Page 43 of Sexting His Assistant

A pause.

Small, but present.

“I advised Mr. Antonov to explore all options.”

“That was not my question.”

His jaw works once. “Yes.”

I look back at Kirill. “There’s your first mistake.”

Kirill turns his head slightly, confused.

I close the folder without opening it and slide it back across the desk. “The answer is no. You will not touch my routes. You will not use my name in negotiations. You will not tell Karpov or anyone else that you were ever close to a deal with me.”

Kirill’s hand closes over the folder. “And if I cannot pay?”

“Then run.”

His face drains.

I stand, and the conversation ends because I decide it has. “Pavel,” I say.

Pavel straightens by the door. “Yes, sir.”

“Escort Mr. Antonov and his adviser out. Make sure no copies of that proposal remain in the building.”

“Yes, sir.”

Oleg looks at me for one beat too long.

There’s no open challenge in it. He is not that foolish.

But there is calculation. And I file it away.

Kirill rises slowly. At the door, he turns back as if there is one last word that might save him.

There’s not.

He leaves without saying it.

When they are gone, I remain standing by my desk, looking at the closed door.

My phone lights again. Nina.

This time she calls.

I watch her name pulse on the screen until it stops. Then I turn away from it.

For the rest of the day, I avoid her.

I send instructions through Meredith. I have files brought by Pavel. I take one meeting on the twenty-eighth floor instead of my office. When Nina sends a message asking whether the investor pack requires the revised schedule, I answer only: Yes.

When she asks whether I approved the car for the airport transfer, I answer: Handle it.

When she asks whether I still want the diary updated for Alina, I don’t answer at all.

Cowardice, if named by someone foolish.