Page 126 of Tarnished Queen

But I’d never give her up. She’s mine.

That thought alone pushes me out of the room. Who the fuck am I?

I’ve never let a woman fall asleep in my bed.Until Belle.

I’ve never let a woman live in my house.Until Belle.

I’ve never let anything come before my goals and the Bratva.Until Belle.

She is breaking all of my rules, and I don’t care in the slightest. She’s worth it.

Fifty million dollars, fifty billion. I’d give it all.

I’m so lost in thought that I don’t even realize where I’m going until I walk through the patio doors and cut across the lawn. The night is still warm. The moon is out, casting pale shadows across the lawn, and bugs hum and buzz from the trees. I want to wake Belle up and bring her outside. Right now, freshly fucked and still buzzing with an orgasm, I feel like a wild animal. Like a king. The world seems to be bowing to me, so now is not the time to mourn. I want to fuck Belle in the grass and fall asleep under the stars.

So maybe it’s actually the best time to mourn.

“God, you’re a fucking sap,” I mutter to myself in a voice that sounds like Arslan’s.

Tucked in a small alcove off of the main garden is an elaborate stone bench and tall hedges. A well-manicured, shaded place where I can sit and visit my mother.

I drop down onto the bench and pat the placard on the backrest. “Hey, Mom.”

Her name is smooth under my fingers, worn by years of sun and rain. Her headstone at the cemetery was in much worse shape, which was part of the reason I had her moved to the grounds. Here, I can make sure she’s well taken care of.

“You’d like her,” I say aloud. I always feel stupid talking to my mother, but there’s something calming about it, too. I just pick up like we’ve been talking all along. Like we never stopped. It’s all I have. “Her name is Belle. She’s a lot like you. Tender-hearted, loyal, headstrong. She’ll make a great mom to my children.”

Children.It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. The first time I’ve admitted how serious this thing with Belle is. I mean, sure, we’re married. But I see a life with this woman. I see her by my side for a long, long time.

It’s another first. I’ve never imagined a future with any woman I’ve ever dated.

Until Belle.

“I’m not exactly an expert on the subject of love, but I think I might—”

Footsteps crunching across the gravel pathway have me biting off my words. I jump up and face the entrance to the alcove just as a security guard—Aleksei, I think—appears from the shadows.

“Sorry, Don Zhukova,” he says, lowering his head. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“So why did you?” I growl. “What’s wrong?”

I just left Belle a minute ago, but the worry that she could be in danger is instant. The fear that I could lose her rises up in me unbidden and uncontrollable.

“Nothing is wrong. You have a visitor.”

I relax, forcing out a breath between my teeth. “Who is it?”

There’s a small hesitation before he responds. “Your father.”

Arslan always referred to my father as “The Lion.” I preferred the distance that threw up between us. Seeing him as his code word and nothing more was easier than recognizing who he actually was to me. Who heisto me.

Just another reason to miss my right-hand man.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

Aleksei shrugs. “He said he wants to talk to you. He won’t say about what. I asked, believe me.”

I should turn him away. I don’t owe him anything. I said everything I wanted to say when I stopped by the treatment center where he was living a few weeks ago.

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