Page 55 of Tarnished Queen

“You’re here because of mymom?” I spit. “All this time and you come and do this for Melinda, not for Elise? You fucking—”

“I’m not here to help Melinda.”

“You just said—”

“I’m here because she told me Elise ran away,” Howard explains. “She wanted my help, but I told her I’d look into it on my own. I’ve been thinking about Elise for… for a long time. I wondered what happened to her. So I decided to find out.”

“How fucking noble of you, ‘deciding to find out what happened’ to your owndaughter.”I cross my arms over my chest. “You can’t see her.”

“What?” he breathes. “Belle, you can’t—”

“Actually, I can,” I interrupt. “Because I’m the person who has been looking out for her. I’m the person who got her away from our useless mother. You’re just the asshole who left her there.”

“It… it wasn’t like that.”

“Then look me in my eyes and tell me that when you left you believed my mom would be a good mother to us.” Howard tries to look away, but I snap my fingers and direct his gaze back to mine. “Look at me! Look me in my eyes and tell me you thought Elise was being well-cared for all these years.”

He works his jaw back and forth, his teeth grinding. Then he looks away.

“That’s what I fucking thought,” I snarl, sounding harsher than I ever knew I could.

Nikolai’s shoulder brushes mine. “We done here?”

“Yeah,” I spit. “We’re done here.”

He starts moving towards Howard, ushering him towards the door. Howard seems to accept his fate. He doesn’t yell or make a scene. But just before he walks through the door, he pulls a card out of his wallet and sets it on the table next to the door.

“My card,” he says over his shoulder. “If you change your mind.”

Then Nikolai shoves him out of the room.

I don’t want to touch the card. It might as well be radioactive. But I also know it would be worse if I let it stay there and Elise found it later. Grudgingly, I stomp across the room and shove it into the back pocket of my jeans.

Just as I walk across the room again and drop down onto the sofa, Nikolai returns. He closes the door behind him.

“Considering that man is still breathing, I take it you recognized him.”

“Yeah. I recognized him.” I drop my face into my hands and massage circles into my pounding temples.

“Any reason in particular you decided to fuck with him?”

I snap my head up. “Since when are you against fucking with people? That’s your favorite hobby.”

“Exactly. It’smyfavorite hobby,” he says. “Not yours.”

“Maybe I’m changing. It happens. People change all the time.”

“Not at their core.” Nikolai touches my chin to make me look into his eyes. “And at your core, you, Belle Dowan, are a much better person than I am.”

I feel hot under his gaze. I shift nervously and then spin around, unable to endure the itch growing beneath my skin. “Well, that’s a low bar to clear.”

Nikolai just smirks at me.

“What?” I demand. “What are you looking at me like that for?”

He shrugs. “Nothing. I’m just waiting for you to tell me what’s really wrong.”

“You saw what’s wrong. Do I really need to break it down for you?”

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