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“I grow tired of asking so this will be the last time. Where is he?”
“I told you, I’ve no idea. You’re just going to have to kill me.”
I nod to Marco. “As you wish.” A shot fires. Igor’s body slumps, lifeless, in the chair. My expression remains impassive as I turn back to my men. “Find Orlov, or you’ll end up in the same grave,” I state coldly, my gaze sweeping across the room.
“We secured Vittorio Enterprises, boss,” Luca reports. “No casualties on our side. His other men didn’t make it out. They’re in the Hudson as you ordered.”
“What about Orlov? How did he slip the net?”
“Escaped in the panic,” Marco adds. “Bold move coming onto our turf in broad daylight like that.”
“He’s losing it,” Rico says. “Word’s been getting around he’s cracking under the pressure of being Pakhan. There’ll be no reasoning with a man like that.”
“I don’t intend to reason with him,” I reply. “I intend to kill him.”
“Seems a lot of effort over a rejection,” Marco says.
“He still wants revenge on me for refusing to marry his daughter.”
“Maybe you should have said yes,” Marco says. “Save us a lot of trouble.”
A smirk crosses my face. “Not an option. I’m married to the woman upstairs..”
There’s a murmur among the men, a mix of surprise and concern. But I silence them with a look. “No one approaches her but me. Your priority is finding Orlov, not bitching about my love life. Get to work.”
Leaving the boardroom, I find Maria waiting for me. “She’s in the library, Sir.”
“Good,” I reply, making my way there.
I find Emily sitting in an armchair, engrossed in a book, a glass of wine beside her. The sight of her, so relaxed in my domain, stirs something within me. I notice she’s drinking one of the most expensive bottles she sold me.
“Enjoying the wine?” I ask as I pour myself a glass and take a seat opposite her.
She looks up, a hint of surprise in her eyes. “The housemaid brought it. It’s okay, nothing special.”
“That glass alone is worth about twenty thousand dollars.”
“What about the wine in it?”
I laugh, appreciating her unaffected response. “I remember you recommending that bottle to me. Your taste in wine was always impeccable.”
“Boss just told me to sell the most expensive ones to the most gullible customers.”
I laugh again, my eyes drawn to the book in Emily’s hand. “What are you reading?”
She shows me the cover – ‘The Wood Beyond the World’ by William Morris. “I didn’t expect you to be a fan of such Victorian literature,” I comment. “Uniting two very different universes.”
Her smile broadens, a sparkle in her eye. “I thought I was the only one who knew about this book. It’s not exactly mainstream.”
I take a sip of my wine, savoring the taste. “I’ve always had an affinity for things that are unique and unconventional. Just like my choice in wine,” I say, nodding towards her glass. “And women.”
She takes a sip, her eyes meeting mine over the rim. “This wine and this woman... both too expensive for a man like you.”
I lean forward, closing the gap between us. “Perhaps that’s true, but it doesn’t stop me wanting both.”
The air between us is charged with an unspoken attraction. She sets down her glass, her voice soft yet bold. “Am I a prisoner here?”
I consider her question for a moment. “Only until Orlov is taken care of. You remain my wife until further notice.” I spot a flicker of a smile at the corner of her lips. “Does the idea of being married to me please you?”
