Page 52 of Tarnished Queen

The guy nods. “Believe me: after this, I don’t want the fucking money. No one has ever pointed a gun at me.”

“I’ll do a lot worse than point it at you if you threaten my fiancée,” Nikolai growls.

The man raises his hands higher over his head. “No one wants to threaten any of you! Howard just wants to talk. That’s what he told me. He said he was family.”

“Who the fuck is Howard?” Nikolai asks me. “Do you know him?”

I nod. “Yeah. Sort of. I mean… I did. I haven’t seen him in years. Not since I was ten or eleven, probably. It’s been forever. This might not even be him. It could be a trap.”

“Who is he?” Nikolai presses.

I bite my lip. Lies have a way of coming back around. Of revealing themselves, whether we want them to or not.

“Elise is going to hate me,” I whisper softly. “She’ll never forgive me for lying to her.”

Nikolai keeps an eye on the man, but he turns towards me. His hand tightens on my hip. The reassuring strength of him is the only thing keeping me standing. “Who is he?”

“Howard Schaffner is her dad’s name.” I shake my head. “But I told her he was dead. I’ve told her that her entire life. She’ll hate me, Nikolai. She’ll absolutely hate me.”

Tears are burning the backs of my eyes. It doesn’t help when Nikolai pulls me tenderly against his side. Then he turns to the man still cowering on the floor.

“No one is going to shoot you,” he assures him. “So long as you give me Howard Schaffner’s contact information. I think it’s time for a little family reunion.”

17

BELLE

“I hate lying to her,” I whimper.

“Too late for that,” Nikolai says. “You wouldn’t have had to lie today if you’d told her the truth from the beginning."

He swats my hand away from my mouth. I’ve bitten my nails down practically to the quick, but I still can’t stop picking at them. It’s a horrible habit, one I thought I’d broken.

Until today, when I told Elise to stay in her room for a few hours so I could figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

“Are we in danger or something?” she’d asked.

“No. It’s just a really important meeting. One of Nikolai’s biggest partners.”

“We don’t want any distractions,” Nikolai added. “Stay here. We’ll come get you when we’re done.”

Elise looked concerned as we left, but she didn’t question me. She trusts me, despite everything. And I’m using that trust to keep her in the dark.

I’m becoming more and more certain that I’m a bad person.

I drop my face into my hands. “I was trying to protect her. He left us. Left her. I didn’t want her to feel abandoned.”

“Shewasabandoned.”

I whirl to Nikolai, eyes narrowed. “But she didn’t need to feel it! She was a little kid. And our mother was already a mess. I didn’t want her to think every adult in the world was a selfish, heartless monster.”

“But every adult is a selfish, heartless—”

“You are not helpful,” I mumble.

“I’m not trying to be helpful; I’m being honest. You should learn the difference.”

I stand up and pace in front of the couch. “If you’re trying to teach me a lesson, I’m not really in the mood.”

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