Chapter 41
Chapter
Forty-One
One week later
Lucy
“Why are you such a bleeding heart for the King men?” I asked Aralina as we crossed the threshold of King Tower. In her arms, she was hugging Theo’s freshly dry-cleaned wool coat. She’d even wrapped it in a fancy black-and-brown tweed paper.
“He sent me flowers,” she signed.
“They were apology flowers.” I remembered the time Kirill brought home a bouquet.
A few days ago, an arrangement of pink tulips arrived for Aralina.
She was beside herself with excitement. Honestly, I wondered if Aralina fell in and out of love on a dime.
Or maybe she was in love with the idea of romance and nothing else.
There was no sweet note, just a letterpress card from Theodore King.
But I didn’t want to be the one to burst Aralina’s bubble. The poor girl didn’t have any friends and was surrounded by more bodyguards. Her only links to the outside world were her classes at NYU, her tablet, and books.
“He might not even have time to see us,” I told her.
The news had broken that Jeremiah King was incapacitated after a skiing accident, and unfit to discharge his fiduciary responsibilities, and the board was at a stalemate on whether to approve the formation of the King trust giving Theo the power to vote his shares.
Under siege was an understatement. Kirill was reluctant for us to even make a stop at the King Tower since reporters surrounded it all the time, but Ivan said that there was no harm in Aralina showing up.
It presented good optics if the partnership between King Industries and Zahkarov Holdings would push through.
Aralina shrugged.
I laughed. I still couldn’t make up my mind about Kirill’s sister. She was timid at times, but I wondered if it was because it would take too much effort for her to express what she wanted to say, so she resorted to saying nothing at all.
The executive offices of King Industries encompassed three floors, but Theo’s was at the very top and, as expected, a corner office.
There was a curved desk in front of it with three seats.
Two were empty, while one perfectly polished woman with a tight French twist, who appeared to be in her forties, looked up at us with a narrowed gaze through her cat-eye spectacles.
“May I help you?”
There was no question she recognized us. I had no doubt that anyone who worked closely on the deal between the Kings and the Zahkarovs would have a file on all of us.
“I’m Lucy and this is Aralina Zahkarova,” I introduced us anyway. “She wants to return something to Theo.” I purposely didn’t address Theo as Mr. King to signify that this was personal.
The lady squinted and extended her hand. “You can leave it with me.”
But Aralina wouldn’t relinquish the package.
“I think she wants to thank Theo personally.”
“That’s not possible. Mr. King is in back-to-back meetings.” She nodded to a conference room where people in suits were milling around or sitting. “As you can see, he’s behind on his appointments.”
Shit, I glanced at Aralina, but her chin jutted out mulishly.
“Aralina, Lucy?” a deep baritone said behind us.
I spun around to see Theo flanked by other men and women in suits. There was no question he was the top dog, and they were his assistants. In fact, his eyes briefly left us to scribble something on an assistant’s tablet.
He came forward guardedly, but his eyes were on Aralina. She lifted her arms to give Theo the package.
He accepted it, and the corner of his mouth kicked up. “What’s this?”
She typed up her reply and showed it to him.
“Come in for a minute.” Theo put an arm behind Aralina, hovering but not touching her.
The woman at reception said, “Sir, your next board meeting is in forty-five minutes and the lawyers are here for—”
Theo cut her off. “Three minutes, then you can yell at me.”
His office had a fantastic view of Manhattan, with tempered glass windows making up two walls while custom-crafted dark wood shelving made up another. Couches formed a sitting area where I presumed more intimate meetings were conducted.
Theo didn’t ask us to sit. After all, we had only three minutes.
He perched in front of his desk and tore off the paper and chuckled briefly.
“You didn’t need to return this.” He tilted his chin to the side, and that was when I noticed he had a room in the office to change clothes or sleep. “I assure you I won’t get cold.”
Aralina was about to type on her phone, but she signed at me instead.
“Ahh, she wants to thank you for the flowers.”
“Pink tulips,” Theo murmured, gaze focused on her. “They reminded me of you for some reason. I don’t know what came over me. I hope I wasn’t too forward. I just felt terrible about what my brother did to you.”
Aralina dropped her eyes to her feet.
She didn’t want to talk about Jeremiah, but I was curious. “How is he?”
“He’s stable.” His tone was brusque.
We stared at each other, and I blurted out what I’d been meaning to ask. “You’re going to sweep this under the rug. What he has done—”
“There will be restitution—”
“How?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Zahkarova, but you’re the last person to lecture me about sweeping things under the rug.” He wasn’t angry, but his tone brooked no further discussion. “Rest assured, my brother won’t be a danger to anyone again.”
His eyes rested on Aralina, who looked up at the same time. She smiled briefly before glancing at me.
“You’re ready to go?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“I guess we’ll leave you to save your empire,” I said.
“Or burn it down,” he muttered.
Aralina’s chest shook in silent laughter, and Theo’s eyes crinkled at the corners in amusement, softening his harsh features to a degree I would never have imagined them capable of.
Hell no. I was getting Aralina out of here.
Theo walked us to the door, and when we emerged, his assistant gave an audible sigh of relief.
In the elevators I asked Aralina, “Happy now?”
She shrugged.
