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“Nikolai...”
“No.”
“Just hear me out.”
“Fine,” he flashed a smile. “You have five seconds to state your logical reasons, and your time starts now.”
“I don’t want to be a burden. I want to help,” my words spilled out hurriedly.
He was quiet for some time, then he pulled his chair closer to the desk. “Your time is up. And my answer still remains no.”
I rolled my eyes, flipped my hair over my shoulder, and folded my arms over my chest. “I said that in under five seconds.”
“I said, state your logical reasons. You are not a burden to me, Giselle. You are the mother of my child, and you’re of more help than you can imagine,” he blew out a sigh and leaned back in his seat. He patted his legs. “Come here...”
I went over and sat on his legs, throwing one arm over the shoulder. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Good?”
I huffed. “If I was there, and I knew how to shoot a gun, that guy would never have gotten to you. I want to help, Nik.”
He placed a hand over my bare thigh and kissed my cheeks, letting the feeling linger for a moment before I opened them again. His eyes were filled with unmasked worry, but I saw his resolve slowly slipping away.
“You’re pregnant, Giselle. I don’t want either of you in harm’s way.”
I embraced him and buried my head in the crook of his neck. “I promise, I won’t overwork myself.”
His finger went up and down my back in slow trails. “You promise?”
I withdrew with a smile. “I do.”
He shrugged and smirked. “Fine then. I’ll teach you.”
Chapter 21 - Nikolai
Giselle looked around in awe, taking in the sight of the abandoned field in a landscape on a small hill meters away from my mansion. “Is this where you and your brothers practice?”
“Sometimes,” I answered. The early morning sun scorched my skin, the soft breeze sweeping the scent of freshly mowed lawns in my nose. I pointed to a rusty S.U.V. wedged between two trees across us, it’d decomposed down to nothing more than a skeleton of metal. “Vlad used to love this place.”
She giggled, her brown eyes glowing. “Did he do that?”
I nodded. “He was fourteen. He’d take Sergey’s car and sneak out for a drive with his friends.”
She cocked her brows. “Wasn’t he scared of Sergey?”
“He wasn’t. None of us were.” A smile pulled my lips apart, memories of me and Sergey when we were younger came to me. “Sergey raised us. He was young, but he did his best.”
“Isn’t he only three years older?”
I inclined with a nod. “He is, but he had to grow beyond his age after our parents were murdered.”
Giselle gave me a pitiful look. “It can’t have been easy for you and your brothers.”
“It wasn’t, but this is the mafia. Nothing is easy.” I nodded towards the oak tree my brothers and I used as a shooting range. “That’s where you’ll be practicing.”
We plodded over to the tree. Giselle glued the paper target on the truck while I loaded the gun. After that, I took out the earplugs and goggles I’d carried for Giselle. “Come here.”
She obliged, walked to me and crouched down. “What is that?”
