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He waves a hand like he’s shooing away a gnat. “Benjamin is staying here. File whatever reports you want. My lawyers will deal with them.”
I stand up, shoving my chair back. “Then why am I here? If your lawyers can handle this, why did you show up at my job last night? There was no point in bringing me here.”
“Everything I do has a point,” he says icily. His eyes are just as frosty. “You’re here because I can save myself the trouble of talking to lawyers and solve both of our problems at the same time.”
“Let me guess,” I sneer. “Money?”
“You say that like you aren’t in desperate need of some.”
“I’d never be desperate enough to accept help from you.”
“You may think you’re above being bought, but that’s only because you’ve never had the opportunity. But suddenly, your state college education and experience with children has some actual value. Rather than turn your nose up at it, I suggest you listen carefully.”
Timofey leans forward, and even though he’s still a foot away, I swear I can feel the brush of his lips on my skin. A chill races down my spine.
“You make too few pennies working too many hours. Then you come home to a tiny, overpriced apartment and stare at the ceiling while you wonder how you’re going to keep making ends meet.”
“Are you done, or are you just going to keep insulting me?”
“If you find the facts of your life insulting, that is your problem, not mine,” he says. “I’m making you a generous offer. I don’t need a woman in my life, but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be benefits to having one around. I’m offering you the opportunity to live here and take on that role.”
“You’re offering mewhatrole?” I drop my voice like I’ll be less mortified if I say it in a whisper. “I’m not going to be a live-in call girl. If you want sex, you can get it somewhere else.”
Finally, at long last, Timofey’s mouth twists into a smirk. It’s barely there, just a ghost of a smile, but it’s there. Of course it only happens when he’s laughing at me.
“You’d be a live-in nanny. To Benjamin,” he adds slowly. “The option of a promotion is never off the table, though. Work hard and who knows where it will take you.”
I glare at him. “Fuck you.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in that?”
I ball my fists at my side. “I will never work for you.”
“I doubt your pride is worth drowning in never-ending debt. You’re in a storm and I’m offering you a life preserver, Piper. Take it.”
On some level, Timofey was right: no one has ever offered to erase my debt. No one has ever dangled a life-changing amount of money in front of me. I’ve never had to decide how much my morality is worth.
But this isn’t a generous offer I’m turning down. At best, it’s a bribe to let this man raise a child he is obviously not fit to be within a hundred miles of. At worst, it’s an outright threat.Do as I say or be punished.
I lived that way for long enough, doing whatever was necessary to avoid pain.
I won’t do it anymore.
“Thanks for your offer, but I refuse.” I snatch his case file off the desk and hug it to my thundering chest. “I’m going to submit my report, and it’s going to be the honest version. Whatever happens after that isn’t up to me.”
I turn and march for the door. Just before I step into the hallway, Timofey’s deep voice follows me.
“We all have more control over our destiny than we think,” he says. “You’re making a mistake. Think about that when you’re home alone tonight.”
6
TIMOFEY
Akim darkens my doorstep thirty seconds after Piper leaves. He has a way of knowing exactly when I least want to see him.
“Not now.”
He ignores me and strolls in. “Good thing I waited. I would’ve hated to walk in and interrupt you with that fine piece of ass.” He whistles long and low. “You really are a lucky man.”
