Zakhar

Chapter 6

Zakhar

Thursday…

Calen Newell. My newest target will get what he deserved.

I picked up my private line and made a call to my stockbroker and confidant, Roman McBride. He answered within a few seconds, and we spoke about new stock options before moving on to Vortex Edge Software.

"Offer thrice the selling price and acquire all that's available on the market."

"Zak, this company hasn't had any significant progress in the three years since it's listed. Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure it's shareholders will be happy about selling out for three times the price."

Roman sniggered. "You want to crush this guy, don't you?"

"Crush?" I snorted. "I will obliterate him."

"Well, he did steal the idea for his software from your company, so I'm all on board."

"Get it done as quickly as possible."

With the conversation with Roman ended, I would wait twenty-four hours for the news that this small insignificant company would be a part of the Mikhailov dynasty. I could have crushed this flee years ago, but what fun would that have been? The software wasn't fully functional back then and he was the best developer on our team. Now that his company was established and the software stable, it was time to aim and destroy. What was once mine would be mine once again. No one steals from Zakhar Mikhailov and live to tell the tale.

While I waited, I pondered my next enemy, Gary Beckett. He'd climbed the list the moment I discovered him. He would be destroyed regardless of Tabitha becoming wife or not. This man was a leach and a virus who claimed a business that wasn't his. Living off Tabitha and draining her company's profits along with his mother and sister. A lazy bastard like that didn't deserve a woman as Tabitha.

A knock at my door followed by a push. Nathan entered my office with an envelope, and wary look on his face. Placing the large envelope before me, he stepped back. I picked it up and pulled out its contents. My baby brother, Nikolai was with a girl, standing in front of a hospital which was several miles out of the constituency which me lived. This was strange. I sifted through some more photos until I came across a medical report. It was obviously for the girl which was around Nikolai's age.

My father had remarried eighteen years ago to a woman a few years my junior. We had no qualms about her since she was a consenting adult. Although our father was a healthy man at the time, we had a paternity test done to assure us that he was our father's son. I had great hope for this child, but here he was disappointing me, just like Kiev.

Nikolai had followed Kiev to Dubai six months ago and insisted on going to school here. We'd enrolled him into one of the best schools this city could offer, but now it seemed all in vain. He was following the path of his eldest brother.

"I'd like to meet her parents."

"That info is on the next document, Sir."

Nathan. Enemy number three.

He was a thorough assistant who knew exactly how I liked things done. Yet, he made such a grave error with Tabitha. It was clearly stated in her profile that she was deathly allergic to some plants, namely the two which he sent her. There was no doubt in my mind he did that on purpose. I needed to know what the reason was before acting.

"You're an excellent assistant. I'd hate to lose you," I stated.

"Sir?"

I raised my eyes and met with his. "You tried to murder her? Explain."

"No Sir." His voice had a squeak.

I stopped him. "You have one chance. Make it quick."

"I'm deeply sorry for the error Sir, I had no…"

My fist came down hard on the desk unsettling its contents, while my voice remained low. "Cut the bullshit. You dare lie to me?"

He kept silent, therefore I stood and picked up the phone. My head of security answered immediately and responded positively to my summons. Nathan stood there silently looking at me with terror struck eyes.

"Sir…" he began but I held up my hand for him to keep his silence, since that was what he chose earlier.

Nathan fell to his knees and started to plead. "Sir, please listen. I lost my scholarship in the US because of that bi…woman!"

My chief security officer arrived before Nathan could continue and I had enough of stalling. Nathan knew I hated having to wait for explanations and for lies. Moreover, losing a scholarship for something which he had done was not worth killing for. I knew about the scholarship incident; however, I had no idea that it was Tabitha who reported about a group of young men stealing her project and passing it off as their own.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm only having you transferred to the Indonesian office."

The security team escorted him with instructions. HR had already prepared another assistant per my instructions, and he was already on his way from HQ. While they were on transit from Russia, one of the secretaries here would fit in. She was the one everyone avoided because she was dark skin and pretty and was married to the only Asian in the Dubai office. I liked that she was sidelined, which gave her thick skin. Depending on how she did, I might keep her as co-assistant.

She arrived in my office shortly and I was pleased that she already picked up Nathan's duties without being told. After greeting me with a shake of the hand, she set a file down on the desk.

"Sir, this is the report which Nathan had been working on."

"You finished it?"

She nodded. "I dropped all my previous duties to complete it last night when you requested me."

"Good girl."

She tried to suppress a smile. "Thank you, Sir. He was also working on finding someone. Your car is waiting to take you there. I also have additional information about the situation."

"You can relay this information while we walk. Let's go."

"The father was a trader in the Free Zone, and her mother a teacher at the public high school. She is a middle child of three. Nikolai gives her an allowance weekly and has bought her groceries and gifts. I don't think the baby is his."

"I see."

"She had a boyfriend up until two weeks before she had sex with Nikolai."

We were now in the elevator, and I turned to look at her. "How did you gather all this so quickly?"

"My husband was in the special forces in China. They know how to find anything. Plus, she uses the American social media platforms."

The elevator had already reached the underground parking. Before walking out, I decided to give her the chance to opt out of directly working with me. Even though it was temporary, I wanted someone loyal, someone whom I could rely on.

"You have one chance," I declared. "Back away now and return to your department or make that step toward my car."

She looked at me sharply, then made the first move out of the elevator and walked ahead towards the car. Not looking back, she reached the car, opened the passenger door and stood aside. I slid into the seat and the door slammed shut.