Chapter Four
Igor
Thirty seconds.
That’s all the time it takes before the office explodes with protests.
“You must be fucking kidding, Igor. You’re joking. There’s no way you’re being serious.”
Ruslan wears the most shocked expression I’ve ever seen on him, with his fingers repeatedly raking the gray strands of his hair in frustration. Sergei stands there, looking like he’s selecting the right words to use without having to cuss my head off.
“No.” I hold their gazes so they understand just how serious I am about this decision. “It’s not a joke.”
Ruslan huffs, then crosses his arms over his chest with a frown deeply etched in his face. “Does she know?”
“Not yet,” I say. “I asked her to return to her work station, because I intended to inform both of you before breaking the news to her. But I’ll let her know in a couple minutes.”
My brother has a hard time processing it; he’s hardly convinced that this is a good direction to take. And while Ruslan is thinking, Sergei finally speaks up.
“Why?”
“Why?” I echo, then lean back in my chair.
“Because, right now, what we have is a lose-lose situation. Villalobos is convinced that I wanted to blow an investment worth millions of dollars to screw him over. I know, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
He also believes I achieved that with the help of my lover, Audrey. ”
“How about you skip to the part where that has anything to do with you getting married to your alleged lover,” Ruslan interrupts, and I glare at him.
“Killing her would send a message that I’m trying to bury evidence. Letting her walk free doesn’t help disprove that she’s feeding information to the police on my orders.”
Ruslan’s mouth tilts upward in a sardonic smile, the kind that accuses a person of being stupid without him having to say the words.
“And marrying her will tell them what, Igor? Doesn’t that cement the claim that there’s something going between you two?
Respectfully, I’ve known you to be a lot smarter than—”
“If you finish that fucking sentence, I swear I’ll punch you in the face,” I warn him sternly.
“I don’t know...but I agree with Rus,” Sergei comments, his head slowly bobbing up and down. “It doesn’t look good either way.”
My jaw ticks and I lean forward, knotting my fingers over the table.
I capture my brother’s attention and narrow my gaze.
“The person who isn’t thinking is you. Look at it this way: if Audrey dies, talks, walks, or basically does anything, a war breaks out.
We want the Mexicans on our team, so we’re trying to avoid conflict.
Now, if I marry her, things will cool down, and we can convince the cartel that we didn’t betray them by calling in the raid. Do you understand now?”
Ruslan snorts and Sergei scratches the top of his head with uncertainty. “What if the girl turns out to be behind the raid?”
The funny thing is, I’m starting to believe that Audrey might be innocent. But if she isn’t...
I respond with an air of finality. “If I find out she’s responsible for what happened, she’ll answer as my wife. And if not, she’ll live her life under my name.”
My brother’s heated gaze scorches the side of my face, but I ignore him, rising to my feet deliberately and threateningly, moving closer to them to remind them who’s in charge. There’s a limit to how far their questioning can go.
“I’m telling you this first because I need the others to fall in line.”
“Yes, of course.” Ruslan rises to his feet, swiftly heading for the door. “Sending your foot soldiers to clear the fucking field for you without telling them about the mines.”
“What was that?”
I ask not because I didn’t hear it the first time, but because I want to be sure he had the audacity to say it.
He marches forward and meets my gaze, his fingers digging into the edge of my desk.
With clenched teeth, he grits out, “You’re inviting trouble with that girl, dear brother, and you know it.
Whatever crisis you think you’re averting will only blow up in our fucking faces. It’s only a matter of time.”
“And until that time comes, you’ll do as I say.”
It takes a minute before Ruslan reluctantly nods.
“Keep the men in line, Rus. They will respect her, unless I say otherwise.” It’s not a suggestion; it’s a fucking order. And whoever flaunts it will have me to deal with.
I had to threaten Dimitri earlier, promising to cut his tongue off the next time he called her a bitch. That would only be one out of many examples, if they decide to step out of line.
The only one authorized to make her life a living hell is me.
My brother walks away without another word, and I face my lieutenant.
“Sergei, send her up on your way out.”
Solemnly, he tips two fingers off his forehead in an understanding salute and then follows Ruslan, leaving me to deal with the silence that falls immediately after.
A moment later, I’m partially lost in thought when a knock on the door interrupts the quiet.
“Enter.”
The door creaks open and softly clicks shut, with the scent of her flowery perfume announcing her presence.
I turn around to meet a grimace marring her smooth face, and the frown on her lips almost evokes a smile from me.
Obviously, she’s nowhere near happy to see me again.
Instead of her white T-shirt, she’s wearing a plain black one, an apron, and the same pair of jeans she wore earlier.
With her arms folded over her chest, she kicks one leg out, exposing her black boots as she shifts her weight onto her other leg.
“What do you want?”
I lift a disapproving eyebrow. “Is that any way to speak to your boss?”
She sighs exasperatedly. “Honestly, if the money wasn’t any good, I would have tendered a resignation letter. That way you wouldn’t have to keep waving the boss card around.”
“You know I would have rejected it.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes twinkle. “Because, as they say, misery loves company.”
A smug smirk crosses my lips.
Let’s see how much humor she has left after I break the news.
With my eyes locked on hers, I sit on the swivel chair, propping my elbows up on the desk and knitting my fingers under my chin.
“We’re getting married.”
Audrey stays calm, like she didn’t hear what I said. Her brows jerk and her lips twist with irritation.
I angle my head to the side, uncertain. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah?” She looks even more annoyed, like a princess whose beauty sleep was interrupted for something insignificant. “Congratulations are in order, I guess. Who’s the unlucky girl?”
The smirk grows wider on my face. “You.”
It’s one word. One word that shatters her mask of indifference. “You’re joking.”
“You know I’m not.”
Shock registers in her eyes and her lips fall open. “Never! I’ll never marry you! You’d have to drag me to that altar.”
I chuckle dryly. “It costs me nothing to lift you. I’ve done it countless times, remember?”
She barely hides the pink blush that surfaces on her cheeks. I know without a doubt that the memories are as fresh in her mind as they are in mine.
“You’re insane if you think I would ever agree to that.”
“Not even if your mother and twelve-year-old brother were dragged along with you?”
Audrey stiffens but doesn’t flinch, and that only fuels the dangerous attraction coursing through me. Her mix of defiance and fear is intoxicating.
“You’re a monster,” she spits, with hatred in her words.
But underneath, I hear the slight tremor in her voice, and I know I’ve got her right where I want her—completely cornered, left with no option but submission.
I push my chair back and edge closer to where she stands.
I observe her reaction—the tremble in her jaw, the way her eyes flick to my lips—and I smirk, knowing full well the tension is mutual.
For this round, I know I’ve won. I have the upper hand, leaving her trapped between fear, fury, and the undeniable attraction neither of us can deny.