Chapter 39 Episode 39
1655 Words
“Heads up,” Arslan warns, reaching into his waistband for agun.
I pop open a compartment in the door and retrieve my ownweapon.
“Three cars, six men,” he counts, all playfulness gone from hisface. “They blocked us in because… f**k, I should have beenpaying attention.”
“No one would be stupid enough to take us out here,” I tellhim. “There are cameras everywhere.”
“I have my suspicions.” I grab the handle and gesture for himto fall in line. “Follow my lead.”
I step out of the car, but the row of angry men surrounding ourcar doesn’t move. I expected nothing less.
“Where is he?” I snarl.
Arslan is tense at my side, poised to dive in front of me if heneeds to. It wouldn’t be the first time.
The suited men shift slightly and the car door behind themopens. Then Giorgos Simatou steps out, smiling from ear toear.
“For f**k’s sake,” Arslan hisses, relaxing ever so slightly.“You aren’t the goddamned Pope, Giorgos.”
I nod in agreement. “This is quite the unnecessary show. Adangerous one, too. I could’ve put a bullet between the eyes ofevery single one of your men before you revealed yourself.”
“You’re smarter than that,” Giorgos says. “Or I thought so,anyway.”
Arslan snorts. “What the hell does that mean?”
Giorgos smiles at me like I’m a child. “Would you like toshare your indiscretion, Nikolai? Or should I?”
Between one blink and the next, I lunge forward and press mygun to the man’s temple.
His men close around me, but it’s too late. Their boss willhave a hole in his head before they can do a damn thing aboutit.
I hear Arslan laugh. “I’ll kill every single one of you sons ofbitches before you can even unholster your weapons. I’d thinktwice about making a move for my boss.”
“Don’t,” Giorgos repeats to them, swallowing nervously.“Stand down. This is between myself and Don Zhukova.”
His men shift back warily.
“If you ever talk to me like a child again,” I hiss, “the onlything between you and me will be six feet of dirt.”
Arslan chuckles in the background, but Giorgos Simatou isn’tlaughing. He just nods solemnly.
“I hear you, Nikolai. I do. But you went against our deal. Onthe same day we sat down together, no less.” The frustration isclear in his voice now, but he’s still trying to restrain himself. Istill have a gun in my hand, after all. “You disrespected me.You disrespected your wife.”
“She isn’t my wife yet, Giorgos.”
“My sister won’t see how that makes any difference. Xena isprideful. You know this.”
“Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know,” I warn him icily.
“Fine. Then I’ll tell you what I know,” he says. “If this dealbetween us can’t work, then I’ll have no choice but to alignwith someone else.”
“Come on now, Giorgos,” Arslan calls over. “Be specific. Sayit out loud.”
I bite back a smile. Arslan has always had a world-classbullshit detector. He knows as well as I do what Giorgos issaying. The man is just too much of a coward to say it himself.
He sighs. “The Battiato mafia is interested in a partnership. Imay not have another choice.”
The name alone has my hackles rising. f*****g Battiatos.“Are they holding a gun to your head, too?” I seethe.
“I’d take a bullet to the head over my sister’s wrath anyday,”Giorgos says with a dark chuckle. “She won’t like that you’veset your sights on another woman.”
“You don’t know what I’ve set my sights on.”
“I know that woman you were with before—Belle Dowan—was seen leaving Zhukova Incorporated late last night. It’s notdifficult to assume what you were doing.”
I ignore that Giorgos was watching my movements again evenafter I warned him to stop. Mostly because I went back on myword, as well.
But I can’t forgive being shackled like an animal to his sisterfor the sake of a business deal.
“Your sister is the one who introduced the marriage terms. Youhave the power to take it away. So do it,” I tell him. “I want towork with you, not your sister.”
“How will I know our union is lasting without the marriagecontract?”
I shrug. “You could take comfort in the fact that I’m notspilling your brains on the cement for spying on me again.That’s a mercy I wouldn’t extend to most people.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t. This means too much to mysister. And if marriage means nothing to you, then why not gothrough with it? Is this girl really so special?”
