Chapter 22 #2
I reach toward her, but she moves away, putting the desk between us as a physical barrier. The rejection stings. “We can make it work. I told you I was going to end things with Katya, and I meant it.”
Something flickers across her face—hope or pain or both—before she locks it down again. Her knuckles go white where she grips the edge of the desk. “When?”
The single word carries everything she’s not saying and all the doubts and fears she’s been harboring while I’ve been lost in planning our future in the murky “someday” months from now.
I suddenly feel cornered by the intensity of her stare.
“Soon. Valentin is setting up meetings, working out the details?—”
Her laugh is bitter and broken, the sound cutting through me like glass. “How soon?” Her voice is steady but her eyes are bright with unshed tears. “A month? Six months? A year?”
I hesitate, knowing whatever number I give won’t be what she wants to hear. The timeline Valentin laid out yesterday seems reasonable for business purposes but impossible when I’m looking at the woman I love asking me to choose her. That moment of silence tells her everything she needs to know.
She nods once, a sharp jerk of her head that speaks of disappointment and resignation. “I see.” She moves forward, but I step into her path, hands raised in a gesture of supplication.
“It’s not that simple. There are political considerations, business relationships—” I spread my hands, trying to make her understand the complexity of what I’m trying to accomplish.
She stops just out of reach, her whole body vibrating with suppressed emotion.
“There are always going to be political considerations.” She looks up at me with heartbreak written across her features, tears threatening to spill over.
“There’s always going to be something more important than us.
I can’t be the other woman, and I won’t let them…
this destroy who I am or make me someone I’m not. ”
I take another step closer, desperate to make her understand she’s wrong. “That’s not true.”
Her smile is sad and knowing, the expression of someone who’s heard empty promises before. “Isn’t it? I’m asking you to choose me, right now, today, and you can’t do it.”
I spread my hands, trying to find words that will bridge the gap between us, but everything I think to say sounds like another excuse. “I’m trying to do this the right way, the safe way?—”
She laughs again, the sound sharp enough to cut, and I see something break behind her eyes. “For whom? Safe for your business interests? Safe for your reputation? Because it’s not safe for me.”
The raw pain in her voice stops my protests.
Something has happened that’s made her feel threatened in a way I don’t understand.
I search her face for clues, but she’s already closing herself off, rebuilding the walls I thought we’d torn down two nights ago.
I soften my voice, trying to reach the woman who trusted me enough to share her bed and her body.
“Talk to me. Tell me what this is really about.”
She shakes her head, reaching for the door handle with a finality that makes my chest ache. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I can’t do this, Yarik. I can’t be the other woman waiting for you to figure out how to fit me into your life.”
I reach for her arm, but she’s already moving, her hand closing around the door handle. “Sarah, wait?—”
She’s already gone, the door closing behind her with quiet finality. I stand in my empty office, staring at the space where she was, the scent of her perfume still lingering in the air like a ghost.
She asked me to choose her today, and I couldn’t do it.
Not because I don’t want to, but because I need time to do it right, to minimize the damage to everyone involved.
From her perspective, my hesitation looked like rejection, like proof that she’ll never be my priority.
I understand suddenly I failed her when she needed me to be decisive.
Valentin appears in my doorway, his expression grim, interrupting my plans to chase after Sarah. “We have a problem.”
I look up from the contract I’ve been staring at without reading, my mind still replaying Sarah’s final words. “What kind of problem?”
He settles into the chair across from my desk with a solemn air, clutching a thick folder in his hands.
“The kind that involves Roman Sokolov and several million dollars in unauthorized transactions.” He opens the folder.
“Remember that mid-level player who wanted to do business with us a few weeks ago?”
I lean forward, forcing myself to focus on business when all I want to do is think about Sarah. “The arrogant one. What about him?”
Valentin slides documents across my desk, pointing to highlighted sections. “He’s been busy. We found three more shell companies with suspicious activity, all connected to accounts that trace back to him, but he’s been operating under multiple aliases.”
I study the bank records and corporate filings, noting dates and amounts that paint a disturbing picture. “Roman Sokolov, Aleksander Petrov, and Alexei Kozlov. Same man, different names, and all tied to the same financial networks.”
Valentin nods grimly, pulling out additional pages. “The timeline is recent, with most within the last two months, which means this has been happening right under our noses.”
I spread the documents across my desk, looking for patterns. “How did he get access to our systems?”
Valentin leans forward, dropping his voice. “That’s where it gets complicated. The authorization codes match legitimate Barinov accounts, but they’re being used for transactions we never approved. Someone with inside access is feeding him information.”
I look up sharply, meeting his gaze. “Inside our organization?”
He shakes his head slowly, his expression troubled. “Or inside the Nikitin organization with access to our joint accounts.” He points to a series of highlighted entries. “Katya’s name keeps appearing in the transaction logs. It could be coincidence, but the pattern is too clean and too deliberate.”
I scowl at the page. If Katya is working with Roman to undermine our operations, the engagement was never about alliance.
It was about infiltration and eventual takeover.
I’ve known that for a while but having proof confirming it makes me want to handle the separation quickly and messily instead of taking my time for the appearance of a mutually agreed end to our joint deals.
I close the folder and meet his gaze. “What’s our exposure?”
Exhaustion is evident in every line of his face, indicating he’s been working on this for hours, if not days. “Manageable if we move quickly, but if this continues, they could drain our operational accounts and leave us vulnerable to federal investigation.”
I stand and move to the window, processing the scope of the threat. “Recommendations?”
He joins me at the window, his voice quiet but firm. “We need to be careful. If we move too aggressively, we tip them off and lose any chance of catching them in the act, but if we wait too long, they might disappear with enough evidence to destroy us.”
I turn to face him, noting the concern in his expression. “So we watch and wait?”
Valentin nods slowly, his hands clasped behind his back. “We watch, we gather evidence, and we strike when they make a mistake.” He pauses, meeting my gaze directly. “If Katya is involved in this, ending the engagement becomes more complicated. She’s not just going to walk away quietly.”
After he leaves, I sit alone with the knowledge that my world is unraveling from multiple directions.
Sarah is gone, convinced I’ll never choose her over business considerations.
The Nikitins are possibly stealing from us while planning a wedding that’s supposed to cement our alliance, and somewhere in the middle of all this, a man named Roman Sokolov is playing games with my money and my future.
I think about Sarah’s final words, her accusation that there would always be something more important than us.
She’s wrong about one thing. She’s not less important than the business.
She’s the reason I want to clean up the business, and the reason I’m willing to risk everything to build something better.
I just need to prove it to her before it’s too late.