Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Dante
Tatiana walks into Teszner Agglomerate like the queen she is with her head held high and her shoulders squared.
She’s wearing the off-white dress and matching flats I’d left at the guesthouse for the occasion.
Her only adornments are her wedding ring and the Rolex I put on her wrist, not that she needs any.
Her long hair is curled down her back. Not a strand is out of place.
Her make-up is light and natural, highlighting the softness of her face and the haunted look in those green eyes.
But her features are composed. For anyone looking on, she’s the epitome of style and serenity.
She didn’t say a word on the way from the guesthouse, but she doesn’t have to speak for me to know she’s anxious.
Meaning to reassure her, I place a hand on the small of her back. “Everything will be fine.”
She turns her face my way. For once, she’s letting me see her and not hiding behind her anger or hatred. “Will it?”
She doesn’t believe me.
“You’re my wife. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Does it matter?”
“Does what matter?”
“If something happens to me. You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”
Not yet. And after I’ve dealt the blow to Teszner today, I have to confront her. Everything I’ve tried so far has failed, including reinventing the night I took her virginity. If I thought the memory of what we’d shared would soften her resistance, I was sadly mistaken.
She glances at the ceiling cameras as we pass down the hallway toward the boardroom. “Does he know?”
Violent anticipation rushes through me. “He does now.”
Reino and five of my best men flank us. They’re armed, but I’ve done my homework. No one is going to attack us. Teszner doesn’t have enough men left to protect him, and very unwisely, he didn’t take precautions. Unlike me, he takes a lot for granted.
I push open the door for Tatiana to enter.
Leander Teszner sits like a king at the head of the table with his lawyer next to him.
He’s aged in four years. With the receding hairline of his thinning blond hair and the double layers of his chin, he looks a lot older than in his photos.
He must be using filters for his social media shots.
His big stomach stretches the buttons of his shirt, and his green eyes are dull and bloodshot.
He’s clearly not taking care of himself.
He climbs to his feet when our small group, including my men, files through the door. His face is pasty white, and his skin has taken a sickly ashen color. His gaze darts between his sister and my men before they land on me.
His lawyer remains seated, an air of resignation setting in with the slouch of his shoulders.
If Teszner were wise, he’d realize, like his clearly more intelligent lawyer, that he’s fucked, but the idiot reaches for the gun taped under the table.
Reino points the barrel of his Glock at Teszner.
I click my tongue. “That’s no way to greet your brother-in-law.”
His jaw goes slack. He fixes Tatiana with a look of disgust he doesn’t even try to hide.
I pull out a chair and gently push her into the seat with a hand on her shoulder.
Motioning at the chair opposite me, I direct my order at Teszner. “Sit.”
When he only glares at me, one of my men rounds the table and manhandles him into the seat. Reino removes the gun from under the table.
The lawyer folds his hands on the tabletop and lets out a sigh.
Teszner’s mouth twists with distaste as he looks at the ring on Tatiana’s finger. “Is that true? You fucking married him?”
My anger ignites in a second. “Speak to my wife in such a disrespectful manner again, and I’ll cut out your tongue.”
Fuck that. I’ll do it anyway. I just want to savor his screams first.
Teszner snickers. “You should’ve sent me an invite for the wedding.
I would’ve had a gift delivered.” He returns his attention to his sister.
“Do you want me to congratulate you? Is that why you’re here?
Do you expect a welcoming hug and a kiss on the cheek for being his whore and giving birth to his bastard? ”
I’m on the other side in a flash, pinning Teszner’s hand on the table with my fingers locked around his wrist. He tries to fight, but his fists are only worth something if his men hold down his victims. On his own, he’s fucking weak.
Grabbing the lawyer’s gold pen from the folder that sits in front of him, I stab it right through Teszner’s hand.
Bones splinter and flesh tear. I more feel the crunch and the ripping of tendons than hear the damage because his scream drowns out the sound.
A small fountain of blood squirts through the air, painting my hand and cuff with drops of red.
Tatiana is whiter than a ghost, but she doesn’t bat an eyelash. Courageous girl. She’s a lot braver than her brother, who continues to scream like a pig that’s being slaughtered.
Keeping his palm pinned on the table, I hold out my free hand. “Give me a knife.”
I’ll have to be content with these screams. From today on, Teszner won’t utter another sound.
Reino takes a flip knife from his pocket, flicks it open, and places it on my palm.
The lawyer’s eyes are like an owl’s. He’s clutching the edge of the table, looking indecisive as to whether he should bolt or stay put.
“Stay.” I smile at him. “That’s the intelligent choice.” The order I give my wife is gentle. “Go wait outside.”
Teszner shivers and sobs. The fucker is more stupid than I thought. By now, he should know I always do what I promise.
Letting go of his hand, I move behind his chair, splay my fingers over his jaw, and force back his head.
He slobbers and gurgles in my grip.
