Page 107 of Secret Heir

“To accounts Alexander set up for legitimate business purposes.” Nikolai sets down his coffee cup with a sharp click. “We’ve been over this. You agreed to investigate your woman, prove she was manipulating you, and move on. Instead, you’re still chasing fucking conspiracies.”

My teeth grind together in frustration. Why won’t my brother believe me? “This isn’t a conspiracy, Kolya. Look at the pattern⁠—”

“I don’t need to look at anything.” Nikolai’s voice is hard now, his eyes cold. “You’re embarrassing yourself, Maksim. And you’re damaging your relationship with me by continuing to pursue this baseless accusation.”

“Baseless?” I can feel my temper fraying. “I just showed you forty million dollars⁠—”

He waves that off. “You showed me business transactions that you’re interpreting in the worst possible light because your girlfriend convinced you Alexander is a traitor.” He stands, moving to the window, his back to me. “Do you hear yourself? Do you understand how this sounds?”

“It sounds like I’m trying to protect you from someone who’s been planning to kill you for eight years!” I shout.

Nikolai spins around, and the fury in his eyes makes me take a step back. “Enough. I’m done entertaining this delusion,” he hisses. “Alexander has been loyal to me. He’s been by my side through every major decision and threat we’ve faced.”

“And you think that loyalty is real?” I shout, past the point of controlling my temper. “You think a man who’s been embezzling forty million dollars gives a shit about your life?”

“I think your judgment is compromised.” Nikolai moves closer, and a muscle ticks in his jaw. “I think you’re so desperate to believe your little whore isn’t a manipulative liar that you’re willing to destroy a good man’s reputation based on nothing but her word and your paranoid interpretation of routine business transactions.”

Little whore. I see red. “Don’t call her that.” My hands clench into fists. “Don’t you fucking dare⁠—”

“What? Call her what she is?” Nikolai’s lip curls. “Sorry, I meant your little runaway. A woman who ran from you for eight years, purposefully kept your son in poverty, and is now spinning elaborate conspiracy theories to justify her cowardice? That’s what she is, Maksim. A liar and a coward. And you’re letting her turn you against your own family.”

I’m in his face before I realize I’ve moved, my hand fisted in his expensive suit jacket, shoving him back against the window.

“Say one more word about her.” My voice is deadly quiet. “One more fucking word, and brother or not, I will put you through this window.”

Nikolai doesn’t flinch or show fear. Instead, he looks at me with cold disdain.

“Get your hands off me.”

We stare at each other for a long moment, both of us breathing hard. Then I release him and step back, my hands still clenched into fists.

Nikolai straightens his jacket, as if nothing happened. “You’re choosing her over me. Over the organization.”

“I’m choosing the truth,” I insist.

“You’re choosing what you want to believe is the truth.” He moves to his desk and picks up a folder, but he doesn’t look at me. “Drop this, Maksim. I’m not asking anymore. I’m telling you. Drop this investigation. Stop harassing Alexander. And get control of your woman before she does any more damage.”

“And if I don’t?”

Now Nikolai looks at me, and his eyes are colder than I’ve ever seen them. “Then you’ll find out what happens when you put pussy before brotherhood.”

I stare at my brother—the man I’ve followed my entire life, the man I’ve killed for, the man I would have died for—and realize he’s never going to hear me. He’s never going to believe Aria or consider that Alexander might be anything other than loyal.

“Fine.” I turn toward the door. “I’ll drop it.”

“See that you do. And Maksim?” I pause, hand on the doorknob. “Keep her away from organization functions. I don’t want her poisoning other members with her accusations.”

I leave before I do something I can’t take back.

Like put my brother’s head through that window.

I drive back to the estate in a fog of rage and frustration. My hands are white-knuckled on the steering wheel, and I have to force myself to slow down and not drive like the fury pounding through my veins.

Nikolai won’t hear or consider it. He won’t even look at the evidence because he’s already decided Aria is lying.

I’ll have to handle this myself and build an airtight case without Nikolai’s help. I’ll need to prove Alexander’s treason so definitively that even my fucking stubborn brother can’t deny it.

When I get home, I go straight to my office and lose myself in the files. Phone records. Financial documents. Security footage. Trying to find the one piece of evidence that will make this undeniable.