Page 1 of Nikola

THE FAMILY TREES

PROLOGUE

SKYE, 20 YEARS OLD; NIKOLA, 24 YEARS OLD

Present

New Orleans

“Are you out of your fucking mind, son?”

My father slammed his office door shut behind him, each of his footsteps reverberating like an earthquake threatening to level the house.

“I’m talking to you, Nikola,” he roared, the arched window at his back rattling against its frame. He lowered himself at his desk, bringing his fist down onto the mahogany surface. Honestly, I was surprised the desk had lasted this long. Rumor went that the last one was almost splintered when Uncle Sasha kidnapped Aunt Branka on her wedding day to another man.

“I hear you,” I said calmly. “I’m your only son. Of course you’re talking to me, Vasili.”

His expression darkened, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. My father didn’t take kindly to me calling him by his first name. Today was not the day to push his buttons.

So naturally, I pushed them harder.

“I’m pretty sure everyone in New Orleans did,” I scoffed. “Besides, what’s done is done; it’s time to move on.”

I reached into my pocket and fished out a stick of gum, tossing it into my mouth. The crinkle of the wrapper was barely loud enough to cut through the somber silence that accompanied our staredown.

I held his glare, smacking my gum obnoxiously.

My father’s blondish-grayish hair turned a remarkable shade of orange as his blood pressure skyrocketed and his skin heated.

“Herfathersaw the fucking tape,” he bellowed.

“It was discreetly done. You can’t see anything scandalous,” I stated matter-of-factly.

“You’re missing the point, which is thatyou are fucking Dante Leone’s only daughter!”

“Hmm, I thought she was Uncle Sasha’s daughter,” I snickered, and he shot me a look that told me he would love to reach across the table and strangle me. “Relax, it’s not incest. She was adopted, remember?” I said, even though I knew there was no way he’d forget.

“Incest is the least of your worries.”

The temperature in the room plummeted to dangerous digits, but it didn’t faze me. My father would eventually see that I had done the right thing.

I leaned back in my chair, propped my legs up on the desk, and started flipping through an old copy ofForbesI’d picked up on my way in.

“Put the fucking magazine down,” he hissed through gritted teeth. The vein throbbing in his neck told me he was moments away from erupting.

“Relax, Dad. Honestly, in today’s day and age, sex tapes are everywhere.”

“Don’t fucking tell me to relax,” he roared. “This is like déjà vu. My brother and sister reincarnated into my own children.My brother’s erratic behavior finally calmed down. My sister stopped her partying and lunacy. Our family was so fucking close to something resembling normalcy. Then you came along and?—”

“There’s nothing normal about those two,” I chimed in, then popped a bubble. “Besides, Uncle Sasha and Aunt Tatiana might be unchanged, but their spouses are handling it better than you did.”

“I could strangle you right now, Nikola.”

“Let’s not start the kinky incest talk now.”

He gave his head a subtle shake, his nostrils flaring.

“Why didn’t you come to me if there was something between you and Skye? I could have arranged?—”