31. Maxim
THIRTY-ONE
MAXIM
M y subconscious screams at me. Shit, the hidden cameras. When I took over for my old man, I had cameras installed all over the property in places I thought had blind spots—extra security, just in case. No one knows about them except me, not even Andrei. I looked at them the other day, but I didn’t think anything of the person I saw going to Andrei’s office.
I open the app on my phone and punch in my login credentials. Fuck, it has been years since I last thought about them. Usually, I go straight to the security room if I need footage. These cameras could’ve saved us a hell of a lot of trouble.
The app takes a second to load, but then I’m in. A slow smile spreads across my face as I see the familiar grid of footage from around my house. I exhale, my shoulders sagging in relief. This is the break I’ve been needing. All I need now are the dates.
I lift my head to ask Luca for them but end up slamming my forehead into something hard. A jolt of pain shoots through my skull, and tears prick at the back of my eyes. I stand up too quickly, knocking the chair over as I clutch my head, breathing through my nose until the ache starts to dull.
“What happened?” Sophia asks, her voice filled with panic.
I blink rapidly, trying to figure out what just happened. What the hell did I hit myself with? I’m not surrounded by anything that should have caused this. Blinking away the moisture in my eyes, I open them, expecting to see the cause of my injury, but no. The first thing I see is Sophia, hunched over, hand on her belly, her shoulders shaking as she silently laughs. And Luca—standing there, holding a blood-soaked paper to his nose. Well, at least now I know what hit my head. He fucking deserved it.
Luca points at me with his free hand, narrowing his eyes. “You broke my nose with that cement block you call a head.” His voice is muffled and nasally, making Sophia laugh even harder.
He turns his glare to her.
I point to myself, speaking before he can drag her into this. “Me? Me? I didn’t do shit to you. You did that to yourself.”
Luca looks at me, confused. “How the fuck did I do this to myself?”
“It’s not like I got up from the chair, walked over to you, and headbutted you for no reason.”
Sophia laughs, trying to hold it back as she heads toward the kitchen. “He got you there, Luca.”
“Why the hell were you hovering over me like a fucking creeper?” I ask, still trying to shake off the lingering frustration.
Luca removes the paper from his face and inspects his nose in the mirror on the hallway wall. After a few seconds, he seems satisfied nothing’s broken as the blood slows down. He walks toward us, and Sophia hands him a bag of ice wrapped in a small towel. He says thanks and presses it to his nose, then looks at me.
“You looked like you were having a damn breakdown,” he says, his voice dripping with mockery. “I wanted to know what you found that made you look like you needed to take a shit.”
I huff an annoyed breath. Why the hell does he always turn everything into a fucking joke? It’s irritating. How the hell does his wife deal with him? I roll my eyes and open my mouth to ask why he didn’t try to get my attention another way, maybe by, I don’t know, calling my fucking name instead of lurking like a creep.
Before I can speak, he answers the question I hadn’t even asked. “I tried calling you a bunch of times, but you were so focused, you didn’t hear me.” I know that’s exactly what happened, but it’s funny how he never considered the possibility that I might have been ignoring him.
“What did you find?” Sophia asks, her voice pinched with a hint of worry. She shakes her head slightly, a silent plea in her eyes. She doesn’t want us to go off track again. We’ve been distracted too many times tonight.
She’s right. If Luca and I keep this up, we’ll never get anything done. “I forgot a while back that I had cameras installed in all the blind spots around the house.” Both Luca and Sophia snap their heads toward me.
“How the fuck could you forget something that important?” Luca scoffs, narrowing his eyes. Judgment is written all over his face.
I narrow my eyes right back at him, my fists clenching at my sides. How dare he judge me? Until a few years ago, all Luca worried about was what car to drive and what woman to fuck. “Unlike you,” I snarl, “I’ve had a lot on my plate since I took over this business from my father at eighteen.”
Luca stands straighter, his shoulders square, challenging me with a look.
“Please tell me some good news. Is one of those cameras positioned so we can see who’s been going in and out of Andrei’s office?” Sophia asks, her voice a mix of hope and exhaustion.
“Yes.” My eyes stay locked on Luca, refusing to look away.
Sophia sighs. “Can we check the footage now, or are you two still sizing each other up? If you’re not done, I’ll go grab two rulers.”
A grin spreads across my face, and I let out a chuckle. Leave it to Sophia to defuse the tension with a well-aimed jab.
Luca turns to her, his expression softening into a goofy smile, his eyes filled with something I can’t quite read. Sophia shifts uncomfortably under his stare, quickly averting her eyes. The corner of Luca’s mouth trembles, and for a moment, the room feels heavy with unspoken things.
“Let’s not hurt his feelings even more by bringing out a ruler, Sophia,” Luca jokes, though the disappointment in his voice is impossible to miss.
Sophia’s response is swift, her lips quirking into a smirk. “There wouldn’t be much competition, Luca.” She raises an eyebrow and makes a tiny gesture with her thumb and index finger.
My jaw drops. “Did she just—” The laughter bubbles up before I can stop it.
Luca’s eyes widen, his whole body tensing in shock before he bursts out laughing. Sophia follows, and soon, the three of us are caught in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
It’s not clear how much time passes before Andrei strides in, looking freshly showered and annoyingly well-rested, a coffee cup holder in one hand and a white bag in the other.
“What’s so funny?” he asks, setting the items down on the coffee table.
“Nothing,” Luca answers too quickly, cutting Sophia and me off before we can even think of responding. Sophia and I exchange a glance, our smiles still lingering.
