The Prelude (A Musical Interlude Novel) - By Kasonndra Leigh Page 0,74

has obviously made fools of us both? I wish somebody would tell me what planet I’ve just landed on.

“What the hell?” Petre turns and focuses his wild-eyed gaze on mine. I wonder what has happened to my calm natured coach. Releasing Katerina, he turns to me.

Right away, I take a step back. This isn’t the kind-hearted man I’ve spent the last year or so revealing all of my innermost thoughts to. “Yes, Erin. Mind. Your. Business.” He grabs me by the shoulders and shoves me backward. Somehow, my three-inch heels tangle up. I collide with the floor, my skull slamming against it. Stars start flying all around me as I lay there staring up at the ceiling.

Something or maybe someone zips by me. “Son of bitch! What the fuck are you doing here?” I hear Alek’s voice call out. A pair of arms surrounds me, helping me come to a sitting position. I turn to face a terrified Adriana whose gaze is locked on her brother who is beating the shit out of my phony life coach.

As I stand there watching, Petre somehow dodges Alek’s next punch and then hauls off and slams him to the floor. But a fired up Alek overpowers the older man. He shoves on top of Petre and wrenches his arm around behind his back. “I taught you everything you know, boy. Do you honestly think you can defeat me?” Petre gasps to Alek who has a knee crushed in his back.

A group of people have gathered in the hallway. I’m terrified of what’ll happen if Alek kills Petre in front of everybody. Before long, I’m pretty sure the press will arrive on this scene, or someone will start snapping pictures of Alek

I shuffle to my feet. “Alek! Stop, don’t do this.”

“You won’t terrorize any of the people I love, ever again.” He twists Petre’s arm back further. I can hear his bones popping. I don’t know what’s most terrifying: Petre’s cracking limbs, or meeting this side of Alek I’ve only glimpsed once before at the Alcatraz.

Katerina returns with Hagar and Nikolai trailing behind her. I didn’t even see her leave. Nikolai grabs Alek by his arms, while Hagar easily secures Petre. “Get the fuck off of me, Nikolai,” Alek snaps, wrenching his tuxedo jacket back up on his shoulders. He glances over at Katerina and says, “Are you alright, Mother?” She nods as security guards rush onto the scene.

Alek stalks over to me. “Are you okay, baby?” His lips tremble and his eyes hint at a story I may never understand. “This man—this piece of filth is the bastard I told you about.”

“Petre is the Phoenix? No. Can’t be. This is my life coach,” I whisper. I can feel the hint of an asthma attack building up in my chest. He stalks over to where Hagar holds Petre with an embarrassing ease and rips open his shirt.

The tattoo of a red phoenix surrounded by black flames is etched into his left chest muscle.

“This is the man who sent Nikolai to stand down a group of crazy ass sex traffickers, if you must know the truth, Erin. He caused my cousin’s death, and destroyed my family,” Alek explains to me, his voice trailing off as he glances at his mother.

I don’t need an explanation of what Petre, no wait, the Phoenix did to screw up the Dostovsky’s family. Katerina’s guilty expression makes it pretty obvious. We all stand and wait for the carabinieri, the Italian police force, to arrive.

“Don’t ever let me catch you around any of my family or friends ever again,” Alek warns Petre.

“Are you threatening me, Scarlet Phoenix?”

“Don’t call me that,” Alek answers.

“You seem to be forgetting, Alek doesn’t make threats, only promises. That is what you taught us to do, right?” Nikolai adds, standing by Alek’s side.

“You made all of us trust you, Petre, or whoever you are.” I’m unable to just let all of this go without saying anything. “I thought you were my friend.”

Meeting my gaze with an empty one, he says, “Dear, sweet Erin. So innocent. In this life we live, we learn, and then we burn at the end of the journey.” He gives me a smile, a polite one, as though we just finished discussing a class topic.

“Get him out of here before I get arrested for smashing his face in,” Alek orders the carabinieri who have now filed into the hallway.

The man I know as Petre, the same one who terrorized Alek and Nikolai in