PART ONE
trial by fire
CHAPTER 1
kostya
NICOLAI ROMANOV
This is the second book in the
Billionaire Sanctuary: The Heir series.
If you haven’t read
A Prince of Smoke and Mirrors,
make sure you read that first.
GET IT HERE:
A Prince of Smoke and Mirrors
Konstantin stood in the door of the tavern area, swaying on his feet, glaring and grinding his teeth, as I and my brand-new, ill-advised, complete-stranger wife, Lexi, walked into the Billionaire Sanctuary private club in Las Vegas.“Nicolai, introduce me to your wife.”
Dammit, I didn’t think my brother would ambush me right out in the open, right in front of our friends and relatives who’d swiveled on their barstools in the darkened pub area of the private hotel to eyeball us.
Lexi halted beside me, her soft footfalls ceasing like she’d vanished, like she’d been taken, like she’d fallen to the ground.
I spun and caught her small hand in mine, a spark zipping up my spine until my eyes found hers.
She was still there, the sunlight from the still-open front door glowing on her blond hair but not reaching into the darkness of her deep brown eyes as she looked up at me with growing trepidation. Her posture shifted as her gaze whipped back to Konstantin, and then she was shrinking, stepping back.
I moved in front of her and stared down my dumbass, drunken baby brother.
Konstantin had always had a penchant for theater.
His arms were wound tightly over his chest, a highball glass of whiskey held at his broad shoulder, as he glared at us from the bar, swaying slightly.
Yep, my brother had been drinking, there with his newly minted American driver’s license showing that he was officially twenty-one years old and thus legal, which meant he was thoroughly pissed, and pissed off at me, well before noon.
While my own hangover raked my brain with glinting silver fishhooks.
Kostya’s eyes burned with an alcoholic blue flame.
As I was still slightly mellow and yet had a bit of a bastard behind the eyes from last night, I might not have complete control of my temper if he pushed the sibling buttons.
Dammit.
I fixed him with a glare, trying to pin his baby ass to the wall with just my force of will.“Notout in the open. Come upstairs.”
I caught Lexi’s hand and towed her toward the elevator.
Kostya’s footfalls clomped over the thick carpeting behind us, each stomp a little-brother tantrum. “I didn’t see the livestream of your wedding last night.Fifty peoplesent me the replay link. When were you going to tell me abouther?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lexi’s head rotate as she looked back and forth between us.
I dropped her hand for a minute as I plucked my blackBillionaire Sanctuary membership card from my wallet, holding it aloft as we passed the concierge, who was already looking the other direction and waving us past. “We’ll talk in my suite.”
