“Not yet. Is it a shock for me to admit I missed you?”
Kira brightened and reached for his hand, holding it in her lap. “I missed you, too, Papa. I’ve been keeping busy. I picked up gardening. Come, I want to show you everything I’ve done.”
He wiggled his fingers from her and tapped the back of her hand. “In a moment. Let us men speak of business.”
The dismissal once again drained her of her light. Maxim clenched his teeth and dug his nails into the edge of the desk he was holding onto. He had never spent time with Yakov around his daughter, and now he wished he had never done so again.
Kira stood. “I’ll leave you.”
Maxim nearly reached for her arm to stop her from going. But it was too late. He was alone with not only his father-in-law, but the most powerful man he’s ever known. “Drink?” Maxim dartedto the liquor cabinet and quickly poured them both a shot of bourbon.
“I’ll keep this to the point,” Yakov began. “Your brother has not made any improvement in my situation. I’ve given him enough time.”
Maxim didn’t want to appear unknowledgeable about what Yakov was talking about. It didn’t matter, however. He was loyal to his brother, so defending him came naturally. “Lazar is gifted in his endeavors. He simply needs more time.”
“Time is expensive. If you learn one thing from joining this family, the Morozov name is the priority. Any loyalty you have to your kin never comes before your loyalty to me.”
“And your daughter.” Maxim handed Yakov a drink.
Yakov put on a faux smile and saluted. “That goes without saying.” After his drink, he added. “If he does not do what he promised when he begged you to marry my daughter, you will kill him.”
“Begged?” Maxim licked his lips to keep his anger from showing. “Before or after your threats?”
Yakov chuckled. “Do you honestly think I would ever need to threaten anyone to marry into this family?”
Maxim was silent for a moment as rapid thoughts raced in his head.Did it mean Lazar lied to me? He forced me to marry Kira for his own gain?
As horrible as it sounded, it was something Lazar would do.
“Why did Kira marry me?”
Yakov shrugged, drowning the rest of his liquor. “What do I care? She chose you for her own reasons. I agreed to the marriage simply because of what Lazar offered me. And the offers were many. I could have gotten a foreign diplomat instead of you. But Kira saw something in you.” Yakov glanced around the room and added vaguely, “I have yet to see it.”
Maxim clenched his teeth. All this time, he thought Kira married him because Yakov forced her, and here she had been telling the truth. She liked him. Perhaps even loved him, and he had destroyed it.
“I see you have plenty of cameras,” Yakova waved around the room. “But your security is lacking. I planted a spy in your ranks weeks ago, and you have yet to notice.”
Maxim’s attention shifted, and he almost felt like he was on a roller coaster. “Who?”
Yakov cackled, smirking, “And why would I tell you?”
“You have Kira. What is the purpose of a spy?”
“I learned early not to trust my own daughters with their husbands’ activities. Either pride or love stands in their way. Which brings me to the question: why do you not share a room? How will you produce an heir?”
Maxim shifted uneasily. “Did you not just assume she was pregnant?”
Yakov was silent, but Maxim wasn’t going to let it go.
“You insulted her weight on purpose. Why?” Maxim scanned the ground as if the answers were spread out before him, but there was only one that fit. He knew he should keep quiet. He knew he shouldn’t speak. But Kira’s look before remained in his mind, and there was no blocking his following words. “I never expected you to be a hypocrite.”
Yakov smirked. “How so?”
“Her life matters, but not her happiness.”
A soft chuckle was his response, and Maxim clenched his teeth, tightening his hold on his glass till he thought it would break. Why did this man believe that everything was humorous?
“I do not do this job to make herhappy,” he spat the word in distaste. “I do it to keep her alive. Which you will find is harder than you think.”
