“You had no right to fire her.”
Sasha flicks his gaze onto me. “I have every right. She works for me.Workedfor me. How long do you plan on litigating this subject?”
“She’s my friend, and you humiliated her.”
“So is this a matter of business? Or is it personal?”
“Both.”
He snorts. “You were almost killed because of Morozov’s bullshit.” His eyes flash, and I can sense he’s just said a little more than he intended.
“What does that mean?” He hesitates. “Don’t even think of being evasive,” I say. “I want to know what you mean.”
“Let’s just say there’s a lot you don’t know about the Morozovs.”
“Don’t give me any of this cryptic BS. Be straight with me.”
“Peter Morovoz, Johan’s father. The success of this merger relies entirely on keeping him out of the loop until it’s done. He’s no normal businessman.”
“No normal businessman.” I don’t need an explanation to know what that means. “And we’re trying to merge with a family headed by a guy who pulls assassinations to get what he wants.”
“It’s the only way to end it.”
“The only way to end what?”
He opens his mouth to answer, but the door opens and anurse steps in. The moment shifts to small talk and questions and polite smiles. When she’s gone, I grip the sheet.
“You can’t act out like this because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared,” he says simply. “And I’m not acting out. You don’t understand what needs to be done to survive in the world you’re now in.”
“Of course you’re scared,” I reply with a sharp laugh. “You’re scared of losing control. Of losing your empire. Of losing me and this child.”
He blinks, saying not a word; I’ve opened a tiny crack in his armor.
“You don’t understand the weight of keeping people alive. Not in the slightest.”
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t talk to me like I’m some idiot kid. I’m the one who almost got shot, remember? And I knowexactlythe weight of keeping someone alive. I’m pregnant!” I take a shaky breath. “This merger. It’s not just business, is it? If it falls apart, then Peter will want revenge.”
He nods once.
“Then let me fix it,” I say. “Let me talk to Johan.”
“Not a chance.”
“Sasha—”
“I’ll handle it,” he says. “Johan isn’t a fool. He knows what’s at stake. He knows what he stands to gain from this merger. And he knows he made a mistake doing what he did with your friend, and that I was in the right.”
He sounds confident, but I don’t know. What he did to Johan was an insult, something beyond just business. Will the deal be able to come back from this? Did Sasha screw things up for good in the space of a few moments?
“And you know what else sucks?” I ask. “I don’t even know how Angie’s doing. She’s probably terrified and scared and wondering what the hell’s going to happen to her.”
Sasha doesn’t seem moved. “She’s safer with him tonight.”
I narrow my eyes. “If anything happens to her?—”
“It won’t.” His gaze meets mine. I hate that it has the disarming effect on me that it always does.