Tatiana stands. Her voice is strong and even. “No.”
I’m sure I didn’t hear her right. I tilt my head. “What did you say to me?”
Her hands are trembling at her sides, but she keeps her back straight. “I want to talk to my brother. I want answers, and I think I deserve them.”
I let Teszner go with a shove. If my wife wants answers, she’ll get them before I remove his tongue.
Teszner trembles so much he barely manages to pull the pen from his hand. He cradles his injured hand against his chest, bleeding all over his suit and the table.
The lawyer takes a handkerchief from his pocket and offers it to Teszner, who snatches it up and winds it like a bandage around his hand.
Tatiana sits back down, looking as if her knees are about to fold. After last night and the scene she just witnessed, I don’t blame her. I didn’t mean for her to see that side of me in person. I just couldn’t help myself. No one speaks to her like that.
She holds her brother’s gaze. “Did you bug Noah’s toy?”
He stares at her with so much malice there’s no question about how much he hates her.
Motherfucker.
For that, I’m taking his eyes too.
His upper lip curls. “You know why I did it.”
Despite the fact that she knows her brother is lower than vermin, profound sadness passes over her face. “Did you think about what would happen to Noah when you sent those men after me?”
He only continues to glare at her with that mocking sneer on his face that says to go fuck herself.
Oh, Teszner. You don’t know when to stop, do you?
Tatiana nods a couple of times, tears shining in her eyes. “You didn’t give a damn if Noah got hurt or killed in the process, did you?”
At least he’s got enough brain cells to know he shouldn’t answer that question.
“I told them I wanted you alive,” he says. “I said nothing about the kid.”
Or maybe not. I’m going to enjoy torturing him.
“Thank you,” Tatiana says, addressing me and not her brother. “That’s all I wanted to know.”
The dumb fuck still doesn’t know when to shut up.
“Joni was willing to renegotiate the terms of marrying you even though you were damaged goods.” He says that as if Tatiana missed out on the opportunity of her life.
“He would’ve settled for your shares and a part of mine.
But he didn’t want to raise another man’s bastard. ”
Tears glitter in her green eyes. “He’s your nephew, Leander.”
Teszner snorts, jutting his chin in my direction. “His kid is nothing of mine.”
Tatiana gives him a pitying look, but the sorrow in her eyes intensifies with her unshed tears, making those green pools appear brighter than usual.
That’s it. I’ve fucking heard enough.
I grab the napkin that sits next to the lawyer’s untouched cup of coffee and wipe the splatters of blood from my hand and sleeve before scrunching it up and dropping it in Teszner’s lap.
He follows me with his gaze as I go back to the other side of the table and take up a position next to Tatiana. He’s acting brave, but I don’t miss how his eyes are bouncing around in his sockets.
I hold out a hand. One of my men places the folder I brought in it.
I slide it across the table to Teszner. “As my wife, Tatiana signed over her shares and her percentage of all property ownership to her husband for management. Everything she inherited belongs to me.”
Teszner must’ve expected as much, but he still opens the folder with his good hand and flips through the documents like a vulture looking for a piece of meat overlooked on a bone.
I give the lawyer a copy. “As you’ll see, I already bought up the shares that came onto the market. That makes me the sole owner of Teszner Agglomerate.”
Teszner’s nostrils flare. He slams the folder shut and sits there stewing in anger and blood.
I plant my hands on the table and lean closer, taking great pleasure from dealing the blow. “I don’t only own the company and the house, Teszner. I own everything, including your sister.”
Tatiana flinches, and for some reason, the gesture bothers me more than it should.
Teszner observes me from under his eyebrows, letting every rotten part of him spill into his mocking grin. “Not everything.”
I don’t break eye contact with that motherfucker, but I feel Tatiana’s gaze burning on me. The questions she doesn’t give voice to are palpable in the air. I’m attuned enough to her to know what’s going through her mind.
Teszner acts cocky, but it’s all for show. He’s already pissed himself under the table. “So what? Is this the part where you kill me?”
“Kill you?” I laugh, the sound macabre and full of dark anticipation. “That’s too easy, Teszner.”
Wincing, he reels.
That’s right. His suffering has just begun. He’s too much of a coward to end his own life. We both know it. He’s going to live every second of the slow torment I’ve got planned for him.
I adjust my jacket. “My men will escort you and your lawyer from the building once our discussion is over. All computers and files will remain on the premises. You can leave your keys on your way out.”
Panic flashes in Teszner’s eyes before he manages to hide it.
I pull back Tatiana’s chair. She searches my eyes as she stands, more questions running through them, but she doesn’t voice them.
I nod at Reino.
He goes to her side. “Mrs. Morici.”
Teszner balls his good hand into a fist at the sound of that.
Tatiana doesn’t look back at either her brother or me as she follows Reino from the room.
Trusting my men to keep her safe, I pick up the knife. “Now, Teszner. Where were we before my wife demanded her answers?”