Chapter 18 #2
“Oh, Emma, isn’t he a doll?” She acts like I didn’t just insult her.
I start to step away, and she grabs my arm.
“That new psychologist isn’t working out, is she?
Too inexperienced. I just don’t think she’s going to make it.
Of course, I’ll give her a proper evaluation and make that decision,” she tells Emma, while her hands are still on me.
I jack it away, and she gasps, “I’m so sorry, I forgot the Russians, especially ones from lower-class beginnings, have a hard time with touch.”
“Germans too?” Comes from behind me, Faulker.
She stiffens. “Or maybe it’s you who has a hard time hearing words like, I think that’s a bit inappropriate to ask of a patient, or ‘ get off your knees, it’s not happening, or get your hand off my dick.
Social class? You can get fucked on that. I’m rich as fuck.”
Deacon’s eyes slice to me. I hold my hands up, “She didn’t go to her knees for me, I’d piss on a woman who insisted I needed meds because I was emotionally stunted.”
“That’s enough,” Deacon says, looking at Faulker and me.
“They’re liars.” She spits.
“I prefer filthy foreigner,” Faulker smiles proudly. “You called me that right after I called you a deranged whore.”
“Where’s Sofie’s sister?” I demand.
“Who?” Rathburn hisses.
“Don’t who me, you ignorant bitch,” I snap.
Deacon jacks me back, “Let’s go.”
As we head down the corridor, I see two big fuckers standing sentry at the door.
“Oh, hell no,” I jog toward them, and they don’t move. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
“Is he barefoot in sandals at an ice rink?” One asks the other, ignoring me altogether.
“I have more respect for that than if he were wearing socks.” The other chuckles.
I grab his shirt, and he doesn’t even flinch, amusement dancing in his eyes, he says. “You don’t want to do that, man. Not a good start to our… relationship.”
“Who the fuck do you think—”
“Legacy.”
I don’t let go, “Why the fuck are you standing in my way?”
The door flies open, and I hear her, “You’re done here. In fact, you’re done everywhere as far as I’m concerned. Do not come here —”
“You don’t own this team, this building,” whichever sister it is laughs maniacally. “In fact, you own nothing.”
“Either will you when you have to get a job to pay taxes on the properties you’ve managed to get out of my him.” Sofie sneers.
“You mind letting go of my shirt?” Whoever the fuck he is asks.
I let go at the same time Sofie and my eyes meet, and then I see them. Matteo and James.
I shove him away from me, “You’re fired.”
“Technically, we never signed a contract,” he says.
I shove past him and face her sister, “She said get the fuck out.”
She looks shocked and offended. “Do you know who I am?”
I step beside Sofie, not shielding her, anchoring myself. “I don’t need your name to recognize a jealous, pretentious bitch who’s spent her whole life mistaking polish for worth. You think you belong here because your name’s on the box? Newsflash, it doesn’t make it yours.”
She scoffs. “Please. You don’t know anything about this family.”
“I know enough,” I say. “I know you grew up with every advantage and still needed to borrow relevance from whoever would hand it to you.” I glance back at Sofie, then at her again. “She grew up watching everyone underestimate her and learned how to outwork them. That’s the difference.”
Her mouth tightens. “You’re romanticizing mediocrity.”
I laugh, sharp. “Mediocrity? You wouldn’t survive one week doing what she does without staff, without money, without someone telling you where to stand.”
Deacon and Faulker take our backs. The Legacy duo stands there, but do not leave, me I continue. “You walk into rooms and expect them to rearrange around you. Sofie walks in and figures out how to make everything work.”
She snaps, “She’s just fathers’ caretaker.”
That’s when I lose the last of my patience. “You’re the caretaker of appearances. She’s the reason the lights are still on.”
Her laugh is brittle. “You athletes are all the same. Loud. Temporary. You think money makes you powerful.”
“No,” I say. “Hard work does.”
I turn slightly so she can see Sofie fully now.
“She didn’t carve herself into something palatable. She didn’t change her face, pick up a fake accent, and spend thousands of Daddy’s dollars to look pretty on the outside because her insides were rotten.”
Her sister’s eyes flash. “She thinks she’s better than us because she’s KET.”
No fucking clue what KET is. “She doesn’t think it, she knows it, so does everyone else in this room.
” I turn and shoot Matteo and James warning glares as I step closer to Elena, lowering my voice so only she hears it.
“You had to become someone else, shinier, to survive the world you chose to fabricate around you. She chose something harder and didn’t take the easy way.
” She swallows hard. “You’re here because you thought you could still make her feel small.
You joined forces with a bitch who wants to steal one of her best friend’s kids to treat like a pawn in—”
“Emme would never do that. She’s wanted kids for years and.” She doesn’t just pull back the reins, she yanks them while clearing her throat, “She will be an amazing co-parent, a bonus mom to Savvy. She’ll open doors,” her whole face fucking puckers. “That her biological mom could never.”
Sofie steps forward now, shoulder brushing mine. “I asked you to leave. You didn’t.”
Her sister sneers, “I am going to make sure the board knows what you have done, and then I am going to replace you.”
Sofie says calmly. “Escort her out.”
Matteo and James step around her.
Her sister jerks back. “I will call the board now and leak what I have found out.”
Matteo leans down eye level to her, face an inch from her, “Move.”
As they crowd her enough, she has no choice but to turn and leave. She does, but she twists back toward Sofie, voice shrill now. “You think you’ve won?”
I meet her eyes before Sofie has to. “No, I think you finally figured out who you were always competing with.”
The doors slam, and I turn to Sofie, my voice shifting instantly, softer. “You okay?”