Page 85 of Darkest Sin

“Fine. I believe you.”

“She was no Tatiana, I can tell you that.”

“Tatiana is beautiful,” I agree. I saw her at the funeral and was struck by how beautiful she is.

“Exactly. So you can understand why I hated my brother.”

“You were jealous of him.”

“He had everything and I had nothing.”

“So, now you’re trying to take over his life, is that it? Force his daughters to be your daughters. Force his wife to be your wife.”

He slams his hand onto the table. “I haven’t touched Tatiana.”

“Because she won’t let you.”

Denis ducks his chin, telling me I’m right.

I lean forward in my seat. “But you tried. Didn’t you? You tried to touch her.”

He flashes me a glare, confirming my suspicions. “What exactly do you want, Mikhail?”

“Like I said. To work together. With me, you can gain more power than you’ve ever dreamed of. You could become even more powerful than your brother was. And together, we could decide the fates of Natalya’s sisters.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you want to marry them off. It’s obvious. You want to use them to gain you more power. Natalya is worried you’ll marry them to men who could hurt them.”

He scoffs. “Why does it matter what Natalya wants? She left her sisters. She left her home. She left me when she wasn’t supposed to.”

“You were going to marry her to Antoni. She wasn’t going to live in her father’s house forever.”

“But she would have been under my thumb. She wouldn’t have been able to shoot me.” He nods at his shoulder where his arm still hangs limp.

“Things got off to a bad start, I’m afraid. But all Natalya wants is to be in her sisters’ lives. Let’s work together, Denis. We can choose who to marry them to. We can gain power together.”

“I don’t trust you and I never will.”

“So, you’re just going to let Nico and Cillian take over this city? Is that it?”

He glowers and slumps back in his seat more. All I can think as I look at him is how much of a pale imitation he is compared to Lev. No wonder Denis was jealous of his brother. Denis is not half the man Lev was.

“I can’t trust you, Mikhail. And while you do offer an interesting proposition for me, I’m not sure I can take it.”

I can feel this deal slipping through my fingers. “Is there anything I can offer you? Anything else?”

He considers it for a moment before he shrugs. “Divorce Natalya and I can marry her to a man of my choosing and then we can work together.”

I clench my hands together under the table. “You know I’m not going to do that. You’re asking the impossible from me.” I sigh. “Which is your answer. You don’t want to work with me and nothing I can say will change your mind. Am I right?”

“You’re right. And you just played your hand. You’re desperate for allies. I know your weakness now, Mikhail. You have a soft spot for my niece, don’t you?”

“I could easily shoot you.”

“And I could easily shootyou.”

I chuckle and unclasp my hands, willing the tension to leave my body. I knew this would probably be a lost cause but I had to try for Natalya’s sake. And now I’m going to have to return home to her and tell her the bad news.