Chapter 30

"I want this finished!" I slam my fist into my desk making the papers dance.

"It's almost done," Andrei sighs from the corner of my office. "Did you explain to her what's going on?"

I drag my eyes up from the documents in front of me.

"No. This has nothing to do with her."

"Nothing to do with her?" Andrei's eyebrows leap up. "You married her in order to get this inheritance, and now the whole thing looks like it's going to be tied up in the courts. Between the bullshit here and the red tape back home, it could be years before it's all settled."

"The estates in Russia are mine," I explain. "Nothing is being held up there. It's only here the fucking bastard is making a claim." I glare at my cousin.

"I want this done as much as you, we have business that is on hold until you have the armor distribution line going in our direction."

"Boss," the man stationed outside my office door peeks his head in. "She's here."

I give a curt nod.

"Who's here?" Andrei spins around.

"Victoria."

His face twists. "What the fuck is that woman doing here in our club?" He gets to me in three strides. "Don't tell me you're dumb enough to think of taking her back. Not after everything you went through when she?—"

"I'm not," I cut him off, slicing a hand through the air. "You said the other day that we were having trouble getting a hold of my fucking cousin because he's hiding behind someone." I get to my feet.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's her."

"Victoria? You think she's hiding him?"

"If she's not, she's working with him." I swipe my phone open to check for messages from Cora.

Nothing.

There's been nothing all fucking day. What did I really expect?

"Does Cora know you're seeing her?" Andrei asks, narrowing his eyes on me.

"Why do you keep bringing her into this?"

"Because she's your wife!" He jerks a finger at me. "You married her, Sergei. And don't give me any of this ‘it's only for a year' bullshit. You know damn well there's no divorcing her. Even if it wasn't in your blood to keep to your vows, you can't let her go and you know it."

"You think I'd disrespect her by being with Victoria?" Punching him in the face has never been more tempting.

"You're keeping this whole thing a secret."

"I'm protecting her from the bullshit that is my family," I shoot back. "I need to get this straightened out. Just because the detective has been dealt with doesn't mean Oleg won't find another way to make a mess for us. Victoria has something to do with him. And once I figure it out, and get it taken care of, his claim will go away, and everything will be back on track."

Andrei stares at me in silence, like he's not sure he can speak without getting us into blows.

The door opens and Victoria saunters in, her thickly painted lips spread wide with a smile. She's put her hair up into a tight bun, pulling on her face until her eyes slant upward toward her hairline.

She's painted herself with blue eyeshadow and heavy blush.

Cora never needs so much to bring out her beauty. She needs none, actually. Without all the makeup, I can see Cora's natural blush for myself. And I've come to enjoy finding new ways of making that happen.

"Oh. Andrei." Victoria comes up short when she realizes we aren't alone.

"Victoria." His lips barely move as he says her name.

"It's good to see you." She quickly replaces her surprise with a bright smile. "I heard you got married."

"I did."

She sweeps a glance my way. "Well, that's good news." She doesn't like him being in the room with us; she never did. Andrei always unsettled her. It should have been a sign. Andrei has a knack for knowing who to trust and who not to. And his warnings bells went off about her from the first time they met.

I should have paid more attention to the red flags she raised, but I was enamored with her. It was a mistake, letting my feelings get in the way of thinking.

If I hadn't been so trusting, so into her, I would have noticed she wasn't going to stick around. My pockets were deep, but not deep enough to keep her from taking off with a man with a larger bank account.

If she'd only known about the money stored overseas, she would have seen my true worth.

But it's good she didn't. At least she had the decency to show her truth before we took vows. The night before our nuptials, she sent a message. Didn't even have it in her to show her fucking face to break my heart.

At first, I wanted vengeance. I wanted that fucker's head on a platter for stealing my woman. But she left on her own; it was her that made that decision.

And they both got what they had coming. A few bad investments, and he found himself on the unemployment line and his nest egg hemorrhaging in the stock market. Victoria had to fly home to LA to live off her own parents.

"Yes. It is. What brings you back to town?" He cocks an eyebrow and I know where he's going. "Did you find another man to latch onto so you can suck him dry?"

Her smile falters a fraction, but there's a deeper wrinkle around her eyes. She's forcing herself to keep her temper in check.

Five years ago, I would have warned her to keep herself civil. I would have bared her ass if she let her temper rule her. What a fucking waste.

"I opened a jewelry store, and I've been lucky enough for it to become quite profitable. I'm opening two more in New York this summer. I'm in Chicago to look at a few properties for a future store here." She rolls her shoulders back and thrusts her chin up.

"Then maybe you should be talking to Viktor instead of Sergei. He's the one who deals a lot with real estate."

A look of disgust crosses her face, but she recovers quickly.

How did I not see her this way before? She's like a chameleon, changing to fit whatever surroundings she's in.

"I'm fine in that department." She swallows. "How is Viktor?"

Viktor was the most vocal about his distrust of her. She sensed his feelings and tried to stay away from him for the most part.

I blackened his eye when he tried to tell me about his suspicion that she was seeing someone behind my back.

"He's fine." I step around my desk. "Andrei was just leaving."

