Page 3 of Tarnished Queen

2

NIKOLAI

The moment Belle’s name slips out of his mouth, I shift my finger to the trigger. “Do you want to die? If so, say her name again. I’ll put this bullet in your brain without a fucking moment of hesitation.”

“It’s not a threat,” he says quickly. I can practically hear his heart pounding in his chest. “Notmythreat, anyway. It’s just a fact. Xena will kill her. And your unborn baby, too.”

I shift back. “How do you know about the baby?”

If this man knows, then Xena must know, too. That’s not good. The bitch is crazy. Belle is in even more trouble than I realized.

“Xena had you followed. She saw you go to the doctor’s office this morning. She paid to find out which doctor you saw. She didn’t get hard confirmation, but she assumed. And I guess you just confirmed it.”

“You won’t be able to pass the information along to her if you’re dead,” I remind him.

He shakes his head. “I don’t want to pass anything along to her. Why would I be here helping you if I was working with her?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

“Well, I don’t want that. And if you kill me, I won’t be able to take you to where Xena is holding Belle.”

The sirens are growing louder. We’re around the corner from the scene, but not as far as I’d like to be. I need to decide quickly: kill this man or let him drive.

“Why would you turn on your boss?”

“She isn’t my boss.”

I arch a brow. “Lack of loyalty?”

“No. The exact opposite.”

I snort. “You want me to believe that you’re turning on your new don because you’retooloyal? Spare me the bullshit.”

“It’s because I am loyal to the previous boss,” he says. “To my father.”

I look at the blond man’s face again. He’s young, his face thin and unlined. But suddenly, I see the resemblance.

“Giorgos is your father?”

He nods. “He was.”

I didn’t even know Giorgos had a son. Then again, we weren’t exactly on friendly terms. Our arrangement was business-only. Still, it’s possible this man is lying to me.

“You’re Giorgos’s flesh and blood, and yet you’re not leading the mafia? Your aunt is?”

He grits his teeth. “Don’t remind me.”

The sirens are almost on top of us now. In a second, this neighborhood will be crawling with police and ambulances. If we don’t get out now, we won’t get out at all.

So I make the impossible choice and put my life in the hands of a stranger.

I lower the gun. “Drive.”

He starts the truck and flips a U-turn in the middle of the road. As we’re driving back down the street, I turn and see the first police car pass the intersection, headed towards the scene.

“What’s your name?”

“Christo Simatou. Rightful heir to the Simatou mafia.”

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