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Motherfucker.
It’s not like an illicit street drug can be patented. I’ll have no way of stopping this if he decides to roll out his own brand.
“Let me guess?” I say, pretending to be bored. “Venera 2.0.”
He laughs, clearly high on his premature victory. “It’s called Sopernik.”
Sopernik.It means “rival” in Russian. A little on the nose, but then again, I’d expect nothing less from Adrik. The fucker is grinning from ear to ear. It would be so damn easy to shatter that smile with a bullet. Then I’d have Melissa come in and clean the mess. That should make for a speedy resignation letter.
Two birds. One stone.
“It’s a mild aphrodisiac that lowers your inhibitions. I’ve tried it myself and it’s fucking brilliant. Makes you feel floaty and horny all at the same time. It’s sure to be a hit.”
“What do you mean, ‘you’ve already tried it’? You’ve already got samples up?”
He licks his lips. “It would have taken years of development, but I was fortunate enough to stumble across this genius team who had experience developing party drugs. So I paid them handsomely and put them to work in my personal labs.” Adrik’s smile is starting to look unbalanced. “Ironic, isn’t it? Just when you lose your chemist, I find a whole team of them!”
“‘Ironic’ is not the word I would use.”
“Oh, come now, my friend. You can be happy for me. It’s not every day you stumble across a windfall like this.”
Unless, of course, you’ve worked to steal someone else’s.
“Word of advice,friend,” I growl, leaning over my desk to fix him with a furious stare. “Watch your back. Success breeds envy and envy breeds action. You should know that better than anyone.”
He blinks at me innocently. “Such wise words. I’ll be glad to share some of my wisdom with you once I’ve launched Sopernik successfully.” He gets to his feet and throws me a casual wink. “And say hello to Emma for me, will you? Tell her I think about our dance often.”
He walks out while I imagine the day I can finally do away with the pretense…
And slaughter themudakonce and for all.
17
EMMA
“A trampoline!” Reagan squeals.
She takes off at a run and Josh and Caroline zoom off behind her. I throw Kirill a side glance. “Who says money can’t buy love, huh?”
Kirill chuckles. “That’s not what he’s doing.”
“Oh, no? Yesterday, it was a bounce castle on the lawn. This morning, it was a zipline through the trees. Now, this? If he’s not trying to buy their love, then he’s trying to overcompensate.”
“For what?”
“For not being around.”
“They’re not his kids. He doesn’thaveto be around.”
Kirill is right. But it still pisses me off. I skewer him with a glare, then turn and start stomping back towards the house.
I hear his footsteps come up behind me. “Whoa, Emma. Hold up. I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I meant it.”
I clench my teeth, but I let him draw me to a stop. “It’s accurate, though. He isn’t their father. They shouldn’t be caught in the middle of all this misery.”
Kirill exhales and looks over at the kids. They’re all trying to do back flips on the huge trampoline and laughing hysterically, even Josh. “Yeah, they look utterly miserable.”
“Whatever. You’re his man. Of course you’re gonna see his side and only his side.”
