Köhler (Book 9 of the Köhler Series)

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Home sweet home. That want should have been on Talia's mind. Instead, she was thinking about how her dad was about to kill the man she had fallen for. After being with Dom for twenty years, she thought she would never find someone she loved as much as she thought she loved him, but she did.

Alexei was always nice to her. Aside from those times, he hit her because she disrespected him in front of his men. Something she didn't care about, and he knew that right away. Plus, he was nothing like his brother, and yes, she was afraid of Nikolai. He reminded her of Xerxes and was the kind of crazy you didn't want to get in the way of. So, to save her own life, she decided not to fight him back. Some people might have thought she was crazy, but she thought it was smart.

Talia cared too much about her life to risk it to see if Nikolai was good on his promises or not. At the time, Alexei promised her that she would be hurt, but all at the same time, he would leave and be gone for weeks allowing his brother to do as he pleased without knowing. With that, Lia kept her mouth shut until the last time he beat her and got caught due to Lexei's early return.

Still, she was in the dark about who raped her and why. Talia was sure it was Nikolai, but he assured her it wasn't. The question was... could she believe him? She wanted to. Hell, she wanted to believe that a part of him was just like his brother, but something was menacing about him that she couldn't put her finger on.

"Scared your little brother is going to kill mine?" Talia nearly jumped from her skin as he spoke from behind her. She had no clue that Nikolai was there, and it amused him.

"N-no. Xerxes never speaks about something if he doesn't plan on going through with it. If that were so, we would have never called with a bargain. He would came and killed you all."

"Hmm... you may be right. I would have done the same if someone had my sister and thought they were harming her. What should I expect my punishment to be once he finds out about my misdoing?" Nikolai asked, staring down at Talia. Nicely she shook her head because she didn't intend to tell Xerxes what he had done. Or her father because she knew both would kill the man. That was something she didn't want.

"I'm not going to tell him or my father... Did you find out what I asked?"

Nikolai shook his head with a sigh as Talia nodded swiftly. Either he knew what happened to her that night, or he truly didn't know. Either way, maybe it was time to let it go. All Lia knew was that she woke naked, and it could have been a plan to make her think she was raped by one of the guards. It wasn't a secret that most of them hated Nikolai and were hoping that his brother would kill him. 

"That's okay... look, Alexei doesn't know about it, and I don't plan on telling him, okay."

"Talia, I am being honest with you. I didn't touch you. Did I want you? Yeah, and my brother knew this, but I would never take advantage of an unconscious person. I can't speak for anyone else. I was wrong to put my hands on you because I was upset with my brother and the other thing. Something like that I would never do...."

"What are you two talking about?" Alexei asked, walking up to the two as the door to the jet opened. Both stared at each other and then at him with a questionable look. "Is there something I need to know? Don't think that I am dumb, Nikolai... know your fucking place. Or I will put you in it."

"Остановите это сейчас! Клянусь, вы оба ведете себя как четырехлетний ребенок.Вы не видите, что девушка сделала свой выбор, и это был вы Алексей. (Stop it now! I swear the two of you act like a four-year olds. You do not see the girl made her choice, and it was you Alexei.)."