The Nefarious Madam Excerpt

Two
hours later, Tatiana took a sip of her wine as Alexi joined her in the sitting
room of the apartment above the club. She’d had her bath and wore a pair of
short pajama pants with a matching camisole while her curls were mercifully
free in a wild tangle.

Alexi
looked a little tense as she sat down next to her, her short black hair cut
shorter, the strands all one length. There was a glass of tea in hand. The
fruit made the drink look more inviting, but her wine had hit the spot.

“You’re
tense,” Tatiana commented as Alexi picked up a sandwich from the plate loaded
with fries.

“I’m
pensive.” She took a bite of sandwich. “I want to give you a safe life, Tia.”

“It’s
too late to send me home,” she said. “I mean, my parents will take me in, but
my father is a little pissed that his mother is going to trial over my
kidnapping and Andrea’s murder.”

Her
grandfather, his brother, and apparently her grandmother had plotted to kill
Tatiana. Instead, the shooter had missed her and killed Tatiana’s boss, Andrea.
They’d even plotted to set Tatiana up for the murder once they failed to kill
her.

Alexi
had been instrumental in getting the investigation going.

“I
don’t want to send you home,” Alexi told her evenly as she leveled a blue stare
at her. “I just want you to understand I have a few residual problems to clean
up.”

“That
guy whose friend you killed before the mess with my family?”

“No,
this is your grandfather’s boss, and I’m not sure what he wants which is part
of the problem,” Alexi explained.

“The
attack on me was a warning,” Tatiana said quietly.

“If
that was Cooley, then, yes. I expect him to crank up his attacks in some
manner, but I don’t know exactly what he’ll do.”

She
nodded, the anger in Alexi’s gaze washing over her, tightening her throat. The
animal’s green stare was almost disconcerting.

“Who
is Cooley?” Tatiana frowned.

“He
was one of your father’s minions,” Alexi told her. “He probably wants to make a
name for himself now that Charles and Banks aren’t around.”

“What
about their boss?” She was more curious than she wanted to be. On the other
hand, Tatiana knew the more she knew about those who might attack her the
better prepared she could be.

“He
messaged me for a meet tomorrow. I’ll know more after that.”

“What
did you do that’s got him worked up?” Tatiana asked. “What kind of losses?”

“Tia—”

“Talk
to me,” she said firmly. “I’m not the same woman I was when we met. Too much
has happened to keep me in the dark.”

Alexi
pushed out a rough breath. “I trashed his drugs, killed some of his people, got
others arrested. His business interests here are ruined. He’s got to start from
scratch.”

Tatiana
took a sip of wine, nodding. Three weeks ago, she might have asked if Alexi had
actually killed someone or if she’d ordered their deaths. She might even have
asked if it had been necessary for Alexi to do any of what she’d done.

Now,
it didn’t matter if she had. All that did matter was the consequences of her
actions.

“I’ll
be careful,” Tatiana told her. “I know you’ll keep me as safe as you can. The
rest is up to me and the divine.” She believed that even more now than she had
the night her grandfather had kidnapped her.

He
had been so angry and vengeful. He’d been bent on killing Tatiana to get back
at Alexi, to make Alexi pay for being the trigger that had in his mind taken
Trevor, Tatiana’s brother, from the family.

Not
that it had been a great loss. Besides, her mother had worked magic, too—which
had been more powerful? Her mother’s magic or the fact Trevor had pissed Alexi
off?

She
wasn’t going to ask, but Tatiana had a feeling Alexi knew who’d killed Trevor.

Alexi
gave her a faint smile. “You mean everything to me, Tia.”

“I
love you, too, Alexi,” she said and leaned toward her, giving Alexi a kiss on
the cheek.

“How
are things going at work? Are the new employees working out?”

“You
want to bring in someone?” Tatiana had expected that.

“I
do,” Alexi said. “You’re the boss. There’s no reason you can’t make that
happen.”

“I’ll
hire my new bodyguard,” she said with a laugh.

“I
had someone else in mind.”

Tatiana
gave her a skeptical look. “A real employee?”

Alexi
winked. “You trust me, remember.”

“That’s
a two-way street, lover,” she replied. “I need some facts.”

“A
friend is looking for a job. Just something to help him get back on his feet.”

“A
guy?” she exclaimed. “Sure. Why not. What’s he do? I could use a sales
associate or an accountant. I could even use a security guard.”

“I
think security will be more up his alley than sales associate. Though, he’s not
bad with numbers.”

“You’re
keeping secrets,” Tatiana said and set her glass on the table. “But I’ll hire
your friend as long as he’s not a horn dog.”

