Taken By Nikolai

“Jealous,” she scoffs. “What the hell do I have to be jealous of?”

“That your daughter is more of a woman than you’ll ever be, or maybe it could be the fact that she’s fucked Nikolai and you haven’t.”

Adele’s eyes flash with anger. “He’s my husband, not hers. I always wanted the status of being the wife of a Pakhan. With Lev, it didn’t work, the men didn’t like me. Here—” she smiles brightly. “Here, the men respect me. I am Nikolai’s wife.” The smug grin on her face makes me want to rip her head off.

“Ah, that is where you are wrong,” I tell her. “We were never legally married, therefore you are not my wife. But rest assured, Lena will be.”

Her tears are real this time as her scream fills the air. She should have known better than to go against me.

“You are going to die for what you did to her,” I hiss as I get to my feet, reaching for the gun in my back holster. I nod to my men telling them to leave. The moment they do, I crouch down so that I’m level with her face. “Your grandchild will never know you, Adele, he or she will never know what a Shlyushka you are.” (Cunt.)

Her sharp intake of breath is more than enough for me to know that I hit deep with her. “Grandchild?”

“You tried to kill my woman while she was pregnant with my child. Tell me, Adele, at what point did you think I wouldn’t kill you for what you have done?”

“You’re a bastard,” she hisses at me.

“How did you get working with the Croats?” I demand. Needing this conversation over with so I can get back to my woman.

She shrugs carelessly. “Before I met Lev, I had been with Marko Babic. He was the man that I loved. But he had been promised to another.” She sniffs. Does she think crying will make me feel sorry for her? “We never stopped our fling, when I needed something, he was always there to help. He was more than happy to take out Yelena, it meant hurting Maksim and that was a plus for Marko.”

“You’ll die for what you’ve done,” I tell her. My words are final. There’s no way she’s getting out of this.

Her eyes widen. “You were my husband.”

I shake my head. “I’ve never been that. I’ll never be that. I wanted you for one reason only. The Bullet, and I’ve got her. You,” I say as I raise my gun to her face. “Are nothing more than a Shlyushka, you’ll never be remembered.” I pull the trigger, not an ounce of remorse for doing what needs to be done in order to protect my family.

“Find out what the Croat knows about what his boss is up to and why he’s here in Texas and then burn this place to the ground,” I tell Stefan. “I’ll be back at the hospital, call me when it’s done.”

Konstantin and Stefan stay behind with the other men to ensure they extract the information that I need, whereas Ilya joins me as we return to the hospital.

“So, Lena’s pregnant?”

The fucker eavesdropped. “Yes,” I reply as I tighten my hands on the steering wheel. “It’s early.”

He nods somberly. “They’ll be okay,” he assures me. “She’s probably awake now.”

I fucking hope so.