“Roman, I want to emphasize that this is temporary. Not a single investor has pulled out yet. If you can calm their fears, you might come out of this looking even better than before.”
“You’ll get your documentation. And you’ll move quickly once you have it.”
He swallows audibly over the phone. “Indeed, Mr. Barinov. I’ll be in touch later today.”
The call ends.
I step over to the fire, watching the flames, my hands folded behind my back. Andrei watches me without saying a word. Nodoubt he knows what I’m thinking. He can see the violence I’m refusing to unleash. In a different time, heads would roll as I got to the bottom of whoever did this.
But now, I must approach this situation like a businessman.
“They wanted a pause, and they got it.”
“Yes,” Andrei replies.
I take one slow, deep breath. Then another. It doesn’t help.
The IPO was an exit. A clean future built for my son. But all it took was one anonymous phone call to place all of that in jeopardy.
This reeks of Garin. But there is another angle, and it’s one I don’t want to consider.
Amalie and her brother.
She’d sworn up and down that she had nothing to do with her brother’s work. But what if she’s simply a good liar? After all, it would take more than an anonymous phone call to bring CPS to my estate. They would need some sort of probable cause, substantiating details.
And that sort of information could only come from someone intimately aware of my business.
I hear movement near the doorway. I turn. As if she somehow knew I was thinking about her, Amalie appears, coat in hand. Her expression is one of determination, but it’s also taking everything she has to keep it in place.
“I’m leaving,” she firmly states.
The words hit like a punch to the gut.
My mouth goes dry. “No.”
She takes in a quick but deep breath. “Yes.”
Andrei shifts a bit, like he’s preparing himself to move if I give an order. I don’t.
Amalie keeps her eyes on me. She’s not pleading, not asking permission. She’s informing me.
“I can’t stay here after what happened yesterday.”
“I just—” I start, but she holds up her hand to stop me.
“Roman, I need to talk to my brother. I need to find out if he had anything to do with what happened.”
Another layer of tension forms in the air of the study.
“And what if he did?” I ask, my voice low.
She winces, as if pained. “Then I need to fix it.”
“Sasha will be crushed when he finds out you’ve left.”
Those words put the first crack in the shield she’s put up. I hate to play such a card, but it’s true—Sasha will be broken.
“I have to go. It’s for the best—for him.”