Andrei raises an eyebrow. “Seriously, what’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” Luca snaps, his expression tightening.
Andrei rolls his eyes, muttering under his breath as he sits next to me, “Someone’s got a stick stuck up their ass.”
Only I hear it. I lean closer and whisper, “He’s mad Sophia said he has a small cock.”
Andrei chokes on a laugh, quickly disguising it as a cough. Luca’s head snaps up from his phone, his glare pinning me like a dagger.
I shrug and pat Andrei on the back, keeping up the act.
“Thanks for your service, brother,” Andrei says, winking at me.
“Anytime.” I wink back, catching Sophia snickering in the corner.
Luca groans, his finger tapping impatiently on the arm of his chair. “Are you ever going to go through the footage?”
“What footage?” Andrei asks.
I fill him in quickly, explaining the hidden cameras.
Andrei frowns, rubbing the back of his neck. “Cameras in every blind spot of the house?”
“Yes, Andrei. Every single blind spot,” I reply.
“Including my office?”
I nod at Andrei, watching as his face reddens. His eyes flick to Sophia for a split second before he mutters, “Please don’t let her look through the footage. I’m trying to build a relationship with her, not scar her for life.”
My lips curl in disgust. “What the hell have you been doing in this house to even warrant that concern?”
He shifts uncomfortably, avoiding my gaze. I know Andrei is into some…unconventional things, but his reaction screams guilt.
Before I can press further, Luca interrupts, holding out a piece of paper. “Here are the dates. If you two are done whispering like schoolgirls, maybe we can get started.”
I snatch the paper from him, nodding my thanks. My heart starts pounding in my chest as the anticipation builds. Finally, we’re going to catch this bastard. I can almost hear his screams already.
“Wait!” Sophia jumps to her feet. “Don’t start yet. Let me grab my computer. It’ll be easier on your eyes.”
I open my mouth to protest—it’s an app, not a program I can just transfer—but she has already disappeared into her room.
Moments later, she’s back, holding out her silver Mac. “Here. Try this.”
The least I can do is humor her. I take the computer, thank her, and open the App Store. To my surprise, it’s available, and I download it quickly. Once it’s installed, I log in, paper in hand, ready to hunt through the footage.
A tightness grips my chest, my nostrils flaring as I zoom in on her face. This can’t be right. It can’t be.
Relax, Maxim. You’re jumping to conclusions.
My mind scrambles for explanations. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. She could have been in Andrei’s office for a dozen harmless reasons. I force myself to keep watching, clicking the speed button to fast-forward the footage. My pulse pounds as I stare at the screen, praying someone—anyone—else appears.
But no one does.
I let out a long, shaky breath. Fuck.
There has to be a glitch. Or maybe someone tampered with the cameras. Anything to make this make sense. I type in the next date and fast-forward again, my hands trembling.
There she is.
Elena.
Looking side to side before slipping into Andrei’s office.
My breath catches, and my fingers pound out the next date. Then the next. And the next. Every single time, it’s her.
My head spins. Denial claws at my gut, but the evidence is indisputable. She’s the one who has been leaking everything: the locations of my warehouses, shipment details, Andrei’s personal information— my personal information—blueprints, schedules, even details about Sophia and my family. No one else entered that office during those times.
My hands tremble, my grip tightening on the computer until my arms ache. How the hell am I going to handle this? She isn’t some random stranger I can interrogate with my usual methods. This is Elena.
“Did you find anything?”
Sophia’s voice startles me. I didn’t even hear her sit down. Before I can stop her, she gasps, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes lock on the zoomed-in image of Elena on the screen.
“Don’t—” I start, but it’s too late.
My head snaps toward Luca and Andrei, who are already striding over, alerted by Sophia’s reaction.
“Did you find the guy?” Andrei’s voice is sharp, expectant.
My body refuses to move, my throat locked. How the fuck am I supposed to answer that? How do I tell my brother that his wife—the mother of his child—betrayed us? Betrayed him?
Andrei loves Elena in a way I’ve never seen before. This will destroy him.
I squeeze Sophia’s hand, grounding myself. If the roles were reversed—if I saw Sophia’s face on that screen—I don’t know what I would do.
“Is it someone we know?” Andrei presses, trying to grab the computer from me. My grip tightens, refusing to let go.
“Let go, Maxim,” he grunts, tugging harder. “What the fuck? Let go.”
Sophia places her hand over mine. Her voice is soft but steady. “Let him see it.”
I exhale a shaky breath and release my grip.
Andrei takes the computer, his movements sharp and impatient. The silence in the room is suffocating as he stares at the screen. His head jerks back slightly, his brows furrowing in disbelief.
Then, his eyes widen.
He vigorously shakes his head, as though denying what’s right in front of him. “Is this shit real?” he whispers, the question more for himself than anyone else.
His face twists, anger, and pain bleeding into something cold and lethal. With a guttural scream, he hurls the laptop across the room. It crashes against the wall with a violent thud, the sound reverberating through the air.
Sophia flinches beside me, her body trembling as silent sobs shake her frame. She isn’t crying out of fear; she’s crying for Andrei, for the raw, devastating hurt written all over him.
I tighten my hold on her, my own chest aching with the weight of his pain. If I could take it from him, I would do so in a heartbeat. But this is a storm Andrei has to weather alone.
For a long moment, he doesn’t move. Then, suddenly, he turns to me. His eyes are bloodshot, his face a blotchy red.
“She’s mine,” he growls, his voice low and venomous.
And then, he storms out, slamming the doors behind him.