Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Konni looked up from the paper he was reading and smiled as Gail led me into his office.
Complete devastation.
How could he look so edible?
It wasn’t fair.
“Ms. Elmantas, as requested,” Gail said. “Would you like me to stay?”
“No need. Thank you, Gail.”
She walked out, leaving me alone and confused with Konni.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.
“This is making me nervous. Did something happen? Another email?”
His pleasantness faded. “No. We’ll continue to follow leads, but in the meantime, I’d like to make some changes to help—”
My phone, which I’d silenced earlier this morning, buzzed in my purse.
“Keep going,” I said.
“I don’t mind if you take a call, Sophia.”
“Ms. Elmantas,” I corrected.
His smile returned. “Take the call. It could be your mom.”
“It’s probably my dad. He’s been calling nonstop since I left yesterday. I didn’t want to answer until I knew what was happening.”
My phone quieted.
“Ah. We’re pressing charges against TAS Solutions for receiving stolen data. If you’re willing, talking to your father might help us figure out how that data landed on his desk.”
I wrinkled my nose even as I took out my phone and dialed my father’s number.
Setting it on the desk, I put it on speaker so Konni could hear everything.
“Sophia, why did you send me that data?” Dad demanded the moment he picked up. “Do you understand what you did? Steele’s legal team is threatening prosecution. I need you to talk to them and tell them you did this on your own.”
“You want me to lie?” I asked.
“What do you mean? I had nothing to do with this.”
“Neither did I. Someone else sent that email from my workstation to your company. Who do you know at Steele Corp?”
He let out an angry huff. “Do you think I would bother with Hestian Global if I knew someone at Steele with access to the kind of information sent?”
I met Konni’s gaze and silently indicated Dad made a good point.
“So you’re saying we’re both set up then?” I asked. “Why? Who did you provoke?”
“Not me. You. All you had to do was meet him, Sophia. Instead, you’re acting high and mighty against a man who has the power to crush you. And look what happened.”
I’d forgotten about the repeat widower.
With his track record, was it possible he’d go after me for refusing to marry him? I wasn’t sure. I’d never met him. But if he was willing to exchange an investment contract for a living person, his moral compass was definitely broken.
“I wonder how Mr. Hestian would react if he knew you were pointing your finger in his direction,” I said, testing the waters.
“Sophia,” Dad said, his arrogance and accusation completely gone. Coaxing took its place. “I’m not pointing fingers. I’m simply saying that, out of the two of us, only one of us has made someone angry enough to try to back them into a corner.
“While a legal issue of this size will damage TAS’s reputation, it wouldn’t end the business. However, if you lose your job, you’d be like your mom, struggling to find someone willing to hire you. Mr. Hestian’s proposal would look pretty good to you then, wouldn’t it?
“You can’t face someone like him alone. Let’s help each other. You talk to the people at Steele, convince them it was a misunderstanding, that I don’t know who sent it or why, and I’ll return two percent of TAS’s stock to your mom.”
“Five,” I said without looking at Konni. “And you tell Hestian I’m not interested in marrying him.”
Dad was quiet for a long time. “Okay. Five percent. But, I want a public statement from Steele Corp clearing TAS, like they cleared you.”
“Deal. I expect to have those shares in Mom’s name the same day.”
“Agreed. I’ll wait for the good news.”
He hung up.
I looked at Konni. He wasn’t okay. He looked livid. His eyes glittered with anger, and even the air around him seemed to shimmer with the heat of his temper.
“Hestian wants to marry you?”
“Miranda didn’t tell you?”
“No, and she made the right choice.”
“Why?”
He stood abruptly and stalked around the desk. When he reached my chair, he gripped the arms, turning it without any effort and caging me as he leaned in.
“Because I—” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
I swallowed hard as I noticed a shimmer of scales, like a CGI overlay, on his hands.
Remember what he is, Soph.
“Can dragons smell emotions like werewolves?” I asked.
“Not quite the same. I knew you were angry when you called your father, and I know you’re afraid now. But I can’t tell the degree of it or the nuances between subtle emotions such as anger and annoyance or fear and worry.”
“Okay. Well, I’m a little nervous because I can see scales on your hands. Are you mad at me or—”
His hand gripped the back of my head as his eyes snapped open. Gold glittered in the amber, unmistakable in the early morning light.
