She looks at my hand for a moment before she reaches out and takes it. Her grip is warm, and she wraps both hands around mine instead of just shaking. The gesture is intimate, almostcomforting. Her fingers are soft and her thumbs press against my knuckles firmly. It's an embrace of friends, not the kind you share as you meet someone for the first time. And here she is offering it to me.
"I'm sure we'll make a few excellent deals," she says. "I know I'm looking forward to seeing more fresh talent." The way she looks at me, so intently, like she's trying to hold my gaze—it's interesting, but I'm not easily fooled.
Her left thumb slides across my signet ring. The pressure is light, almost gentle, but I feel the band shift on my finger. And the entire time, she smiles at me like a movie star, all teeth and charm. But I feel what she's doing, twisting that ring while she squeezes my hand to offset the pressure. And I'm almost mesmerized by it, almost fooled.
She releases my hand and stands in one fluid motion. The ring is gone from my finger and clutched in her palm, and I lunge forward and grab for her wrist, but she twists away. My fingers close on empty air.
Mila bolts from her seat and runs straight for the edge of the platform.
"Stop her," I tell Yegor, but she doesn't climb down the scaffolding. She jumps.
Her body drops to the concrete below, and she lands in a crouch at the edge of the crowd where her shoes skitter away. Then she's running.
The crowd parts around her like water and she disappears into the mass of bodies before my men can even process what happened. I stand and grip the railing, watching it unfold with a disbelieving grin on my face. That little minx lifted my ring.It's worthless, something I vowed to my father when I took over this position that I'd wear. It's more of a token or a symbol than anything of value, and what the fuck could she even want with it?
But no one steals from me and lives to tell about it.
Yegor's beside me shouting orders to the guards at the exits. But she's gone. I stand there watching the space she landed knowing whatever she did, she didn’t do it alone. No woman of her youth and now obvious inexperience would come after someone like me. Fuck, she has some balls.
She stole from me. In my own house, in front of my men, she took my ring right off my finger. The audacity of it burns hotter than the shock of it. She had to know I'd come after her and yet if she's being honest, she told me her fucking name. How stupid.
I turn to Yegor and tug my jacket into place. "Get the car."
"The fights aren't finished, Boss?—"
"Let them finish without me." I make my way to the stairs and down the scaffolding. "I want you ready to move in ten."
"Where are we going?"
"The Radin estate." I push through the crowd toward the exit, and my men fall into step behind me. "Someone needs to learn what happens when you steal from me."
3
MILA
The exit spits me out onto a side street and my heels are already moving before the door finishes swinging shut behind me. The pavement is uneven and my foot catches once on the edge of a curb, but I don't slow down until I see the car and Anatoly straightening up from where he's been leaning against the driver's door with his phone out. He perks up, squinting at me from where he stands by the car looking confused.
"We need to go," I hiss, pulling the back door open myself. "Right now, please."
He reads my face and jogs around to his side, and the engine's turning over before I've even gotten the door closed behind me. We pull into traffic, and I twist in my seat to scan the street behind us through the rear window, watching for headlights, but no one follows. The warehouse entrance disappears behind a block of buildings, and I face forward again and let myself sink into the seat as I try to catch my breath.
My hand is shaking when I open it in my lap.
The ring catches what little light comes through the windows as the city moves past. I fucking did it. I can't believe it at all. Roman Kuzin may be the most powerful man in this city, but he's not smart enough to understand what an easy mark he was. And now the ring that belonged to my father is in my hand and I am on my way back home to show that bitch I am worth something.
The grin on my face may not be visible in the dark, but I feel it, and the giddiness that comes with success.
Anatoly glances at me in the mirror. "Everything alright, Miss Radin?"
"Fine," I say. "Thank you, Anatoly."
I close my fingers around the ring and look out the window and let myself feel it for just a moment, the wild, impossible fact of what I've just done. I don't know if Papa would be proud of me, but I know I've proven myself. His men who sit at Vera's table taking her orders will be proud. I know it, and I know it's my time to shine. No more being pushed back from the table because I'm "just a child" or "too fragile" to handle what the life demands. I know who I am, and I know I can and will lead this family the way Papa wanted.
By the time the estate gates open for us, I've stopped shaking from adrenaline, though that expression on Roman's face wasn't pleasant, and I'm sure Vera will be hearing from him. But Anatoly pulls up the drive and I'm out of the car almost before it stops, crossing to the front door with the ring pressed into my palm.. The house is warm inside and I can hear the television somewhere toward the back and Vera's voice coming from behind the sitting room doors. She's talking to someone on thephone, and I should probably wait but I'm done being overly polite.
I push the doors open and waltz right over to her seated in my father's armchair like she doesn't even miss him.
She looks up and holds up one finger without pausing her conversation, like she can't be bothered to notice how important this moment is. She knows where I've been and what she asked of me, but she acts like I'm just an annoyance, like normal. I stand in the center of the room and wait. My chest is still tight from running, and I feel the dampness of sweat on my back and at my temples as she narrows her eyes at me and finishes her call. Then she looks up at me with a dirty scowl.