“This has nothing to do with her,” I snap, loudly enough soArslan can hear me as well. “This isn’t about a woman; it’sabout me. I am not interested in monogamy. Not with yoursister or anyone else.”
“I already announced the engagement.”
“So unannounce it,” I snap.
“My sister wouldn’t take the embarrassment well. Actually,she wouldn’t take it all. She’d be on the warpath.”
“Good thing you’re the boss then, right?”
Giorgos smiles, but there’s no humor behind it. “So it wouldseem.”
“I don’t know many men who are afraid of their sisters,” Iremark.
“That’s because you don’t know many Greek women.”Giorgos scrubs a hand down his face and sighs. “Listen,Nikolai, kill me if you have to, but I’m going to be honest withyou.”
“Careful with what you say next, Simatou,” Arslan warns.“Step over the line and I’ll kill you myself.”
I wave Arslan off. “No one is dying today. You have my word.Yet another mercy I’m offering.”
“I’ll remember the kindness,” Giorgos says with a small bow.“I can’t renegotiate this deal, and I can’t back out. Not without
blood being shed. Not without retribution.”
“Retribution? For what?” I bark. “I don’t owe you s**t. Thisdeal is being made on the promise of future profits. I’m not indebt.”
Giorgos shakes his head. “Not to me. But you are to my sister.Regardless of how you feel, you’re as good as married. ‘Tildeath do you part and all that. But it is more likely death willpart you and your little Belle if—”
I jam my gun against Giorgos’s temple yet again. “Watch yourfucking mouth.”
He releases a shuddering breath. “I hope you are a man of yourword, Nikolai. I hope you won’t kill me after you swore youwouldn’t. But whether you do or you don’t, too many thingshave been set in motion. I’m not making a threat. Merelyoffering a warning.”
My finger itches to pull the trigger. Maybe killing Giorgosnow would put an end to the whole thing.
Or maybe it would start a war and see me fighting on twofronts.
I lower my gun and step back. “To offer a warning of my own:next time you threaten me, I’ll blow your f*****g brains out.”
Giorgos is still shaking when Arslan and I turn and walk away.
When I show up for work, I’m not even sure I have a job.
Nikolai fired Roger after he attacked me, and I work forRoger. Worked for Roger, anyway. So that means I no longerhave any business at Zhukova Incorporated. Or anywhere else,for that matter.
And any chance of Nikolai taking me seriously and setting meup with a new job probably went out the window around thesame time he f****d me against his office wall.
But I couldn’t tell Elise any of that.
How was I supposed to phrase it? Sorry, Baby Sister. Duct tapeyour shoes again. Big Sis just lost her job and whored awayher chance at another one.
So I made coffee, ate some toast, and left for work like it wasany other day. Maybe if I go through the motions and drum upenough denial, I’ll still receive a paycheck at the end of theweek.
But the moment I step into the lobby of Zhukova Incorporated,Bridget stands up from behind the front desk.
“Excuse me,” she calls, waving me down. “Hello?”
She sounds as snotty as she looks, her voice clipped and short.I’m sure she’s thrilled to be able to kick me out of thebuilding. She’ll call up Stan or whoever the daytime security
officer is to escort me out, waving all the while like a princessin a parade.
“Yes?” I smile back broadly. Not even perfect, modelesque,flirty Bridget can break through the fortress of denial I’ve builtaround myself.
“Mr. Zhukova told me to inform you that a car is waiting foryou downstairs.” Her lip is curled as if the news she isdelivering is especially distasteful.
I don’t understand why, though. If anything, she should bethrilled that Nikolai is sending me back to the airport. I’m sureI have the next flight out to Oklahoma City.
She barely resists an eye roll. “That’s right. A car. Like, thekind with four wheels.”
She stares at me like I’m stupid. “Ya. You should.”
I hesitate, waffling back and forth between sprinting down thehallway and barricading myself in the conference room orgoing downstairs to see where Nikolai plans to send me.
I decide on the latter.
“Wait,” Bridget calls out reluctantly. She wheels a suitcase outfrom behind her desk. “This is for you, too.”
I shake my head. “That’s not mine.”
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