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I’m so caught off guard by the accusation that I burst out laughing, but my humor is short-lived as anger takes its place. “Chessa choked on a fucking dumpling. Yes, I celebrated, but because I was happy to be rid of that woman breathing down my neck, not because I did her in.”
“Don’t lie to me,” she cries. “Sergei sent me that photo of you at the strip club choking the stripper with Chessa’s name written on her. Troian didn’t see that for what it was, but I did.A confession.”
I glare at Lenkov and he dips his head in an ironic bow. So it was him who took that fucking picture and ruined my fucking life, nearly for good. He must have been in the club at the same time as me and my crew, and I didn’t notice because I was so drunk.
I swing my attention back to Eleanor. “Why the fuck did Sergei Lenkov have your number?”
Lenkov smirks at me. “A beautiful woman like Eleanor, why wouldn’t I be courting her?”
Eleanor simpers at him. Stupid fucking woman. There wasn’t one sincere word that Lenkov just spoke. There’s only one thing Lenkov cares about, and I know it because I used to be just like him. He craves power, and having someone he can influence within the Belyaev family circle must have been too good to pass up. No wonder Eleanor’s never brought a man to a family party. She’s been sleeping with Lenkov for years and he must have insisted she kept it secret.
I relax back in my chair as if I’m enjoying myself and smirk at Eleanor. “Screwing this cold bitch in exchange for gossip? You poor man. I hope she at least came through with the goods now and then.”
Lenkov laughs. “The real pleasure is disrupting your family’s power in this city. It’s good for business to have everyone stabbing each other in the back. The news that Zenya Belyaev was gang-raped in a warehouse and that her family couldn’t protect her was going to be the tipping point that plunged this city into chaos.” The smile drops from his face. “But you ruined everything.”
Rage boils through me. I can still picture those fourmudakiadvancing on my niece, laughing at her. Intent on hurting her in the worst ways possible, and all because of these two people in front of me. I wrench my wrists behind my back, but the ropes don’t give even a fraction of an inch.
“Kristian Belyaev returning and taking over asPakhanis not part of my grand plans. I don’t make as much money when the Belyaevs are keeping everyone else in line.”
“I’m not going to bePakhan,” I growl at Lenkov. “Zenya is the one in charge.”
“Oh, don’t worry. She’ll die, too. Eventually.”
“Shut up about Zenya! What about my sister?” Eleanor shrieks and brandishes the knife at me.
Eleanor doesn’t intimidate me. I’ve been beaten and stabbed plenty of times in my life, and I made my peace with pain and death a long time ago. The only thing they could threaten me with is hurting Zenya and my baby, and Zenya’s not here.
But they can’t be allowed to kill me and go after her.
I look between the two of them, feeling sickened as I wonder how to play this. So this is what happens when a twisted need for revenge meets a manipulative psychopath. They must have been meeting and plotting behind our backs for years and we had no idea.
I give Eleanor a deadpan glare as my head pounds with what’s probably a concussion. Even from beyond the grave, Chessa is giving me a headache.
“Listen up, idiot,” I seethe. “I didn’t like Chessa, and she didn’t like me, but I didn’t want her dead. I just wanted her to leave me alone.”
“And why was she so preoccupied with you, Kristian?” Eleanor asks, getting even closer with the knife. “Because Chessa knew you were screwing your underage niece. Grooming and coercing her and forcing her against her will, and so you killed her for getting in your way.”
“For fuck’s sake. I’m a killer, so I must be a rapist as well? I suppose you think I torture small fluffy creatures for fun in my spare time. Has it ever occurred to you, you stupid fucking woman, that I’m a violent asshole to everyoneexceptmy family, because those are the people I actually love?”
I glare at her in disgust as she struggles to comprehend this.
“You threatened Chessa and her children,” she points out. “She told me all about it and showed me the bruises you left on her arm.”
If Zenya talks to any man but me tonight, I will make you cry, and that’s a fucking promise.
Am I really tied to a chair because of something I said at a New Year’s party two years ago? “For fuck’s sake, Eleanor—”
“I’ve heard enough from you,” she screams, demented from grief. Sent mad from her craving for revenge. And I thought Troian and I were the vengeful ones in the family.
“Gag him,” she snaps at Lenkov, who glares at her until she adds in a wheedling tone, “please gag him. I don’t want to hear his voice a second longer.”
Getting grudgingly to his feet, Lenkov shoves a rag in my mouth and ties another over it so I can’t spit it out.
Eleanor steps toward me, brandishing that wickedly pointed knife. “It’s all your fault I have to do this. You could have stayed away, and I wouldn’t have had to kill Zenya because the universe was already making her suffer. No beloved uncle. Troian dying a slow and painful death. It was wonderful to watch them get what they deserved. I only wanted one more thing, for that bitch to be gang-raped like my sister was, but no, you had to come back and save her, and then make herhappy.”
She says that like I’ve committed a disgusting crime.
“Belyaevs don’t deserve anything but suffering for what you all did to my sister. Raped by criminals. Murdered on the floor of her own kitchen. You disgust me. I’m going to kill you and watch your precious Zenya suffer for the next few months wondering where her man is. Before she has a chance to give birth to your brat, Sergei will make sure she’s hit by a car or drowns in the pool. It will be easy,” she says, trailing the tip of the knife down my chest, hard enough to break the skin. “After all, I can get into that house whenever I want. I could even make her sick if I wanted to. Not enough to kill her, but I could poison her for fun and watch her suffer. I could do it next week. Tomorrow. Slip something into her coffee and make her afraid for the baby as she vomits her guts out.”
