Page 52 of Thorns of Lust
“What about the breach of the original agreement?”
Alexei’s eyes turned colder and his gaze met mine. “Who told you about it?”
I pressed my lips together. It was one of my tells when I was adamant about not telling on someone. Alexei could read me as well as Vasili and Sasha. Maybe it was the Nikolaev blood that ran through our veins. Or maybe it was just Alexei.
“Did Adrian discuss it with you?” Alexei asked evenly. But the undertone of displeasure was there.
My brows furrowed. “Adrian? No, why would he–”
He shrugged. “An assumption. Adrian told Vasili he told you about the agreement, and you were adamant about transferring it all to him,” he replied coldly. “It was your idea to be fair to him.”
What in the heck was going on here? “I absolutely didn’t say that.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. The company is yours,” he remarked coldly. “Now that he’s dead.”
A frustrated breath escaped me. “For the love of God. Just once Alexei, please elaborate!”
My brother’s lips tugged up. “Upon your husband’s passing, everything passed on to you. There are a few things that Vasili is working out. Vasili froze the assets until everything is in your name. The company among other things.”
Silence followed. Thick and deafening. It felt like there were too many things that still remained unanswered.
“Alexei?”
“Yes.”
I studied my brother for a moment. Most people shit themselves just seeing him and usually steered away from him. The tattoos on his face weren’t even the reason for it. It was that unnerving expression that always lingered in his eyes. For some odd reason, he never scared me. Maybe because I grew up with two unnerving brothers or because I’d heard enough about what went on in the underworld to understand that no man ever came out of it unscathed.
Alexei was no exception. And he was family - so he’d always gotten extra points. We always looked after our family. Those were the words that Vasili hammered into all of us. He might not think so but he did.
“The day of the funeral,” I started. He nodded and I had a sense he knew exactly where I was going with it. “What was the real reason you said that Adrian wasn’t good enough for me anymore?”
One heartbeat passed. “He had started to do some shady stuff and was putting the family at risk. You included.”
“Like blackmailing Kingston?” I felt like each syllable of those two simple words was too heavy to say. Or maybe I wasn’t ready to hear the explanation.
Alexei shrugged. “Like blackmailing Kingston. Like starting shit and putting you in harm’s way.”
Nothing was as it seemed.
* * *
I left Alexei’s place more confused than when I arrived.
But I was certain of one thing. Adrian wasn’t the man I thought he was. Yes, I loved him. He had been part of my life for far too long to erase all the love and affection I had for him. However, it had become obvious that I didn’t know the real Adrian at all.
The videos I’d found and the blackmail scheme against Kingston were bad enough but now I was told that Adrian was actually stealing from me. What else was I supposed to think? He’d forged my name on some fucking papers to transfer my half of his security company to him. I may be going crazy, but I know I didn’t sign any goddamned papers.
Nothing was as it seemed with my late husband. And that was the part that bothered me the most. Adrian didn’t trust me to share his problems with me. It was clear he had some problems, although it remained to be seen what they were.
Instead of going home, I headed to Adrian’s office space in the building he owned.
There had to be a reason behind all he had done. I had to find out at least some answers to all these questions I had.
I combed every inch of the office space, hoping to find what exactly Adrian had gotten into. I had discovered two things. Adrian didn’t believe in paper trails or paper at all. And he liked to leave gadgets everywhere. Just like at home. My husband had little pieces of electronic shit everywhere.
The whole building was intact. Vasili invested in Adrian’s company to help him get started, but when I married Adrian, Vasili transferred the ownership to me. Except, tech and business wasn’t something I was interested in. There wasn’t much I was interested in aside from fashion when it came to business.
My brothers were shocked when I picked Political Science for my undergrad degree. Adrian even more so. He always found me to be flighty, and I feared he stereotyped me as a dumb blonde. I objected to that. Maybe I wasn’t as brilliant as he was, but I wasn’t dumb. I had my strengths and weaknesses. So I opted for the stupid, useless degree in order to prove to my brothers and Adrian, I could be just as sharp as they were.
