“But I’ll expect your check on my desk by close of business today. If she were mine to sell, I expect dividends from her sale.”
I want to believe the swift end of our conversation is because money comes before anything to my father. However, my gut is advising me not to be stupid. He knows as well as I do that Roxanne’s auction was only the tip of the iceberg in her earnings. If this were purely about profit, he’d milk her for all she’s worth.
As confident I’ll jump to his command as rapidly as Roxanne does mine, he dips his chin before exiting my office via a concealed entrance. It isn’t an entrance many people know about, but it’s the only clue I need as to why the scent of Roxanne’s juices on my hand is being overridden by an emasculating perfume.
“Entering a man’s house uninvited warrants him permission to shoot you.”
The shadow I’m glaring at switches on the lamp next to the single chair she’s seated in before she strays her eyes to mine. “I’m an invited guest.”
I shoot Theresa a stern look, warning her I’m not in the mood for her games. “You were instructed to arrive at ten o’clock, not enter my house at an ungodly hour.”
I’m tempted to gouge her eyes out when she drinks in my shirtless form with a prolonged gawk. It’s clear what she’s here for, so I make it just as clear I’m not interested.
“You stole thirty thousand dollars’ worth of uncut coke from me. Even if I could forget that, we’ll never mess the sheets.” I lock our eyes, ensuring she can see the truth in mine when I say, “I don’t fuck women I plan to kill.”
She smiles like her life isn’t on the line. “That isn’t what I hear. Supposedly, that’s your thing now.”
Aware of her attractiveness, she rakes her teeth over her lower lip. I won’t lie, she could give half the whores in my arsenal a run for their money. She just needs to thaw out her icy insides first. Not even hard-ass men like me want to bed a heartless woman.
“I wonder if you’ll change your mind when I share the information I’ve unearthed about your father the past month?”
My lips tuck in the corner. I should have known her early visit isn’t purely about whetting her sexual appetite. If the law can’t catch my father, they side with him. When they get burned, they come running to me.
“I’m done fixing my father’s mistakes…” My words trail off when Theresa holds a photograph into the light. It’s the same image she handed Rocco earlier this week. “The bad can turn good just as easily as the good can turn bad.” I don’t hold back my arrogant smirk this time around. “You should know that better than anyone.”
Theresa is as corrupt as they come. The only reason she hasn’t done time is because she has one of those golden pussies Clover mentioned weeks ago. It’s got nothing on Roxanne’s, but I can see how it could make some men do whatever she asks.
“Your father is cashing in favors he’ll never repay, and here you are, acting ignorant to a Russian invasion.”
My laugh echoes around my office. “A Russian invasion, my ass. The last time that happened, Vladimir—”
“Found out his wife birthed a child with your father.”
I take an involuntary step back. I hate that I allowed my shock to be seen, but there was too much honesty in her tone for a nonchalant response.
Theresa soaks up my surprise as if it’s whiskey, and she’s an alcoholic. “This can’t be the first time you’ve heard about illegitimate siblings, surely. I know of at least three.”
She’s right. My family has faced rumors about my father’s infidelities for decades—baby mamas included—but this is the first time the rumblings included someone who could possibly steal my crown before I’ve sat on my throne.
“Male or female?” I don’t know why the fuck I’m contemplating this. If he or she wants to contest my position, bring it on. I’ll take them down as well as I did their predecessors. I guess a part of my curiosity can be blamed on the fact the last time the Petrettis and Popovs went to war was the year before I was born. If an extramarital affair is the cause of this, there are rules not even I can break because this time around, a coup won’t just get me killed, it will take down my daughter as well.
I want to pretend I don’t recognize the face of the man Theresa brings up on her phone, but unfortunately, you’d have to be dead the past decade not to know him. The Popovs are loud, proud, and Vladimir’s second eldest son soaks up the attention for all it’s worth.
Nikolai Popov is a media whore.
He’s also four months older than me.
Fuck it!
After working my jaw side to side, I play it cool. “Unfounded rumors like this will get you killed quicker than theft.”
Theresa paces my way, her hips extra swingy. The fact she thinks I can be led by my cock pisses me off more than her presumption I’d want to get freaky with her. “Who said it’s unfounded?”
When she’s within touching distance, I grip her throat with everything I have. Like the dumb fuck she is, she gets turned on by my hold instead of fearing it. That’s why we played well when we did. She’s as kinky as she is corrupt.
A liar would tap out within seconds, a woman seeking a cheap thrill would have tears springing down her eyes shortly after that. Only someone with nothing to fear would return my glare without the slightest bit of sheen in her eyes.
Regretfully, that someone is Theresa.
