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I turn to face her, and my anguish transforms to rage the closer she approaches.
“You bitch.” I refuse to answer her in Russian. IwantEmily to hear.
IneedEmily to hear.
“Have you done what is necessary?” Alla’s eyes narrow as she levels a frosty gaze at me and continues speaking in Russian. “Have you impregnated the whore?”
I rise to my feet and walk towards her. Her bodyguards immediately move between us, but part at a single wave of her hand.
“I asked you a question, Kostya.”
“And I told you,” I growl, “to stop calling her that.”
“Congratulations.” Her lips shift, and they look like two skinny wriggling worms twisting as she smiles. “This was your final test, Kostya.”
What the hell is she talking about?
She raises her left hand, and I gasp when I see that she’s wearing the signet ring engraved with the Siderov family emblem. I haven’t seen it in years, not since father’s death.Thisis what I was after by marrying Emily.
This is what I hurt her for …
I should feel victorious. But instead, the sight of it only compounds my guilt.
“Final test?” I ask.
For the first time in my life, she looks uneasy. Taking a deep breath, as if gathering herself, she reaches over and slowly works the ring off her finger until it is free. A metallic tang spreads over my tongue.
Anticipation? Excitement? Or dread?
I can’t tell anymore.
Not that it matters.
Because all of those emotions inevitably give way to the same result: guilt.
“I needed to know if you could be ruthless.” Now she switches to English. “I needed to know that I was about to hand over control to a worthy pakhan. I needed you to show me that you were willing to do whatever was necessary for the bratva.”
Sick realization pits in my stomach. “Youwantedme to hurt her …”
“Of course, my darling Kostya,” Alla says sweetly. Her worm-like smile spreads wider. “I had to know for certain, after you abandonedmeforherwhen those Ferrata dogs invaded the wedding. Could I really have trusted the future of the bratva to you when you were so ready to abandon it in that moment?”
“You devious old bitch.”
“Careful now, Kostya.” She withdraws her hand and the ring. “This ring isn’t yours yet.”
“And if I were to take it from you?” I glare at her. “By force?”
She shrinks back slightly, and her bodyguards immediately move to my flanks.
My hand moves before I can stop myself, and I seize her by her throat. Alla gasps in surprise and the ring tumbles from her fingers, where it clatters on the ground in a soft clink. Quick as lightning, I feel something cold press against my forehead.
A gun.
“You dare point a gun at your pakhan?” I growl at the bodyguard.
The man remains still as a statue, but the gun doesn’t waver.
“Think about your wife, Kostya,” Alla strains against my hand. I tighten my grip, but she continues to speak. “My guards will keep any child in her belly safe should both of us die, but their allegiance is to theheir. To the bratva. Not toher. What do you think they’ll do toheronce that child is born?”
