Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SOPHIE
Finding Viktor at breakfast the next morning caught me off guard.
I’d convinced myself he would avoid me, tried to prepare for his indifference or detachment. But here he was, drinking coffee across from me, while work-related reports sat on his other side—according to Ms. Hale, they’d arrived a few minutes ago.
Yesterday, once the guests had left, he’d excused himself to his room. One look at his tired demeanor and I didn’t have the heart to stop him, despite everything on my tongue. Today though, all my confidence was gone.
“Are you going to work?” I asked. It was Thursday, but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
“I have lunch with investors. It’s on the opposite side of the city. I’ll go directly there.” He didn’t look up from the documents.
I hummed. “Are you angry about the dinner?”
He finally glanced at me, confusion across his face. “No,” he said quietly.
“But you seemed annoyed…”
“I wasn’t. I told you already, it was a hard day at work.”
“Ah, yes. Blocking Duret’s.” I clicked my tongue. “How generous of you.”
“They mocked you!”
“And? Did I seem offended?”
“I was offended!” His voice was like steel.
“Seems you only get offended when others insult me. But when it’s you, you have no issues.” My voice was sweet enough to break teeth. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Rowks?”
He opened his mouth, deflated slightly, then looked back at his documents while I kept burning a hole in his forehead with my gaze.
“You said you wanted to expand Atlas into Kosvenia?”
Running away? Again? Huh!
“Didn’t you say I should handle it myself?”
“What I meant was I can arrange a meeting with Yann, but you should handle everything yourself.”
I swallowed. I’d only seen Korolyov at our wedding, and even then he didn’t give me the impression of someone who’d be easily convinced. He was Viktor’s cousin. He might agree to help him. But me?
Viktor let out another breath. “I’ll come with you.”
“How thoughtful of you.” I couldn’t hide the venom in my voice.
“Sophie.” He put the documents to the side, shifting his whole attention to me. “People will try to dismiss your achievements, say it’s all thanks to me. Do you wish to give them another reason to doubt you?”
“You didn’t seem to care when they said the same thing about you.” He was right though, and I couldn’t help but feel grateful.
“Because I don’t care. But YOU… You do care,” he said.
“I don’t!”
He raised a brow. “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t spend so much energy worrying about their opinions.”
“I am—” I pressed my lips together, slamming my half-empty cup of coffee on the table. The next second, I was on my feet. “I’ll be in my office. I’ll work on the expansion plan. When can you arrange the meeting?”
I searched the vault for the third time. But there was no trace of our prenuptial document. As far as I knew, Viktor kept all the important and not-so documents in here. And our marriage certificate with all the additional documents regarding ownership and rights was definitely important.
Another copy was probably at Papa’s. But clarifying to him that I wanted to make sure my dowry was still under my name, with only management rights under Viktor, was a hassle.
Papa would probably ask questions, which would require another set of explanations about Atlas ownership that I hoped to negotiate.
Rafa’s stupid comments had left me with this annoyance over a simple fact that had never even crossed my mind before.
I closed the door, having lost all hope of finding more, and left for my office. The past week and a half had passed in a blur, mostly because of preparations for the trip to Kosvenia, planned for the final weekend of July. Which meant I had only a few days to finalize the proposal.
We planned to spend three nights there, establish my relationship with Korolyov, reach a verbal agreement, and then in August—if everything went well, which Viktor said he had no doubt it would—Atlas could begin the official legal process.
And here came another reason to take Rafa’s comment more seriously.
While I knew that if something happened Viktor would never take Atlas from me, the fact that I had no power in that decision was poisoning me. I considered talking to him, even went through all of it with my therapist.
Yet every time I had a chance, words stuck in my throat.
He had already stated his position. To him, I was a Rowks, hence I had every right to lead any division I chose. And while I worried that pushing this question further might be seen as me planning a divorce, the fact was, I wasn’t.
But considering we hadn’t properly talked about our relationship since my confession, I was scared of where it might lead.
I’d already gotten so much more from this marriage than I was expecting. And there was a part of me that was so angry at myself for being so ungrateful, so ashamed of my greediness.
But was wanting to be in control of what I was pouring my heart into considered greedy?
A car entered the parking lot, and I wondered if Viktor had come early. But when I went to the window, I saw my brother’s car instead.
Rafa—never needing an invitation or even a call beforehand.
