Page 14 of Depraved Royals
I sit in the chair, and she holds out her hand. Dutifully, I take it.
“You two can go,” she says. “Kal and I have important things to talk about.”
Simeon mutters something as he moves toward the door. Vera shushes him, but it’s too late.
“What?” Idina hisses. Simeon tries to give her an angry look, but he looks like a sad little boy.
“Nothing.”
“Yes, you are,” Idina says.
I close my eyes.Jesus Christ. Does she have to be so brutal to him?
Simeon is the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in our lives, and Vera exists only as a mirror image of our mother. There to be a shadow of her.
As for me, I’m Idina’s golden child. The son she conceived before she met my father and raised alongside my two younger siblings.
I’m the boy who was favored and nurtured with a single goal - to help my stepfather Erik to restore his rightful place as leader of the Pushkin Bratva and push his hated, traitorous cunt of a brother out of his empire. But when I was still just a kid, Erik got impatient and made his play too soon. Fyodor Pushkin sent him back in a box.
Up until then, Erik reminded me of my destiny every single day.
To succeed where he had failed. Avenge him by killing Fyodor and taking the Bratva throne, elevating the Antonov name out of ignominy, and restoring the respect and power we deserve.
“What are you going to do, Mikhail? Idina asks.
“War does not have to involve running through the front door with your sword drawn, fighting face to face,” I say. “The cunning conqueror knows that killing in hot blood may be fast, but it carries too much risk. Far better to coax and wheedle and prod at your enemy’s weaknesses until they are worn down. Only then do you reveal your true intentions and deliver the murderous final blow; by then, it’s almost a kindness.”
Idina juts her chin at me. “I’ve taught you well, haven’t I? Your father too. You’re just as cold and black-hearted as he was. Admirable traits in a man of strength.”
Idina always said she didn’t know who my real father was, and she tends to disregard the fact that it wasn’t Erik Antonov. She talks about me as though I’m his doppelgänger, fated to save her from the scourge of a disgraced family name.
Maybe I am. I don’t know any other way to be.
I can convince anyone that I’m a regular, decent guy, at least for a short while. But I’m an agent of change. A man who defines himself by things he has yet to achieve and sees nothing beyond revenge.
I stand up and extract my hand from Idina’s grasp. Her fingers are cold and bony in mine, and I’m glad to let them go.
“I’ll talk to Simeon and Vera and get the wheels spinning,” I say. “But I will put myself beside Fyodor Pushkin without a struggle. And when I’m sure I can get the job done, that’s it. He’s dead.”
I head into the hallway and see that the front door to Idina’s home is open. The glow of cigarettes is the only thing I can see outside on the porch.
I could do with a drink before trying to talk to my siblings. I know they’ll do what I say, but they exhaust me, Simeon especially.
I don’t know why my half-brother is so fucking pissed off about not being our mother’s best blue-eyed boy. It’s not much of a privilege. Idina has no more love for me than she does for any of us, but she likes to act as though she does to keep Simeon on his toes. Vera stopped trying years ago, and now she just keeps her head down and follows orders.
I step into the kitchen and pour myself a vodka, allowing myself a minute to think about Dani.
It was a shame to wake up and find she’d vanished. I had intended to enjoy a lazy morning with my face buried between her legs, but my morning wood went to waste.
Still, it was a fucking delicious diversion.
That woman. That tight pink pussy, those languorous moans. And such a slut for my cock. I was almost embarrassed for her. Before I could make a move, she took it there first, asking me if I wanted her.
She knew. She wanted me, too.
And to the victors go the spoils.
Maybe I can keep Dani for myself when all this murderous vengeance has run its course. I neither want nor can love her - that’s for people with hearts and souls and all that shit - but Icanfuck her. Pussy, ass, face, anything goes.