Chapter 119 Nikolai is Alive
Lila POV
His gaze dropped to my belly, and then he let out a maniacal laugh. “Oh God, I can’t do this anymore,” he said between laughter. “This is just too fucking insane…and funny.”
He reached inside his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth. “I wanted to drag this out a little more, but I’m a little gob smacked to be honest. I really didn’t expect this.”
I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t move. My blood was ice, my bones frozen.
He held the cloth to his face then smiled before wiping at his scar. Amused, dark eyes stared back at me while I watched the scar next to his eye disappear with every wipe.
What the fuck?
The smile remained on his face, a flawless face.
“What is this?” The words burned my throat.
He held his arms out wide. “Oh, come now, Lila. Is that any way to greet your longtime lover?”
I stumbled backward, my mind refusing to make sense of what I was seeing. It took me a few seconds before I could manage to find my voice. “ Nikolai?”
His smile grew wider. “In the flesh.”
Chills erupted from my neck down my spine. “You’re dead.”
“Nope. I’m very much alive.”
“How?”
“I see you let the cat out of bag sooner than planned.” Damon came walking in, and out of pure instinct, I rushed to the wall and Damon grinned. “I see she’s taking it well.”
Nico…no, Nikolai smirked. “She’s a little lost for words, yes.”
Damon stepped in next to him. “I always knew the bitch never had a backbone.”
Abruptly, Nikolai snapped his arm toward Damon, grabbing him around his throat. The way he squeezed, the veins in his hands bulged. “Don’t call her that.”
Damon grabbed Nikolai hand that kept on tightening around his throat. “What the fuck, man?”
“Call her that again and I’ll crush your goddamn windpipe.” Nikolai let go of Damon, shoving him backward.
Damon coughed. “What is it with this woman that she managed to get yours and Nico balls in a twist?”
Nikolai stared at me, almost dreamlike. “She’s a very special woman.”
“I don’t fucking see why.” Damon rubbed his neck. The sight of him made my stomach turn, every hair on my body standing up. He was still every ounce of evil I remembered him to be. He was shorter than Nikolai, than Nico…oh God, Nikolai was still alive.
“How are you still....”
“Alive?” He smiled then looked at Damon. “Should we tell her?”
“Sure. Why not? It’s not like she’s going to live long enough for her to wrap her head around what’s really happening.”
Nikolai shrugged, and all I could do was stand as silent as a mouse, staring at the two men in front of me.
Nikolai gestured toward the bed. “Sit down, Lila.”
“I prefer to stay right here.”
“You sure? It’s a long story. I wouldn’t want you to exert yourself, you know, in your current condition.”
“Condition?” Damon looked at Nikolai questioningly, and then my heart tried to make its way up my throat.
Nikolai waved his hand in my direction as if what he was about to say was no big deal.
“The bitch, as you so eloquently called her, is in fact…pregnant.”
My survival instinct started to kick in as I watched Damon expression turn from dark to cruel within a second.
“Pregnant?” His voice boomed through the room, and I closed my eyes as fear erupted inside me. “The bitch is pregnant?”
“She says so.” Nikolai smiled, and I hated it. I hated the look on his face, the way he stared at me. It was hard to believe that I walked around for months with a broken heart because of him.
I couldn’t see it then, but I saw it now…the look of deception, lies, and pure malice. It was easy to believe he and Damon were brothers that the same blood ran through their veins.
I wrapped my arms around my belly, and Damon glared at me. “Nico knows this?”
I refused to answer him, my glower the only kind of response he would get from me.
Damon snorted. “And I bet the fucker is real glad about it too.”
“Now, now.” Nikolai walked up to Damon. “He’s still our brother, Damon.”
“Who betrayed his own fucking family. Who shot his own goddamn mother!”
Nikolai remained really calm, as if nothing could rattle him. “That’s true.”
“Where is he?” My voice quivered. “Where is Nico?”
Oh God, they did something to him but how else would they have managed to get to me if they didn’t take Nico out first?
“Truth is we don’t actually know where he is.”
Nikolai walked closer, stopping a few feet away from me. I could not believe he had me fooled earlier.
Now that I looked at him, really looked at him, I saw the difference. Besides the fact that he lacked the very prominent scar, his face was a little longer, his eyes slightly more apart than Nico.
Amazing how I didn’t spot the difference when I first saw Nico, but now that I knew Nico face better than the back of my hand, I could see the man in front of me was not the man I had fallen in love with.
He slanted his head to the side, staring at me, his gaze studying my face.
“Last night when I entered my dear uncle’s estate, pretending to be my brother which was incredibly easy, by the way the security guard at the gate seemed quite surprised to see me…well, him. My brother. He said something about me being back so soon, asking if I forgot something.”
His lips curved up at the sides. “I have to admit, I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better even though I had my brother’s head of security, what’s his name?”
I gasped. “Matteo?”
“That’s the name, yes. Matteo even though I had him on my payroll, I didn’t need him actually. Although he did come in handy by giving most of the security guards the night off.”
Betrayal stung my insides. “he helped you?”
He reached out and traced his finger down my face. “Ah, my dear, innocent little Lila. You still have no idea how things work in our world, do you? Money talks, baby. In our world, money can buy anything, even loyalty.”
I jerked my face away from his touch, and for a moment, it seemed like he was hurt by it but I didn’t care. “Does Matteo not know where Nico is?
Where he went?”
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about my twin brother.”
“Of course I am because I love him.”
He face grew taut, his jaw ticking just like his brother’s would do.
He scrunched up his nose, shaking his head as if trying to get rid of a thought.
“Do you love him the same way you loved me?”
“I never loved you!”
He cranked his neck from side to side. “If you didn’t love me, then why did you act all broken hearted after I left?”