Chapter 13 Mila
MILA
The nerve of that man! I pace my room as I angrily yank my shirt off, then my slacks. They get thrown across the room before I dig into my dresser and find a nightgown. I can't believe Roman would let her sit right on his lap and not immediately chastise her for such rude behavior.
She was his houseguest, not a stripper sent to give him a lap dance. And the way she babbled on all evening while she ate—and talked with her mouth full of food, too. How gross. Yet he smiled and spoke kindly to her and didn't bother to notice how she was being way too forward.
My bra drops to the floor with my clothing and I tug on my nightgown, too angry to eat the food Rebecca sent up for me, or even think straight, for that matter.
Sofi's visit has me entirely undone, even half an hour later as I crawl into bed and punch my pillow to fluff it up a little.
And when my head hits that same pillow, I feel tears burning in my eyes.
I don't even know why I'm so mad. Roman is a free man who can make whatever choice he wants.
It just ticks me off that Vera is getting her way yet again.
She sends Sofi over to make Roman swoon, and he wines and dines her as if she's royalty, and the entire time, he forced me to watch it all.
I had no desire to be in that room watching him smile at her and ask her thoughtful questions.
He never asked me about my father, and he never tried to understand my past and…
I stop myself and blink back the tears as I realize what's really going on. I'm really jealous. Like, so jealously angry, I could slap Sofi silly just for showing up to a dinner at Roman's house, one I was allowed to be a part of too.
God, what is wrong with me? Roman forced me to come to his house and wait on him hand and foot, and yes, he gave me this promotion to being his assistant so I don’t have to scrub toilets, but if he's interested in one of Vera's daughters, that's his right to do so. I can't stop him.
So why did my entire body light on fire when he pushed my hair behind my ear and wish he would touch me more? Why can't I get him out of my head? It's been almost a week and still, every time I’m in the same room with him, I feel awkward and attracted to him.
He doesn't want me.
What happened at his fight club was only because of adrenaline and a near-death experience.
Nothing more. Roman thinks of me as his servant, not his potential partner.
He is literally dating my stepsisters to get to know them so he can choose which one of them he wants to marry so that when my inheritance passes to Vera, he can snatch it up.
He is not the type of man I want to be with.
So why does my heart feel so confused and hurt by the fact that he smiled at her?
Three raps on the door startle me enough to make the well of emotions bubbling up instantly die down.
I listen for a second, wondering who is knocking and why, and when Yegor speaks, I find myself disappointed it's not Roman coming to check on me.
He has no reason to, but the foolish girl inside me thought maybe seeing me so upset might've made him wonder. And I was wrong.
"Mila," he says through the door, "phone for you. Vera Koval-Radin."
I slide out of bed and put on my robe and cross to the door to open it. Yegor 's standing in the hallway with a phone held out in his right hand, and his eyes sweep down over my body. I take the phone from him and lean my shoulder against the doorframe and press it to my ear.
"What do you want, Vera?" Now that I'm not under her thumb, I don't care how she feels about me. She's made it very clear to me for years that she doesn't like me. Whatever she wants, it must be for some selfish reason. She has no good reason to call me at all.
"Is that how you greet your mother?" Her voice slides through the receiver like the burn of whiskey without the calming effect. It's toxic, and I know it well. She wants something from me. "I'm calling because your lawyer called me. Mr. Gregov. Do you know what he told me?"
"Tell me."
"There are men in your father's organization who have decided they don't need me.
" She waits, as if I'm going to react to that, but why would I?
No one in my father's organization likes her.
She is the inside joke. "Your father's own cousins have organized and they're moving to take control, and they want me gone. "
I run my thumbnail along the seam of the doorframe, dragging it through the groove where the wood meets the wall, feeling the rough edge catch against my skin.
"And you're calling me because…?" Yegor stands watching, but his eyes are trained down the hallway now, like he's too much of a gentleman to see me in this state of undress.
I close the robe in the front and rest my head on the wood.
"Because Gregov says you're the only one who can stop it.
You're the heir, Mila. Even without full authority, your name still carries influence with the old guard.
" She huffs and sighs, then when she speaks, her voice has a whiny quality.
I wouldn't help her if she were the last woman on earth and she was dying.
"I need you to call Gregov and handle this. "
"Is this a joke? You don't let me 'handle' things." I look up at Yegor and then close my eyes. I can't stand this woman, and after that showdown with Roman, I'm not in the mood to deal with her.
"I'm letting you now. You call him and you fix this, do you hear me? Or you'll lose your ability to lead too—"
The line cuts, and I lower the phone from my ear and hold it against my chest as I seethe for a moment.
