Page 84 of Nikola

Bella sighed. “It must mean we’re getting old.”

“You twoareold.” Marietta waved her hand as if she didn’t just insult us. “Skye made an offhand comment a few years ago that she prefers men in suits or no shirt at all. Nikola opted for the no-shirt option.”

“You’re a pain in my fucking ass,” Nikola hissed.

“But you love me.”

“God help me,” I grumbled, tempted to tell them they were both a major pain in the ass, but I was too tired. “I love you both and I’d kill for you both, but some days I’m tempted to strangle you myself.”

“Speaking of, I’m bored. Want me to help you kill someone?” Marietta reached up to her neck, clutching her pearls. “Not our parents, of course.”

Bella and I shared a look before shooting her an exasperated look. “Gee, thanks.”

32

VASILI

Iwatched as my children left my office, whispering to each other. Probably already scheming on how to give me more gray hairs. Too fucking late. I was pretty sure my head was full of them.

My entire life I’d been dealing with my family’s chaos. First my brother Sasha, and just as he settled, my own son started to act just like him. And then there was Marietta, who was almost just as bad.

Was the whole world conspiring against me?

At least Sasha wasn’t on Nikola’s side. Thank fucking God, because this world wasn’t ready for those two together. In fact, my dear brother had every intention of murdering his favorite nephew.

His earlier threat of burying Nikola “so deep not even the devil would find him” wouldn’t bode well for my son when Sasha eventually woke up. After seeing the shit my son had pulled, I couldn’t even blame him.

He thought of Skye as his own daughter. She had always been part of our family, a big sister to Sasha’s son, and an innocent, shy cousin to Alexei’s, Tatiana’s, and my children.

I honestly never fathomed Nikola would have any interest in her. They were polar opposites.

Fucking Christ, why couldn’t we just have a normal family?I thought again.

First I had an unhinged, slightly psychotic brother to raise. And I wasn’t talking about Alexei. He was a fucking saint compared to Sasha. But no matter, I happily stepped up and raised Sasha and my sister. Minus a few incidents where I wanted to murder them and become an only child, I’d done a pretty amazing job.

Yay fucking me.

But then I was rewarded with a son who came with his own slightly psychotic tendencies. Nikola thrived on stirring the pot and getting everyone worked up. Most of the time he acted first and faced the consequences second—if at all.

I wasn’t even sure when it all started. It just became glaringly obvious one day.

I stared at the video of my son with disbelief.

“There’s no disputing it,” Sasha indicated, pointing to the screen. “It’s clear as day that it was Nikola in that car.”

The street surveillance captured my sixteen-year-old son perfectly as he drove his Ferrari into the oncoming traffic of the French Quarter. He even damaged a few cabs, but thankfully nobody was hurt.

“Aurora pulled a few strings to make the charges go away, but Nikola’s getting way too reckless,” Alexei added in his usual calm tone.

The three of us were in my home office where we usually discussed business, not how to keep our children out of jail. Fuck.

“I don’t get it,” I muttered. “One day, he’s a good kid. The next, he’s off the rails.” Silence enveloped the room and I peeled my eyes off the screen to look up at my brothers. Both ofthem looked slightly uncomfortable. Or constipated. There was definitely more to all of this than just Nikola’s reckless driving.

“What?” I demanded. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

The two shared a glance, then Alexei shrugged, wordlessly letting Sasha take the lead and explain. “Don’t you think it would have been better to wait a few more years before putting that burden on his shoulders?”

My brows furrowed, clearly not following my brother’s line of thinking. “What burden?”