I watched him walk to the main entrance, then went back to my desk, arranging my belongings. As soon as Ms. Hale came to let me know about the guest, I ordered her to bring some refreshments and fruit while we sat on my sofa.
“Anne told me it’s quite nice, your office.” Rafa looked around, stopping his gaze on my desk, then on the shelf. “This used to be Alexander’s office.”
“Oh, did Viktor have one too?”
The office he was using now was his father’s for sure. And his current room, which I’d learned had always been his, certainly didn’t have a study like mine.
“Never saw him bring anyone to study or work together. And I was quite a frequent guest here.”
“Maybe he used one of the guest rooms?”
We shrugged together.
Ms. Hale came with our refreshments, and we let her finish her work and leave before continuing.
“So?” I encouraged him. “Is there any special reason you decided to visit me?”
We hadn’t spoken since dinner, and from both Anne and Cath, who’d visited me once again during the week for lunch, I’d learned he was distant and closed off. Even Anne hadn’t managed to make him talk.
“A few.” He rolled the glass in his hand, following the movement of the liquid in it.
I nodded, giving him space to continue.
He wrinkled his nose before starting. “Firstly, I’m a bit ashamed of how aggressively I was behaving at dinner.”
I mimicked his expression. “You were.”
“And about me telling Edmond that you and Viktor didn’t share…
a room?” He gave a sheepish laugh. “Truly, I don’t know why I did.
Maybe I was still hoping for some kind of reconciliation.
Even though you’d both gotten married. But for so many years in my mind, you were together.
And I couldn’t accept the fact that it wasn’t like that.
” He gulped, keeping the empty glass in his hand.
I didn’t interrupt him, letting him finish his words. “You were pining over him since you were twelve.”
“I was annoying, wasn’t I? And you were screaming that no way would you let him date me.”
“You were a kid! Besides, didn’t I give you my blessing when you were older?” He shook his head.
“It was actually Papa and his father’s arrangement, not you giving approval.”
“I’m pretty sure I had my hand in it!” He made a pinching motion in the air, as if to grab my nose. I jerked back, pretending he’d done it for real, as he used to.
“I was certain he was your… Romeo,” he admitted. “The one who would make you happy.”
“Rafa,” I replied, “Romeo didn’t make Juliet happy. He made her dead.”
I didn’t expect Rafa to laugh. But there was no joy in his eyes. Only guilt.
“Now that I’m looking back, Cath was indeed right. Ed maintained enough appearances to keep me believing he wanted you and was patiently waiting for you. I was a fool to never question that.”
“You were just an arrogant controlling freak!” I scoffed. “Not that you aren’t one now!”
“Hey, I said I only wanted what I thought was best for you!”
“Exactly!”
He looked at me in confusion.
“You always assumed you knew what was best for me.” My next words came out cracked.
“Viktor never assumed.” Something burned in my eyes, and I blinked quickly.
Taking a deep breath, I continued, “He actually was the first one to listen to me, to understand what I’m passionate about, and let me do it. ”
“You mean let you beat my ass?”
“Idiot.” I couldn’t stop laughing, despite the tears in my eyes. “You said it yourself, Atlas isn’t even in the top three of the market.”
“Considering the speed it’s growing and the dysfunction at MoRen, I wouldn’t wonder if you replaced us at number one in a year. Maybe half?”
I frowned. “There’s dysfunction at MoRen?”
A guttural noise came from his mouth. “You know how we failed to expand in the east. I trusted Edmond with the plan. And we put so much effort into it. But then Korolyov cut us.” He gestured for me to let him continue.
“I knew deep down we should have approached him first—he had strong power not only in Kosvenia but in other Eastern European countries. But I let my hatred blind me.”
He poured another glass of juice, gulped it as well, and put it on the table. “The worst is that Viktor tried to warn us. Tried to arrange some deal so we could proceed without losses. I assumed he wanted to get his hands on MoRen.
“The only reason the company is still leading here is that he handled the fallout. And I still tried to convince myself he had no choice but to do that. You were married to him, after all, on the condition he would assist in such cases.”
“Oh, see, and you said there was no marriage!”
He hid his face in his palms. “Can you stop making me feel even more ashamed?”
“I’d love to say I’m not petty. But I discovered recently that I am. So be prepared—I’ll remind you of this till the end of your days.”
“Couldn’t you learn something more useful from your husband?”
“Like giving short, haunting answers?”