"Thank you. It hasn't been easy, but I've always been capable of handling difficult situations." Vera takes a sip of her wine and sets the glass down carefully, and she plasters on a very fake grimace. "Which is exactly why I wanted to meet with you tonight. I have a proposal that I believe will benefit both of us considerably. After Anton's death, we've been so heavy with emotion…"
My God, I think I'll pull a muscle from rolling my eyes too hard. The drama of this woman is ridiculous. She thinks he's actually buying that act? In what world? She doesn't care that my father is dead. She never did. I swear she just married him for his money, and because I was so dear to his heart, she pushed me away.
Roman cocks his head to the side as he sips his wine more and watches her like he's waiting on her to finish speaking. I want to rush in there and tell him what a fool he is for entertaining her, but he'll learn on his own in due time.
"A marriage between our families," Vera says, "would unite the Radin organization with yours and create something significantly more powerful than either of us has operating separately. Your resources and reach combined with the weapons infrastructure Anton built would give us control over most of the trade in this entire region."
I grip the doorframe and keep my breathing quiet. She came here to propose a marriage? The horrible woman! Papa hasn't been dead for six months and she's wanting to be remarried? It's unthinkable. It brings angry tears to my eyes which I blink back and bite my cheek to stop myself from screaming at her.
"I have two daughters," Vera continues when Roman still doesn't respond. "Both of them are unmarried and extremely well-educated. Sofi's working on a business degree from a university in Moscow remotely, and Sabine speaks four languages fluently. Either one of them would make an excellent match for a man in your position. They're young, beautiful, and they come with the full backing of the Radin organization."
She pauses and takes another sip of wine, and still, he sits there speechless, letting her go on like an idiot. She's making a spectacle of herself and she doesn't even know it. There's no way in hell that he's buying this. It's gross. Marry her nasty daughters who'd throw themselves at any available man who has money? Where does he think they learned that?
"Or," Vera says, her voice dropping slightly to a more seductive tone, "if you'd prefer someone with actual experience in running an organization, I'm recently widowed and more than capable of managing both operations."
Oh my God, it's worse than I thought. Vera is baiting him… wanting him to sidle up to her in an attempt to gain more power and money, and to what end? Does she think Roman will lavish her in expensive things? Is that the point? I can't fathom why she thinks he'd want to marry her. She doesn't even control my father's family. I do—or I will… when I turn twenty-five, if I'm married. God, she really is sick.
"What about your stepdaughter?" Roman asks, and everything in me goes still. I know he doesn't realize I'm listening, but that's the first smart thing he’s said all day. Still, I wouldn't marry him if he were the last man on Earth.
Vera waves her hand in a dismissive gesture that I've seen a thousand times before. "Mila has absolutely no place in this discussion. She has no legitimate claim to the organization and nothing of value to offer anyone. The real power in the Radin family has always belonged to me and my daughters because it's what Anton wanted. Mila's simply a liability that Anton left behind, nothing more than that."
I've always known this is how she feels, but hearing her say that aloud in front of him is painful. She's never so brazenly dismissed my right to my own inheritance. I know Papa didn't think that way about me or them. He didn’t leave anything to her, just a temporary stipend and provisional authority until my twenty-fifth birthday that, after which, if I'm married, goes away.
"I'm not interested in marrying you," Roman says plainly, and I have to stifle my snicker. I can't believe he shut her down like that so quickly. What did she think he'd say? She's older than him, and clearly off her rocker. Her husband just died. He's not going to marry a widow.
On the outside, Vera's smile doesn’t change, but I see the way her throat works around a knot and know he's offended her. "Then one of my daughters. They're both eager to spend time with you, and I can arrange something more informal where you could get to know them in a more relaxed setting. A dinner, perhaps, or drinks. Whatever you prefer."
"I'm not interested in that either." Now I do snicker under my breath, and while Vera doesn't seem to notice, I watch Roman's eyes turn in my direction and I clam up fast. God, that man has the hearing of a hawk.
"Roman…" Vera leans forward, purring, and her voice takes on a different quality now. It's saccharine sweet and somewhat manipulative. "Think about what this would actually mean for your organization. You're already strong, everyone in this city knows that, but imagine how much stronger you could be with the Radin network supporting you. You'd have access to weapons suppliers in three different countries, to shipping routes that are already established and profitable, to political connections that we've spent years carefully cultivating. All of it would become yours through one simple marriage contract."
I watch his wheels turning, but I'm a good read. Right now, he's not really interested. Though, if she keeps pushing, he may change his mind. But it feels strangely satisfying that he's as disgusted by the idea of marrying her as I was just listening to it.
"I'm not asking you to fall in love with one of my daughters. I'm asking you to make a smart business decision. My girls are young and they'll give you heirs to continue your line."
Roman's phone starts ringing, and he pulls it out of his pocket and looks at the screen and then stands up from the table.
"Excuse me," he says to Vera. "I need to take this call. I do apologize…"
Then he walks toward the door where I'm standing so quickly, I barely get a chance to move. He catches me the moment he steps into the hallway and his expression darkens instantly as he presses the phone to his chest and glares at me.
"Were you listening to that conversation?" he growls as I stand there shaking.
There's no point in lying to him, so I mumble, "Yes," and I duck my head in shame. I feel stupid and embarrassed, but I don't regret it.
"Go to my study right now and wait for me there."
Roman walks off, and I stand there in the empty hallway shaking with anger, and I listen to Vera's voice still coming from inside the dining room, talking to someone on her phone now. He was so pissed, and all I did was listen to the lies and seduction that wicked woman spewed at him. It's not fair that now I'll be punished and she's really the bad guy, not me.
When Vera starts laughing, I stalk off, moving toward Roman's office to wait for him like he asked, but if he thinks for a second that I'm going to sit back and let him treat me poorly after the toxic sludge she tried reeling him in with, he's wrong.
I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind and he's going to hear first-hand how Vera Koval really treats people. He may not deserve the warning, but I'm not gonna sit here in his home being bound to him by some stupid debt he thinks I owe while he lets her move in and take over. For what? To become her slave all over again and this time, without a buffer?
No, thank you.
8
ROMAN
