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“Why didn’t you do that with your own father when you had the chance?” Valeriya asked.
“I considered it,” he said. “More times than I can count. But my father deserves something more… leisurely.”
Especially now, after what he did to Ruby.
“What’s in it for you?” Valeriya asked.
“Money,” he said. “Lack of it for my father and an influx of capital for my cause.”
With Vladimir Orlov out of the picture, Roman’s father would lose his primary investor. No more bonuses for the men. In fact, his father might have trouble paying them at all if Roman continued to chip away at his father’s holdings.
Roman, on the other hand, would have plenty of cash to continue battering his father’s financial infrastructure and rewarding the men who came to his side.
All thanks to Valeriya Orlov.
“I withdraw the funding from your father and give it you instead,” Valeriya said.
“And then you can be on your merry way,” Roman said. “A free — and very wealthy — woman.”
She studied him. The light in her eyes had returned, the weariness gone. She looked like the Valeriya he’d met at her father’s apartment in Tribeca, the cool, assured Valeriya who’d found him at Basil’s to try and win him over to their arranged marriage.
“I’ve always felt you underestimated our power as a team,” she said. “We could surprise them all. Marry anyway. Combine our… assets.”
He had a flash of memory: Ruby asleep on the sofa in her tiny apartment, her body warm when he lifted her into his arms, her soft curves molded against his body after he’d fucked her.
“I’m afraid that’s not in the cards,” he said. “But you’re a magnificent woman. I have a feeling you’ll have no trouble finding a cadre of men more than willing to take my place.”
She smiled. “And I have a feeling that won’t be easy for any of them to do.”
“Do we have a deal?” he asked.
“I’ll consider it,” she said, reaching for the door.
“It goes without saying this has to stay between us,” Roman said. “Poison can flow all ways.”
He didn’t like threatening her, not now when they seemed to be on the same team, as if they were step-siblings plotting the breakup of their newly married parents.
But he had to make it clear. He couldn’t afford to clue his father in to his next move, couldn’t afford for Vladimir Orlov to mobilize his significant assets against Roman.
He had his hands full with one war. He couldn’t fight two. Not right now.
She smirked. “I’m not foolish enough to make an enemy of you, Roman Kalashnik.”
“Nor I, you.”
“I’ll be in touch,” she said, stepping out of the car.
He watched her make her way across the sidewalk to the spa.
“Can we trust her?” Max asked from the front.
“As much as we can trust anyone.”
It wasn’t saying much.
Roman watched Valeriya open the red door and disappear inside.
15