“Not at you, Sophia. Never at you. I’m frustrated that a man like Hestian even looked in your direction and that your father did nothing to protect you.”
A laugh escaped me. “Protect me? He’s the one who wants me to marry Hestian.”
The gold in Konni’s gaze grew. “Hestian is older than your father.”
“He is. He can also provide the funding the donor’s company needs. The man who made me has never been interested in protecting me, not even when he was with my mom, and especially not after he stripped her of everything. He uses people and discards them once they’ve lost their value.”
Something dangerous flitted in his gaze. “And you want me to stop pressing charges?”
“Only because I truly believe he wasn’t involved. I think he’s a scapegoat like me. Or because of me, like he said.”
“How do you know?”
“If he had the name of the person behind this, he would have tried to use it to negotiate instead of offering up sacred TAS shares. Those are his bottom line. That he was willing to give them up showed his hand.
“Plus, alienating Steele Corp does him no good. He’s power hungry, and Steele Corp is a power player in Motan’s business circle. He’d rather get in bed with you than be banned from the bedroom.”
The heat in Konni’s gaze shifted from anger to desire, and I wanted to kick myself for mentioning a bedroom in front of him.
“You said something about changes before my phone interrupted us,” I said, trying to deflect from the direction I could see he wanted our conversation to veer.
Konni stayed as he was for several seconds, then straightened away from me.
“Yes. Gail said she mentioned other secretariat openings to you. I’d like you to transfer to my department.”
“Why?”
“I think you and your father are right. You’re being targeted. Having you where I can monitor you and your work will make it easier to find who’s doing it.”
“Okay. Does the change in position come with a raise?”
He chuckled and leaned back against his desk.
“It does, but it also comes with an increased workload and demand on your time outside typical business hours. You’ll need to accompany me for site visits, after-hours business gatherings, and occasional business trips.”
“I’m fine with all of that, except the business trips until my mom’s cast is off.”
“Agreed.”
A soft knock sounded on the door before it opened. Marius entered with a tea.
“Thank you,” I said, accepting it.
He nodded and started to leave, but Konni stopped him.
“Marius, Ms. Elmantas agreed to join our team. Arrange another workstation for her as we discussed. Tell IT, I want it done by nine.”
Marius nodded and walked out, closing the door again.
“Every member of my secretariat has given me permission to call them by their first name,” Konni said, distracting me from my sip. “Does that mean I have permission to use yours now, too?”
The thought of him calling me by my first name made my heart skip a beat.
“I think, with the way the office views women who get close to you, having you use my first name would make me even more of a target, don’t you?”
“Or maybe, it would make you less of a target. Not many people like going against me. Only someone ignorant would dream of taking something I considered mine.”
A shiver ran through me. He saw it but didn’t comment. Hopefully, he thought I was cold.
“What should I do for the next hour then?” I asked.
“I’d like to keep you in here with me, but I know you care about perception. So, do you want to help Edi, Bomir, and Marius set up the new workstation configuration?”
“I do,” I said, standing.
He moved so fast, seating me in the chair and pressing his forehead against mine before I knew what he’d intended. His hand caged the back of my head, keeping me in place as his soft exhale teased my lips.
“Those are two words I’ve been dreaming of hearing from you, Sophia. Be careful with them. They test me.”
The words from Friday night rose again in my mind. The braver part of me wanted to repeat them and see just how much they tested him, but I didn’t. I was too smart for my own fun while I was sober.
“I should go,” I said instead.
He exhaled and slowly released me.
“Go. Settle in. We have time.”
The last bit made me nervous. The second he released me, I was out of the chair and power walking to the door.
Marius had packing boxes on each of the three chairs and was putting items from the desk into them.
“Can I help?” I asked.
“Please. We need to clear the desks so they can be reconfigured.”
I set aside my things and started packing up the belongings on a desk that wasn’t mine.
While I didn’t mean to be nosy, I did learn that Marius and Bomir were probably a couple.
Or maybe just really close friends who liked taking pictures, kissing each other’s cheeks.
I hoped at least one of them loved fashion as much as I did.
Common ground would give us a connection that I’d missed with the last group.
Edi and Bomir arrived as Marius and I were about to separate the tables.
“Wait. Let us,” Edi said, hurrying over to help.