His jaw clenches. The distrust and hatred he has for her is palpable, and it's going to get in the way of what I need to do.

"I'll be down in my office if you need me." He nods his goodbyes to me then makes a wide berth around her as he leaves. The door shakes when he slams it.

"I guess he hasn't forgiven me yet." She sighs softly and frowns just enough to make it look like she really gives a damn. It's too bad for her that I've learned all her little tricks, and they don't work on me anymore.

Cora doesn't resort to such tricks. What you see is what you get with her. No games. No manipulation. Just her.

This needs to end so I can explain everything and wipe the hurt away from her. I've done my best to avoid her this past week, but in the few times we've interacted I could feel it. And every time I don't come home at night, and every time I don't wake her when I climb into our bed, the hurt gets deeper.

"No. Not yet." I do my best to keep my tone even.

"He will." She smiles and walks further into my office, dropping her purse on a chair. "How was your day?" Her hands slide up my chest when she gets to me.

"Busy." I wrap my hands around her wrists and pull them away from me. "I've been trying to get a hold of my cousin, Oleg, but he's nowhere to be found."

She stiffens for a moment then takes a small step back.

"Why do you want to see him for?" She brushes away a hair from her cheek that's not even there.

"He's trying to fight my grandmother's will here in the States. He wants the company for himself, claims it should be split between the two of us."

"Between you?" She clears her throat.

"Yes." I move away from her, putting distance between us. "Have you spoken to him?" I ask outright. I've been beating around this fucking bush long enough. I was hoping she'd slip up about why she's really in Chicago, but she's still the sly manipulator she's always been.

"Why would I speak to him?" she asks, feigning ignorance.

I pick up the folder I have on my desk and flip it open, picking up the first picture. It's of them standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, taken sometime last summer.

She pales when I show it to her.

"Sergei." The word comes out as a plea, and she rushes toward me again. "It was a pity lunch. We ran into each other, and he begged me to have lunch."

"How do you even know him?" I drop the photo and pick up another. This time they're sharing a piece of cake at a party. From the background it looks like it took place at my uncle's vineyard.

"Well, he is your cousin."

"I haven't spoken to him in years, and I've never spoken to you about him. How did he know who you were when you ran into each other?"

"Sergei, you're getting jealous over nothing." She pushes on a seductive smile. "I can't say it doesn't turn me on. It always has, how protective you get over me." She tilts her head. "It's why I've missed you so much."

"No." I drop the photos; there's a dozen more taken all over the fucking place. Did she think I couldn't easily find her social media pages? Nothing is ever truly deleted from the internet.

She should have known that.

I hadn't planned to go at her this quickly; I wanted to draw my cousin out first. But after seeing the hurt in Cora's eyes last night, I'm not waiting anymore.

This ends now.

"You've been seeing Oleg because he thought he was the only heir to my grandmother's businesses. He thought he'd be king." I move to her, pressing my toes to hers. "But he was fucking wrong. And now you need to find a new cash cow, that's why you're in Chicago."

She swallows hard. "Sergei. We were good together."

"You're behind his attempt to take what's been left to me. I had some digging done on his attorneys. You're financing this whole thing."

"No. That would be silly. Why would I help him fight you? You're Sergei Petrov. There is no beating you." She tries to reach up and touch my cheek, but I catch her wrist and shove it away.

"You're betting on both horses. If he wins, at least half, you're still going to have plenty of money. But if he loses, you think you'll have me to fall back on."

She frowns. "You don't love that girl," she snaps.

"Where is he?" I demand.

"I'm not helping you, Sergei." She shakes her head. "You'll hurt him, and he's only trying to go after what's rightfully his. Why don't you just give him what he wants, and you and I can start over."

"Start over?" I laugh, but there's no joy there. "With you." I shake my head. "The best thing you've ever done is leave me, Victoria."

Her lips twist downward. She's getting angry, and I realize I've never seen her truly upset. Nothing about her has ever been real.

"Oleg will never see a fucking cent. He can stand by and watch as I tear the entire company to shreds and let the Kustov name die. He'll be worth nothing and he'll get nothing. Just like they wanted my mother to do."

She rolls her eyes. "Your mother." She picks up her purse from the chair. "Fine. You want to fight his claim. That's fine."

"And you were behind the detective too."

She shakes her head. "No, that was his bonehead idea. I told him it wouldn't work. That it would take one phone call from one of you to get the whole thing killed. And it did." She slips her phone from her purse. "If you come to your senses, let me know."

"Never going to happen." I fist my hands and press them into my desk.

She spins on her heel and yanks the door open, pausing a moment and taking a deep breath.

"Go."

She straightens, throws her chin up and storms out, slamming the door behind her.

A second later it opens again.

"I said go!" I bellow before realizing it's Dimitri.

"She's gone," he says, realizing I was yelling at Victoria. "But Cora is here."

My body tenses.

"What do you mean here?" She's supposed to be at home with Krista. They're supposed to be gorging themselves on popcorn and bad movies.

"I mean she and her friend are in the VIP section. Zack put them in a booth and called over to me to let you know."

"Make sure security follows Victoria out and she doesn't make any stops along the way."