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Adamovich’s man was expecting Zenya, but as he approaches us, he gazes between us in confusion for a moment and then talks to me, announcing that Adamovich is waiting for me.
“You mean he’s waiting for my niece,” I tell him, and I say it loud enough that my voice carries around the room. Glances are exchanged and a few eyebrows raise.
Zenya Belyaev is old enough to wed, and she’s old enough to lead in her father’s absence too.
I wait for Zenya to go first, sending the message to everyone watching—and everyone is watching—that I’m here with Zenya and not the other way around.
Zenya might have faltered in the privacy of the Silo, but here her expression is a cool, relaxed mask, and her head is high as she leads the way upstairs to Adamovich’s office.
Before I follow her, I turn around and cast a hard glare around the room. Which one of you absolute cunts tried to hurt my niece last night? When I find out, he’ll wish he left his intestines on the warehouse floor along with the goons he hired.
In Adamovich’s office, I stand by Zenya’s chair and face his desk. Adamovich is a short, sturdy man in his sixties with dyed black hair slicked to one side. He stares from me to my niece, wearing an expression of confusion.
“The merchandise you requested is available. We weren’t about to source the exact models you requested, but I’m able to provide alternatives.” Zenya talks him through the technical details of the radar jammers and detectors and explains why they’re actually better than the ones Adamovich was hoping for.
When she’s finished, he turns to me. “I’m disappointed that you weren’t able to fill my request down to the letter, Kristian.”
I haven’t said a word since I stepped in the room. I glance at Zenya and see irritation flash through her eyes.
She smiles sweetly at him. “As I explained, the radars and scanners we obtained are newer and better than the ones you requested, but I hope we’re able to come to a deal that makes up for your disappointment.”
Then she names a price for the merchandise that’s higher than the price she told me last night when she thought I was a stranger who could be bribed to let her live, and I have to hide a smirk.
Adamovich clicks his tongue and shakes his head. To me, he says, “I’ll pay four hundred and fifty thousand.”
I stare at the man without saying anything, and so does Zenya. Finally, when the silence becomes uncomfortable, I ask, “Why are you disrespecting my niece like this?”
The man gapes at me. “What? I presumed—”
“Zenya Belyaev is the one you’re meeting with,” I growl. “Do her the courtesy of addressing her.”
He glowers from her to me. “I would prefer to conduct my business with someone more experienced.”
Zenya gets to her feet. “Then I’ll stop wasting your time.”
Good girl. End this meeting and show Adamovich who’s in change. I turn away and open the door for her, but just as we’re about to leave, Adamovich calls out to us.
“Wait. Please, Zenya.” He gestures to her chair. “You may sit down.”
She stays where she is and examines her tapered nails. They’re painted a glossy blood red that’s so dark it’s almost black. “May I? But the price just went up ten percent.” She flicks a dark look at him. “My price. Not yours.”
Adamovich’s face flushes angrily. “That’s the kind of petty behavior I expect from a teenage girl.”
“You disrespectful goddamn—” My temper flares and I step toward him, but Zenya stops me with a hand on my chest.
“It’s all right, Uncle Kristian,” she murmurs, and the chilly expression in her eyes tells me she’s got this.
Zenya slowly blinks her lashes at Adamovich. “Would you call it petty that you took advantage of my father’s illness two years ago to pay us a far lower price for a shipment than what was previously agreed? He was too sick and foggy in his mind to argue with you, but I know for a fact that you deceived him. I’d call that petty. In fact, I’d call that downright despicable.”
Adamovich gapes at her. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing? How would you even know the first thing about my deals with your father?”
Zenya gives him a cold smile. “This petty little girl has been managing her family’s stock movements and financial records since she was fifteen years old. My father tells me everything about his deals, and I realized back then how you tricked a sick man. We don’t have e-mail records and order forms in this line of work. We only have our word and our honor. I wasn’t at those meetings, but I’m here before you now, and I’ll be at every meeting in the future. If you want to make deals with the Belyaev family, you’re going to have to make me happy to work with you.”
Adamovich blusters for a few minutes about how he never deceived anyone, and if there was any mistake it was an honest one.
“Of course it was. We’ll forget all about the past as long as you agree to my terms today,” Zenya tells him.
Her hand is still on my chest and she’s playing with one of the buttons on my shirt. I gaze down at her with a smile.