I don't know what she's talking about, but if she fears the men pushing her out, she's right.
They may be trying to push me out too, and there isn't any way I can find out without calling the lawyer.
This is the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight.
"I need to make a call," I tell Yegor. "Stay here."
He glowers at me, but I know he'll listen. This isn't my cell phone, and I don’t even know if Roman wants me to have it. Yegor will wait until I’m done if for no other reason than to take the phone back when I finish.
I step back into my room and leave the door open and dial Gregov's number from memory.
After all the hoopla following my father's funeral and reading of his will, I've gotten to know the man a lot better than I ever thought I would.
He's a kind man, older yet still a shark, and he cared deeply for my father.
To say he wants to help is an understatement. To say he can may yet be determined.
"Mila, thank you for calling." Gregov sounds tired and weary, like he's been fighting a losing battle that I'm only just now being made aware of.
"Vera tells me there are men moving against her?" I lift my finger to my mouth and chew my nail in an attempt to distract myself from what's happening.
"Against the organization, not against her specifically, though she's made it personal.
" Papers shuffle on his end, and he coughs a little.
"Your father's cousin and two of his lieutenants have spent weeks consolidating support among the lower ranks.
They're claiming the leadership is vacant and that Vera has no legitimate authority. "
"Well, that's because she doesn't."
"That is a separate conversation and not why I called her tonight." The shuffling stops. "It's gone past politics, Mila. There have been assaults. Two of your family members were beaten this week and one of them is in the hospital."
I sink to the foot of the bed and feel my heart start to ache. I've always known the type of stuff Papa was into. I just managed to file it away and focus on whatever studies he told me to work on. Knowing there is infighting in my family makes grieving even more painful.
"Who is it?" I ask, not sure I want to know. If there are men in the ranks who are still loyal to Papa, they'll be the ones getting beat down while the others take over. It won't matter whose name is officially on the title deed of businesses and properties. Vera's right. I'll lose control too.
I don't know if I want that control, but I don't want my family killing each other.
"Your father's nephew Kolya and one of his drivers." His chair creaks on the other end. "They were cornered outside a warehouse on the east side two nights ago. Kolya is still unconscious, and the driver has a broken jaw and four fractured ribs."
"And Vera knows."
"Vera's been informed, yes, but she hasn't sent anyone or returned a single call."
"Why would she do nothing?" God, I hate that woman. She wants this. She wants the family to self-destruct so she can use her own resources to force them to align with her. It's sick.
"I can only tell you what I see, Mila." Another creak of the chair. "And what I see is a woman spending her energy on her arrangement with Roman Kuzin while her own people are being put in hospitals."
I close my eyes and press my thumb against the bridge of my nose, and the darkness behind my eyelids goes warm and red from the lamp on my nightstand. "What do you need from me?"
"You still have standing as Anton's heir. If you make a formal statement to the senior members, it will carry authority, and it will buy time and tell everyone that the Radin name is still intact."
"A statement isn't going to stop them." What they need is an active leader, and unless I get married, they have no one but Vera—whom they hate.
"No." He goes quiet for a long breath. "You need someone with the reach to intervene…"
And just like that, my lawyer is suggesting I do the unthinkable. He doesn't have to say it out loud for me to understand. He's insinuating that my proximity to Roman Kuzin may allow me leverage over my father's family that Vera doesn't have. And it makes me furious that he's my only option.
But Gregov isn't wrong. If Roman applies the right pressure, Vera will cave because she needs to impress him.
And since I haven't fully decided what I want yet, I need to act quickly.
If I end up coming out the other side of this and wanting my inheritance, I'll never forgive myself for doing nothing.
"I know who to go to."
"Mila, be careful—"
I end the call, cutting him off, and let my head drop.
Of all the shit I've had to do to keep my head above water, this one takes the cake.
I rise slowly, locking the phone as I walk back to the door where Yegor stands with his hands clasped in front of himself.
He looks up as I extend the phone toward him.
"Take me to Roman."
His eyebrows lift by a fraction. "Now?"
"Right now."
"It's late, Mila. He's in his study and—"
"I don't care what time it is, Yegor. Take me to him."
He unfolds his arms and turns down the hall, protesting with a glare, and I follow him out of my room with my robe cinched at the waist.
Roman may not care that the sex we had in his office was way more than sex to me, but he will definitely care that the family he thinks he's about to marry into may fall apart at any second.
If he has any intent to marry Sofi or Sabine, he will act to force Vera's hand and push her to control the family, thus preserving what he hopes to claim.
If not, I may lose it all anyway.