Page 97 of Thorns of Love
I was a Nikolaev through and through. We didn’t give second chances, and we always settled a score. “Nikolaevs always settle the score,” I said out loud.
The statement reverberated in the silence of the parking lot, making its way through the ghosts of our pasts.
“I love you, Tatiana,” he rasped, attempting to appeal to my heart. He couldn’t. Not anymore. My heart clenched but I ignored it. He was manipulating me. These were the words he had never given me before and yet, in the span of a day, he had uttered them twice. “I loved you. Always, pipsqueak. My love and hate know no limits.”
It was his final goodbye. His final warning.
“I’m sorry you loved me,” I rasped as my heartbeat trembled in my chest. The man I loved died in the car crash, maybe even before. The man I loved didn’t inflict pain. The Adrian I loved was a figment of my imagination. “It was your mistake. Not mine.” He crossed the line. And we both knew if I spared him, he’d be back. “I want a man who will ruin my lipstick, not my mascara. And you’ve done that one too many times even before the accident, Adrian.”
Adrian’s gaze darted behind me and I followed his eyes to find my big brother striding towards us with Alexei. My family. They were all here. For me.
Vasili stormed over to Adrian and punched him in the face. His head snapped sideways, spitting blood all over the snow. And all the while, Alexei dried my feet and slipped a pair of Uggs onto them.
I didn’t know where to look - at Vasili punching Adrian or Alexei actually touching me. He despised touching people, siblings or not, and avoided it at all cost.
“You were supposed to take care of her,” Vasili roared, pulling my attention away from Alexei. “Protect her.” Then he punched Adrian again. “You were like a brother to me.”
Adrian chuckled darkly. Bitterly. “Like a brother, but I’m not your brother.” His face was a mess already, his lip split. He spat on the ground at Vasili’s feet, the blood stark on the white snow.
“That’s a huge difference, Vasili.”
My eyes burned. My throat squeezed. The raw ache in my chest swelled. Even though he used me and his hatred outweighed all the years of our history, he was a victim of circumstances. He was the boy who lost both his parents due to passion and hatred. His parents were taken from him just because they loved each other.
But Adrian festered in his own pain, forgetting that Illias lost a mother too. He was so consumed with his hatred and need for vengeance that he forgot he was hurting innocents in his path to revenge.
Vasili turned his back to Adrian and came up to me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“Ty v poryadke?” he asked in Russian. Are you okay?
I nodded.
“Always protecting the princess,” Adrian sneered. “God forbid a scratch marks that pretty face.”
The hateful words etched into my soul. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. Part of me still remembered the Adrian who protected me.
The lines of Illias’ face sharpened. All warmth drained out of his eyes and the already cold temperatures plummeted into negative triple digits.
“You’re damn straight,” he snarled at Adrian. “Not a single scratch on my wife and the mother of my children.”
Surprised flashed in Adrian’s expression and his eyes flickered to my stomach where my hand subconsciously protectively covered my lower belly. His left eye twitched, and I knew he thought back to all our arguments when I begged him for a baby.
“You always get what you want, don’t you Tatiana?” It was the last stab to my heart he’d be allowed to make.
I turned my head and met Illias’ gaze. “He has the chip,” I told him. “It was in the pendant of my necklace. It’s in his right pocket along with the key you need to unlock the pendant. He was going to sell it to Sofia Volkov.”
“What the fuck?” Vasili and Illias cursed at the same time. “That looney bitch?”
I nodded. Sasha took two steps toward Adrian and dug it out of his pocket. Then he punched him in the face. “For holding a gun to my sister’s head.” Then he kicked him in the gut, Adrian’s body folding over. “It’s time for you to pray to every God known to man. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Time to die, motherfucker.”
Jesus Christ.
My brothers were a bit nuts. But then so was I because my next words had everyone’s eyes shift to me in shock. “No more reincarnations.” I slid out of Illias’ arms and my feet crunched the snow beneath them. “I don’t want him coming for my family ever again.”
The words burned in my throat. The ache throbbed through my chest. But it wouldn’t break me.
“Your wish is my command, Wife,” Illias responded.
Something glinted under the bright sun. My eyes widened as I saw the knife in Adrian’s hands. Illias noticed it too. He pulled me back but it was too late.
