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I laugh bitterly. “So you can fuck it’s head up, make a mini version of you?”
“So I can make my life complete. Having a family is something I’ve wanted for such a long time.”
“You told me you wanted a kid to take over your business. That’s never going to happen with my child.”
“Ourchild.”
“Mychild,” I snap, possessiveness taking hold. “You will never get a chance to mess it up so badly.”
“My father was a terrible man too,” he says quietly. “He would beat me until my skin blistered and bled.” I hear her gasp. “He wanted me to be as cold as him.”
“It worked.”
“I don’t want to be like him, Grace. Help me to be better.”
I go inside and grab Lara’s diary from my bedside and take it back outside. I open it and take a bite of my pasta before reading. “Dear Diary . . .”
“Can’t we have one night of peace?” asks Ivan patiently.
“If you don’t want to listen, hang up,” I retort, continuing. “I have the money and my bags are packed. I went out to dinner with Ivan this evening. It ended in tears. Again. His jealousy is ridiculous seeing as he’s the one cheating on me. When we got home, we fought so hard that he ripped my dress from me. He insisted I sleep in our bedroom, but there was no way I was going to, not after what happened to me in there. And knowing he’s got someone else. Of course, I couldn’t tell him any of that—”
“She taunted me,” says Ivan, and I fall silent. “She told me she wasn’t in love with me anymore and that she’d fucked most of my men. I thought she was trying to make me jealous. I wish I’d have killed them all. Maybe then she’d have told me the truth instead of me hearing like this, like she’s speaking from beyond the damn grave.”
I wait for him to finish before continuing. “Because he’d say I was lying, just like he always does. Yet he’s the liar. Not me. I tested the waters, told him I’d fucked half his men. He smashed things, yelled, called me a lying whore. Then he left. Tomorrow, he’ll tell me he’s sorry. He’ll buy me flowers and promise me a weekend away, just the two of us. Only it never is because Maxim somehow always appears. But I’ll take full advantage. I’ll take his guilt money and tell him I’m shopping, then I’ll leave. For good.”
“She did leave,” he says. “For good.”
“But not in the way she’d planned. Do you think Maxim discovered her plan?”
“Maybe. It would explain a lot.”
“Or maybe he always wanted her out the way. Maybe he needed to get rid of her to make you weaker?”
He gives an empty laugh. “It worked. I took my eye off the ball.”
“You became so obsessed trying to find her killer, yet he was right under your nose.”
“I have to live with that forever,” he replies.
“Good.”
“Do you think you’ll ever forgive me, Grace?”
I disconnect. It’s easier than telling him the truth.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IVAN
I refuse to leave Paris to meet with my associates and instead invite them here to settle their unease. Andrei sits to my right as my associates file into the boardroom I hired at the hotel. Most of them know Andrei Lebedev because of his dealings in the trafficking trade. But most won’t trust him if they’ve never had dealings with him, and I’m not sure if my word will be enough to console them.
I wait for everyone to settle before sitting forward and placing my clasped hands on the table, a sign I’m relaxed. “Thank you all for coming. Most of you know Andrei already, so I’ll skip the introductions.”
“Get to the part where you tell us you’re pulling out of the deals we’ve made,” snaps Vadim.
I fix him with an annoyed glare before continuing. “First of all, let me say that nothing will change. Everything will run exactly as it has for the last ten years.”
“But?” Otto pipes up.
