“I’d like to see you try, Twat-face.”
After pushing him off me via a hand to his face, I straighten my shirt just as Justine enters the room in nothing but a towel. “We were attacked, bombarded without warning. Men came from all angles. They were wearing balaclavas and knew things about Nikolai not many know.”
“What type of stuff?” Maddox asks at the same time I encourage her to continue unlocking her memories. “Then what?”
Justine proves my earlier comment to Maddox was true. Her focus is dedicated to finding Nikolai. “A battle ensued. Nikolai and Rico were outnumbered, but they held their ground until...” I hiss along with her when her hand caresses the nasty bump in her head. “A man grabbed me. He was so large, he didn’t need to extend his arm to hoist me from the ground.”
“That’s good, Justine. Keep going,” I encourage after recalling my own tiptoe out of a foggy mist ten months ago.
“Nikolai threatened him, told him he’d kill his family if he didn’t let me go.” I nod, fully aware that is something Nikolai would say. “That’s when another man entered the equation.” Her eyes flicker as her memories slowly trickle back in. “Maxsim. Nikolai called him Maxsim.”
I jackknife back, shocked. “Maxsim?” I double check. “Are you sure?”
Justine nods. “If he’s Alexei’s son, then yes, I’m sure. They argued about Nikolai killing Alexei and how Maxsim was going to use Eli to take Nikolai’s place.”
“How did Nikolai respond?” I’m assuming violent if his blood pressure was anywhere close to the level mine is now.
“Umm… He said he had changed the rules, that Anatoly’s rulings were no longer relevant.” Wetness almost slides down her cheeks when she mutters, “His reply angered Maxsim so much, he signaled for his goon to hit me.”
Anger steamrolls into me hard and fast. Although it is Nikolai’s queen standing in front of me, my fucked-up head is absorbing everything Justine is saying as if she is K. I know Eight will do everything in his power to protect K, and that he’d die before he’d ever let her be taken from me as she was nine months ago, but I’m so fucking angry I had to hand her protection to another man.
It isn’t Eight’s job to keep my wife safe.
It’s mine.
The fury making my blood hot chops up my words when I ask, “Do you know what happened to the men Nikolai and you traveled with? Roman? Rico?” Justine stops shaking her head when Maddox adds, “Dimitri?”
“Dimitri was shot.”
Wanting to test a theory, I give credit to Justine’s comment, “Dimitri is under watch at an undisclosed location. He was found by the feds surrounded by numerous deceased members of a Russian association. They’re seeking the death penalty.”
Just as suspected, Maddox’s pupils dilate to the size of saucers.
This fucker isn’t here for Nikolai.
He’s here for Dimitri.
Lucky for him, his sister keeps my head screwed on straight. “What aren’t you telling me, Trey?” She’s rising to the podium as K did only last week, except, she doesn’t want K’s crown. She wants the man who vowed to keep both our queens safe.
Mistaking my time of reflection as malice, Justine snickers out, “Don’t lie to me, Trey. You know the consequences if you do.”
Although amused by her gall, I do my best to double the flame flickering in her eyes. “Nikolai’s DNA was found on scene. A pool of his blood was located next to a man only known as a mythUbiytsa.”
“Killer?”
When I nod, the color drains from Justine’s cheeks. “Rumors are his father was a Ukrainian weightlifter, and his mother an operative at the Russian soviet. With his childhood devoted to beating his mother’s lineage into him, his seven-foot-eight height never matched the maturity of his brain. His mental capacity only reached that of a young teen.” He was as brainfucked as I would have been if Nikolai didn’t find me.
My focus shifts back to the present when Justine asks, “Was he the man who held me hostage?”
I lift my chin. “We believe so.”
Although I’d prefer he didn’t, Maddox rejoins our conversation. “What are you saying? Nikolai killed a man, and in retaliation, he was killed?”
I hit him with a pompous glare instead of my fists like I really want to. “We don’t know. Dimitri was the only man found alive.”
Not hearing the snark in my tone, Justine asks, “Because he was too injured to flee?”
Tsking, I shake my head. “He was left as a warning. If this was a takeover bid, Maxsim needs the word spread that he toppled the king. Dimitri is his equivalent of a town crier.”
