I cast a derisive glance at King, but he was staring at the ground, his jaw tightening. I must have struck a chord. “Is this you showing your older brother that you know how to pick a better bride than he ever did?”
We reached the garden and headed straight to the fountain.
“I have affection for your sister,” he started.
“Since when?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’ve been seeing each other for six weeks now.”
I turned to Lucy. “Did you know about this?”
“You think if I knew it was King, I wouldn’t have stuck my nose in it?” Lucy snapped.
“Like you stuck your nose in the trust?” King shot back.
Lucy opened her mouth but shut it again. Shit, we hardly talked about the trust when we’d been ensconced in the cabin. I should have asked Sato to check in on what Aralina was up to. Foreboding clenched my gut. Did my sister do this for Jeremiah? Used Lucy to help her?
The irony.
I clenched my fists. This particular King was a smooth talker. But Aralina wasn’t easily swayed. She could be timid aroundstrangers, but she was spunky around the family and could smell bullshit like Lucy did. What the fuck was my sister up to?
“I’ll cut to the chase,” King said abruptly. “I don’t want Ara to think I’m here other than for her.”
I scoffed.
The way he was staring at Lucy enraged me. I was about to tell him off when he said, “I know you were in the trunk of Viktor’s car.”
Lucy’s face lost all color, and a chilling dread seized my throat in a chokehold.
“What?” he said derisively. “Nothing to say?”
“That’s ridiculous,” I growled.
“Oh, spare me the lies, Zahkarov! You think you’re the only ones with connections to the state police? I had my tech go through the trunk with a fine-tooth comb. He found skin samples and a drop of blood that belonged to Lucy.” He turned to her. “You really should have your DNA scrubbed from DNA sites.” Then back to me. “I also know you sent those dirty cops to do a bogus traffic stop. You didn’t even care that Lucy was?—”
It happened so quickly. I wasn’t even aware my hands grabbed his throat until I heard Lucy screaming at me to stop. Fury tinted my vision red. But just as quickly, I let go, appalled he’d made me lose control. He figured out how to push my buttons.
My wife had become my weakness.
King staggered back, coughed, and fixed his tie. “I’m heading back inside. Your story about Viktor moving guns and drugs is not holding. I had doubts to begin with. You can bet Theo does too. And guess who else might? The Moscow mob. You better check on your guy, who’s your deep fake expert. He might be missing. And Anya, I wouldn’t trust her. She’s desperate.”
He stared at Lucy. Lucy, whose eyes I couldn’t meet. “There’s a surveillance cam you guys missed. There’s a recording of youand Davenport going into the club, but neither of you coming out despite what generated video your guy made. Both of you seem to have come to terms with your marriage.” He smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t want anyone tearing you apart.”
“What do you want, King?”
“Don’t come between me and Ara. Your secrets will be safe with me. After all, if we become family, I don’t want us littered with scandals.”
He fixed a sympathetic gaze on Lucy again before he backed away and left us. My eyes trailed his retreating form because there was a part of me terrified to meet my wife’s gaze, which was right now burning a hole through me. For a split second, I wished King had lingered for a few minutes longer instead of dropping this fucking bombshell in our midst.
“Why can’t you look at me?” Lucy asked.
So I did what she asked and flinched at the accusation in her eyes.
“Good, you feel a stab of guilt.”
“Lucy…”
“You sent those troopers to intercept Viktor knowing that I was alive in that trunk.”