The high-speed elevators sent us swiftly to the ground floor.
I had to pop my ears at the change of pressure, and it mildly irritated me because I wondered if I was going to get a migraine.
They occurred less frequently now. I was slowly weaning myself off the painkillers and hadn’t taken one yesterday.
The cast should come off in a few weeks.
So it was a shock to be jolted out of my thoughts when the elevators opened and I saw Chloe’s face.
She was standing inside the opposite elevator, and her shocked eyes met mine with a trace of fear. And that baffled me. And if I’d admit it to myself—I was hurt. Granted, I hadn’t contacted her since Montauk, but that was in line with keeping a low profile.
Before the doors to her elevator closed, I noticed a baby stroller in front of her.
Aralina and I stood motionless for a few seconds.
“I didn’t imagine that, right? That was Chloe with a baby.”
Aralina simply nodded.
What did this mean? There were more King heirs? I recalled now what Theo’s assistant had said about the lawyers being there. Oh, these wily Kings. Was Chloe accepting the shares? When did the baby appear? She didn’t have a baby with her when I found her in that cabin.
Sato and the rest of the bodyguards were waiting for us outside. When I was inside the vehicle, I immediately whipped out my phone and scrolled to my last exchange with Trevor.
After finding out the root cause of Kirill’s jealousy, I’d been mindful about randomly texting Trevor, but this was urgent.
Me
I saw Chloe with a baby. Anything you want to tell me?
Trevor
No
I gasped in outrage.
Excuse me? Does this have to do with the eight months you couldn’t pinpoint her whereabouts?
Leave it alone.
You’ve changed loyalties?
A text came from my brother.
Dom
Stay out of this, sis
I didn’t respond. I was not keeping secrets from Kirill.
I’m serious.
Grr…
Aralina and I were silent on the ride home. Sato noticed our silence and kept looking at the rearview mirror, but he didn’t say anything. We dropped Aralina off first before we headed home.
My heart skipped when I saw Kirill’s Porsche in the driveway. It was a rare occasion when my husband was home first, and I hadn’t outgrown the tiny spikes of excitement whenever I spotted his car parked in front of the house knowing he was inside.
I found him in the office with Kolya.
He rose from behind his desk to greet me with a kiss. “So how did it go?”
Kolya scoffed. He was still pissed that he didn’t get to burn down the mansion with the Kings inside of it.
“It went well. Theo saw us for a few minutes. He’s busy calming down the investors. By the way…Jeremiah is stable.”
“I know,” Kirill said. “I’ve also received word that they’re prepping to move him to a psychiatric hospital owned by the Kings.”
I didn’t question his sources. As far as the press knew, Jeremiah King had suffered a catastrophic skiing accident. They didn’t want any eyes on the Montauk property at all. “I hope he stays there for the rest of his life.”
“He got away too easily,” Kolya said.
“Give me an alternative,” Kirill said tiredly. “One that won’t send you back to prison.”
“If they catch me.”
“What did Maksim say? Stay low. Which reminds me, you have fan mail at the Zahkarov Holdings offices.”
“Jesus Christ,” Kolya muttered.
I laughed. He glared.
“Stop looking at my wife like that if you don’t want me to send you to an early grave.”
Kolya snorted, “You’re so pussy-whipped, comrade.”
But Kirill didn’t have a comeback because he was staring at his phone, brows drawing together. “You all ran into Chloe?”
“Who is that?” I nodded at the phone in his hand.
“Ivan.”
Aralina couldn’t wait to tell her father.
“Yes, but ran into is pushing it. We saw her right before the elevators slid closed.”
“And…” Kirill raised a brow. Oh, he knew. “And what…” But he was waiting for me to come clean.
“She had a baby with her.”
“A what?” Kolya’s question wasn’t shouted, but the harshness ricocheted around the room. He abandoned his lazy lounging on the couch and stalked toward me. It was as threatening as I perceived because Kirill stepped in front of me and shoved his friend. “Watch it.”
Kolya scrubbed his face. His face was drawn into tight, scary, impatient lines.
My husband faced me. “Were you going to keep it from me?”
“No, I had no plans to. Even when Dom told me to stay out of it.”
“So they know exactly what’s going on?”
“Probably.”
“This is interesting…” Kirill was lost in thought.
“How old is the baby? Girl? Boy?” Kolya demanded.
“What does it matter?” I was still annoyed that Trevor and Dom were keeping secrets from me, especially about this. But I also couldn’t blame them if they did so to protect Chloe.
Kolya glared at me, and I glared back.
Finally, he stalked out of the room.
“What the hell is wrong with him?”
Kirill sighed. “The best way I can describe it is muzzling an attack dog.”
“You mean like those Malinois?”
“Yeah, those. He needs a job, and when you don’t give him a job, he becomes destructive.”
“As long as he doesn’t break anything in this house.”
My husband dragged me into his arms. “How are you feeling?”
I melted. He asked me this twice a day. “I didn’t get a headache today, and I’m not as stiff.”
“I can’t wait to fuck you again,” he murmured. “But if you’re up to it, I can help you relax.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“How about spending the rest of the day in our bedroom, hmm?”
“I don’t mind forgetting the world outside at the moment.”
He swung me up in his arms. “You got it, Luchik.”