Chapter 3
Alicia sat at a long, dark table with Abby.We should come up with a team name. The As? Allies? Ugh, I’m dumb.Across from them sat two of the scariest-looking Russians to step out of a 1980s Cold War movie.
Maksim Nabokov was joined by his business partner’s daughter, a young blond woman named Anna Petrova. The only niceties the group exchanged were Anna explaining that her father, the original Petrov, was currently ill with pneumonia and that she would be filling in for him. Beyond that, this so-called luncheon was nothing but death glares and sneers. No wonder. They had been expecting Danica Moreau, not her new wife, whom no one had ever heard of before. They also were not impressed with the day’s topic.
Alicia couldn’t blame them.
“What makes you think we sell?” Anna Petrova asked with a thick accent. It wasn’t that Alicia couldn’t understand the woman.I simply feel like I’m being attacked every time she speaks to me.Probably because shewasbeing attacked. TheMoreaus had dropped a wallop of a bomb. “Who are you to ask us to sell?”
“First of all,” Alicia said for the hundredth time since the meeting began fifteen minutes ago, “I am Alicia Moreau. I don’t know who you were told you would be meeting today, but…”
“We were told that we would be meeting Danica!” Anna gestured to her father’s business partner. Maksim grunted in agreement. The man didn’t say much, but he was as good at expressing his disapproval as Anna was. “Mother, daughter, doesn’t matter. Where is she?”
“Yes, and you are meeting a Moreau. My wife, Danica, is currently in another meeting, and my father-in-law, Russell Moreau, is in… well, he’s indisposed.” Not that Alicia wanted to think about him, but last she heard, Russell had flown to DC for some political meeting.The farther he stays away from me, the better.One thing thinking about him did, though, was reorient Alicia so she could focus on the plan at hand. “I attend this meeting on behalf of my family.”
“No offense, but we don’t know who you are.”
Dee shifted her weight by the door. The assistant folded her hands on her notebook and attempted not to shake her head in disbelief.First day for both of us.Alicia had to get control of this pony before it ran for the fields. “I am Alicia Moreau. I am married to Danica Moreau. I am as qualified to hold this meeting as she is.” If she said that enough times, she might believe it.
“We—”
“Besides.” Alicia sat up as straight as she could, both her wedding and emerald ring sparkling on her hand. Anna looked right at them. The color of jealousy claimed her angular face.Aha. Pneumonia, my ass.Anna had probably begged her father to come to this meeting in the hopes of meeting Danica Moreau, one of the most eligible bachelorettes… until a few days ago.“This is about helping you as much as it is about helping us. I’ve taken a close look at your publicly disclosed financial records.”
“So what!” Anna crowed. “We’re doing fine! We don’t need to sell!”
“I’ve also taken a close look at the undisclosed records.”
The other side of the table was eerily silent. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch or hit a button on a remote, Anna spun toward Maksim and rattled off in angry, frustrated Russian. While Alicia didn’t know a lick of Russian outside ofdo svidanya, she had a feeling someone was getting their ass handed to them. That someone was Maksim Nabokov, the man who could be paid enough to share some of his company’s financials with close confidants. Turned out that Russell Moreau was a close confidant. It had been risky for Danica to approach the man, seemingly on behalf of Russell, but it had been effective. All Alicia had to do was come and collect.
“We are floundering!” Maksim cried in English. “We can buy it back later! Sell it!”
With a huff, Anna slapped her hand on the table in front of Alicia and said, “Get your fucking wife here so we can do this, then. I want to be back in St. Petersburg before my next period. That’s tomorrow, by the way.”
It’s like that, huh?Alicia could play the bitchy Russian PMS game, too. She slapped on a fake smile and asked her assistant for the fountain pen. “There is no need to bring my wife here. You’ll be selling your shares to me.”
“To you.”
“Yes. To. Me.”
Abby pushed a piece of paper and the pen across the table. Both Anna Petrova and Maksim Nabokov stared at it before exchanging wary looks.
“What’s going on here?” Maksim asked. His accent wasn’t as thick as Anna’s, but he was still capable of inserting bites to hiswords. “You’re not the only person I know who has been asked to sell their shares.”
“Cleaning house a bit. Don’t worry. In the meantime, your business will have some much-needed cash on hand. I’m prepared to cut the check right now.”
“Sign the damn contract, Anna.”
“Pa is not going to like this.”
“Your pa is the reason we’re in this mess!”
Anna snatched the fountain pen and signed her name on the dotted line. Whatever she muttered was probably not nice.
Both representatives signed the contract. Alicia, in turn, signed a check and handed it to Maksim. The older gentleman whistled to see the millions of dollars Alicia dumped from her new bank account.Five million dollars poorer. Already, it didn’t feel like much.
“This can’t be legal,” Anna muttered.
As it happened, Alicia had been wondering about that for a while now. However, she would believe her wife when Danica assured her it would be fine. Sometimes, she wondered about that woman’s bluster.Then she charms me back into believing every word she says.
