Meaning to reassure her, I place a hand on the small of her back. “Everything will be fine.”
She turns her face my way. For once, she’s letting me see her and not hiding behind her anger or hatred. “Will it?”
She doesn’t believe me.
“You’re my wife. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Does it matter?”
“Does what matter?”
“If something happens to me. You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”
Not yet. And after I’ve dealt the blow to Teszner today, I have to confront her. Everything I’ve tried so far has failed, including reinventing the night I took her virginity. If I thought the memory of what we’d shared would soften her resistance, I was sadly mistaken.
She glances at the ceiling cameras as we pass down the hallway toward the boardroom. “Does he know?”
Violent anticipation rushes through me. “He does now.”
Reino and five of my best men flank us. They’re armed, but I’ve done my homework. No one is going to attack us. Teszner doesn’t have enough men left to protect him, and very unwisely, he didn’t take precautions. Unlike me, he takes a lot for granted.
I push open the door for Tatiana to enter.
Leander Teszner sits like a king at the head of the table with his lawyer next to him. He’s aged in four years. With the receding hairline of his thinning blond hair and the double layers of his chin, he looks a lot older than in his photos. He must be using filters for his social media shots. His big stomach stretches the buttons of his shirt, and his green eyes are dull and bloodshot. He’s clearly not taking care of himself.
He climbs to his feet when our small group, including my men, files through the door. His face is pasty white, and his skin has taken a sickly ashen color. His gaze darts between his sister and my men before they land on me.
His lawyer remains seated, an air of resignation setting in with the slouch of his shoulders.
If Teszner were wise, he’d realize, like his clearly more intelligent lawyer, that he’s fucked, but the idiot reaches for the gun taped under the table.
Reino points the barrel of his Glock at Teszner.
I click my tongue. “That’s no way to greet your brother-in-law.”
His jaw goes slack. He fixes Tatiana with a look of disgust he doesn’t even try to hide.
I pull out a chair and gently push her into the seat with a hand on her shoulder.
Motioning at the chair opposite me, I direct my order at Teszner. “Sit.”
When he only glares at me, one of my men rounds the table and manhandles him into the seat. Reino removes the gun from under the table.
The lawyer folds his hands on the tabletop and lets out a sigh.
Teszner’s mouth twists with distaste as he looks at the ring on Tatiana’s finger. “Is that true? You fucking married him?”
My anger ignites in a second. “Speak to my wife in such a disrespectful manner again, and I’ll cut out your tongue.”
Fuck that. I’ll do it anyway. I just want to savor his screams first.
Teszner snickers. “You should’ve sent me an invite for the wedding. I would’ve had a gift delivered.” He returns his attention to his sister. “Do you want me to congratulate you? Is that why you’re here? Do you expect a welcoming hug and a kiss on the cheek for being his whore and giving birth to his bastard?”
I’m on the other side in a flash, pinning Teszner’s hand on the table with my fingers locked around his wrist. He tries to fight, but his fists are only worth something if his men hold down his victims. On his own, he’s fucking weak.
Grabbing the lawyer’s gold pen from the folder that sits in front of him, I stab it right through Teszner’s hand. Bones splinter and flesh tear. I more feel the crunch and the ripping of tendons than hear the damage because his scream drowns out the sound. A small fountain of blood squirts through the air, painting my hand and cuff with drops of red.
Tatiana is whiter than a ghost, but she doesn’t bat an eyelash. Courageous girl. She’s a lot braver than her brother, who continues to scream like a pig that’s being slaughtered.
