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“Happy New Year, princess,” I murmur, taking her in my arms and kissing her cheek.
She throws her arms around my neck and hugs me. “Happy New Year!”
I turn her to face the fireworks and wrap my arms around her from behind, one forearm around her waist and the other across her chest. She reaches up and holds on to me as she gazes at the burning colors overhead, and her slender fingers slip into mine.
I’m not actually going to do anything with my niece. That would be messed up. Holding her like this? Obsessing over every little thing about her and inhaling her scent like a man addicted? It’s fine. I’ve got my shit locked down. Zenya will never know.
I tuck a lock of her silver hair behind her ear and gaze admiringly at her profile. That adorable turned-up nose. Her Cupid’s bow mouth shining with lip gloss. Troian’s always so busy with work, his wife, and his younger children, so it falls to me to make sure Zenya’s happy. She sees me as her uncle and that’s all I’ll ever be to her. Trying to change her mind about that would be wicked.
I’m not going to do that.
But if Zenya kissed me…
Chessa comes out into the backyard with a tray of champagne glasses, smiling as she hands them around. She sees me with my arms around my niece and glowers at us. Then she catches my murderous glare and she stumbles and nearly drops the tray.
I give her a hard, sarcastic smile and drop it before I look away. Fuck off. I can hug my niece if I want to.
I meant what I said about making her cry if that boy comes near my Zenya. It would be a pleasure coming up with a way to make Chessa suffer.
* * *
Two days later,I’m blissfully unconscious when my ringing phone drags me from slumber.
I fumble for my phone on the nightstand and squint at the screen. It’s just past seven in the morning, an obscene hour of the day, but I have to answer if it’s Troian, and I always answer if it’s Zenya.
It’s Mikhail, my friend, and the foot soldier I trust the most.
He can fuck off.
I stuff the phone under my pillow and go back to sleep.
But Mikhail rings again. I yank the phone out and answer it. “This better be important or I will use your balls for target practice.”
“It’s Chessa. She’s dead.”
I blink hard, wondering if I’m still asleep. “What?”
“You heard me.”
I sit up slowly. “How?”
A car accident? Did I get drunk and put a hit on her? I know I’ve fantasized about it before.
“She must have got up in the middle of the night to eat some leftover Chinese food. A dumpling got stuck in her throat. She choked to death. Troian found her body on the kitchen floor this morning.”
My mouth twitches. “She choked? The woman who’s never been able to shut the fuck up choked on a dumpling?”
I burst out laughing.
“I knew you would laugh,” Mikhail says with a heavy sigh. “That’s why I wanted to tell you before your brother did. She’s a mother, you know.”
“I know, I know. But you have to admit it’s funny.”
“You’re one dark motherfucker, Kristian,” Mikhail mutters in an undertone, and I realize he must be calling from the house.
“How’s Zenya?”
“She seems fine. Right now she’s making breakfast for the kids. I don’t think she was very attached to her stepmother.”
