Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
“Fox,” Brody said quietly.
He let his Pup’s voice center him. No matter what else went on, he had to go back to them. They were all that mattered.
It hit him then.
All these years, he’d dreamed of confronting Pavel, of getting revenge and it meant nothing in comparison to the two of them.
Markovich sucked in a breath. “Who are you?”
The woman stepped into the light. She was thin with hair that was too dark for her pale complexion. Her face was completely unlined and stiff. She’d obviously had cosmetic work done.
“Don’t you recognize me after all these years, Dima?”
A strange noise came from Markovich. “Galina? But how . . . how is that possible? You’re dead.”
“Clearly not,” Pavel said.
Galina shot him a hard look. Interestingly, she didn’t seem to be too happy with Pavel.
“Damn, this has more twists than a fake-death plot on a soap opera,” he stated.
“You were a plot twist I did not expect, Mr. Fox,” Galina, Markovich’s not-dead wife said coolly. “Your mother was one of the many, many whores that Dima and Pavel’s father fucked?”
He smiled in response and clapped. She gave him an irritated look.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you expecting me to get mad and throw a tantrum because you called my mother a whore? She did what she had to in order to survive. Are you any different?” he asked.
“I am no whore!” she said sharply.
“Really? So you’re not doing squat thrusts in the cucumber patch with Pavel here?”
“What does a cucumber have to do with anything?” Pavel asked.
The Fox sighed, shaking his head. “My condolences to you, ma’am.”
“I do not understand him,” Pavel moaned.
“I’m asking Galina whether or not she whored herself to you to gain power,” the Fox explained.
“Galina?” Markovich whispered. “You faked your own death to be with Pavel? How could you do that?”
“Because he could give me what you could not! Power. Who do you think made it possible for us to expand our empire? Me. I was always behind the big decisions. Pavel does not have the brains or the vision.”
Pavel glared at her but didn’t interrupt her. Which told the Fox that she really was the one in charge.
“You would never have allowed me to have more power,” she told Markovich.
“I didn’t . . . you never said anything . . .”
“Because after Katina was born you decided you wanted to go more legitimate. That was not going to make us more powerful. It would weaken us. Yuri was hearing rumors that our enemies were going to come for us.”
“So you faked your own death and had our daughter kidnapped? Do you realize what that asshole she lived with did to her? The way he treated her?” Markovich snapped.
The Fox watched her closely. He saw the crack in her façade when Markovich mentioned Emme. So she did care? Maybe a tiny bit?
“No. I did not know that Katina was alive until recently. I thought she was dead.” The look she shot Pavel was pure fire.
Wow. He was either very brave or very stupid to crawl into bed with that viper. The Fox would put money on the latter.
“Pavel came up with the plan himself. He set you up to take the fall for that murder. Then while you were in jail, he had me murdered and Katina was taken by Yuri to be given to Jonathan Robins. When I woke up, he told me she’d been murdered. I went into a depression. One I did not think I would come out of. But then he begged me to live. To help him build an empire. So I did it all from the background. I had no interest in you finding out I was alive. And I knew that could happen, no matter how careful we were.” She sneered. “So I had my face changed. I took on a new name. And I ruled.”
“Ah, so Pavel here was the puppet and you had your hand firmly up his ass,” the Fox said. “Makes sense.”
“Her hand was not up my ass!” Pavel snapped, stepping toward the Fox.
“Shut up, Pavel! You’ve caused enough issues. I did not know that Katina was alive until a few weeks ago. I have been trying to clean up the mess you keep causing us, interfering in our business.” She glared at Markovich, then at the Fox. “I did not know Pavel contacted you. I would have advised against it. One cannot trust a traitor.”
“Wow. That’s rich coming from you,” he told her.
“I have a proposal for you,” she said to Markovich. “I do not wish to kill you. I shall leave you and your little whore alone.” She glared down at Cara who she still thought was Dahlia. “I will leave our daughter alone, if you stop interfering with our business.”
“That’s all you care about? Your empire?” Markovich asked. “Do you care nothing about our daughter?”