Alexi
laughed. “He’ll be all business, and he is just a guy looking for a job.”

Yeah,
right, and her grandfather wasn’t really dead.

“Okay.
Have him come in around nine tomorrow ready to work.” Tatiana watched Alexi
start on the fries. God, where was she putting it all?

“Thanks.”
Alexi ran her hand along Tatiana’s leg and squeezed her thigh, and Tatiana’s
body heated, her nipples hardening.

Tatiana’s
phone rang as she put her hand on Alexi’s, and she groaned. “Someone has bad
timing,” Tatiana muttered and grabbed it from the end table and glanced at the
display.

“Hello,
Mother. How are you?”

“Tatiana,”
Melissa said softly. “I haven’t seen you in a few weeks, so I thought I’d call
to check up on you.”

“I’ve
been busy with the store.”

“Are
you sure you aren’t avoiding me, considering what’s going on?” Melissa asked.

“I
don’t know what you mean.” She frowned.

“Alexi
hasn’t told you?”

“Told
me what?” Tatiana asked, her stomach knotting as she threw Alexi a look.

“Your
father asked me to stand by your grandmother with him,” she said. “I agreed.”

Tatiana
was glad she was sitting down, or she’d have fallen. “Are you kidding? You know
she was partially responsible for what happened to me.”

“This
is family business,” Melissa said. “It’s bad enough Charles’s name is being
dragged through the mud. It will hurt some of the work your grandmother and I
are involved in and if she gets convicted that will hurt the foundation.”

Her
mother and grandmother worked with a foundation involved in helping women and
girls in rising above poverty as well as becoming successful and empowered
members of the community.

Tatiana
looked at her phone as if it had spoken the words not her mother. “Mother, are
you saying money is more important than me? What about April?”

“She
understands the situation,” Melissa said. “And I want you to—”

“No,”
Tatiana snapped. “Do what the hell ever you want. They kidnapped me and it
wasn’t for my own good.”

“Tatiana,
there is no reason to drag the family name through the mud now. Our lives are
going to be torn apart over this investigation, and accounts could be frozen,
assets seized as it is.”

She
laughed. “Oh, my Isis,” she muttered. “You’re insane Mother, and so is Grandmother.
She can go straight to hades for all I care.”

“Fine,
just don’t make this difficult,” Melissa said patiently. “I’m going to be
working with Anthony to keep the cleaners from going under. Don’t ruin that.”

“What
did Dad do to you?” Tatiana demanded. This wasn’t like her mother.

The
night she’d been kidnapped, Tatiana had been told that her father was in charge
of killing her mother. Her mother was fine, so that had been a lie, or
something had happened that staved it off.

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” Melissa said, quietly.

“Dad
was supposed to poison you,” Tatiana replied, her stomach tight. “The man who
was going to kill me for Grandfather told me that.”

The
long silence confirmed that something had happened.

“Mom?
What did he do? Threaten me? April?”

“Why
would you believe Alexi’s lie? Was she there that night?”

“Goodbye,
Mother.” She ended the call and set her phone down, but that something odd in
her mother’s voice gave her pause. “I can’t believe her. She wants me to
pretend this all never happened.”

“They’re
to put the kidnapping on me,” Alexi told her.

“Why
didn’t you tell me?” Tatiana burst out. “I can’t—what did he do to her? I know
you know.”

“Your
mother was fine that night, and I haven’t heard anything to the contrary.”

“My
grandmother did something to scare her,” Tatiana insisted. “I know she did,
even if it was nothing more than threaten to turn her into a pauper. She
doesn’t want to be poor.”

“It’s
hard, but it’s not a crime,” Alexi commented. “It’s a condition that can be
risen above.”

“Help
her,” Tatiana commanded.

“I
don’t know that she needs help.”

“I’m
going to talk to her and find out if money is what they’re using to make her
lie.”

“And
then what? You want me to give her a few million?” Alexi demanded. “That’s not
the answer to this.”

“Then,
what is? You’re going to kill them all, too?” Tatiana screamed, fear and anger
mingling in her with the force of a tornado.

“I
don’t have any plans to at this point, but I’ll eliminate them if it becomes
necessary.”

“Like
you did Trevor?” Tatiana clamped her hand over her mouth and widened her eyes
in horror that she’d said that. The strange thing was Alexi wasn’t denying it.

“I
can see you’re angry, and I’m tired,” Alexi said. “I need to rest.” She rose
and picked up the half-empty plate and glass of tea. She drained the liquid in
a single gulp.

Tatiana
went cold all over, her body feeling like jelly. “Did you have him killed?”