lap and smiled at her. I watched as she hustled around the table, throwing me a triumphant look that told me she fully believed my father would never lose faith in her loyalty.

“Kyril tells me you’ve been a bad girl,” he said as his hand circled her neck.

“Kyril lies,” she whined petulantly. “I can’t help it if he desires me. I’ve told him such thoughts are inappropriate, but he doesn’t listen, Vasily!” Her voice rose at the end and a few tears trickled down her alabaster cheeks. “He tried to touch me,” she sobbed. “He hurt me.”

I fought the urge to leap over the desk and throttle her.

“That’s odd because he told me a very different story.” Dad’s grip around her throat tightened, and I saw the panic bloom in her eyes. Fresh tears leaked out, genuine ones this time. She clawed at his hands, struggling against the pressure on her delicate throat.

I watched as her face turned red and blood vessels popped in her eyes.

“You betrayed me, Ekaterina. Loyalty is everything to me. My son is loyal. You are not. I’m sorry.” From the grief in his voice, he really was sorry.

I was sorry too. Sorry it wasn’t me ending the bitch. My father released Ekaterina’s neck just long enough to snap it. Her head slumped forward, the life draining from her eyes. He pushed her body off his lap and poured a glass of vodka from the decanter on the side table.

“Drink?”

I nodded. Neither of us said anything for a moment, then he spoke.

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