"Ms. Radin, understand that I only allowed you to live because of that letter." Pushing off my desk, I walk the few steps that span between us and stand close enough to reach out and touch her. "Your debt to me was great, but I excused most of it. The arrangement where you work for me for now nine years, eleven months, and one week will not be expunged from your record simply because you are unhappy."
The defiance in her eyes as she looks down and away from me doesn't escape me even for a second.
"If I say you're scrubbing toilets, then you'll scrub them. And if I tell you to lick my boot, you will. Do you understand?" She says nothing, so I continue. "And if for any reason I am displeased with your performance, I will do to you what I would do to any of my fighters or soldiers or staff who displease me, and you will learn who is in charge."
The muscle in her jaw tenses and her eyes shift. What sort of witchery did Vera cast over her to cause her to be like this? Where is her fight? Why is she not spitting in my face and slapping me? My God, it enrages me to see her spirit broken like this when I know there is an inferno inside her waiting to rage out of control.
"So…" I clear my throat and continue. "As I was saying, you will be my personal assistant. You will travel with me, and dine with me, and anything I need help with, you will be my aide."
Mila sucks in a deep sigh and breathes it out slowly then asks, "May I go now?" without looking up at me.
"Of course. I'll expect you in one hour for a meeting, in my private dining room." As she turns to leave, I see her bag near my desk and call, "Oh, and I'll have your things brought to your room."
Mila stops on a dime and turns back, stomping over to her bag where she stoops to pick it up, though it appears heavy for her. "I can do it myself. The staff room isn't that far away."
"It's not going to the staff room." When she meets my gaze, I see the moisture in her eyes, tears she holds back and refuses to shed.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the promotion to my assistant comes with a personal room. You won't be bunking with Sorin, Sara, and Rebecca anymore. You're being given your own room."
Her eyes dart around, and she licks her lips before her shoulders drop again. "I don't understand…"
The way her posture lightens as confusion masks her face is pure joy. It brings pleasure to my heart to watch her transform like this, though I don't know why.
"I can't have you waking them in the middle of the night when we return from long meetings or overseas trips, and you'll rest better if you have more space. Besides, you'll require a desk and proper lighting to help with certain tasks, and that's better suited to a private space. Wouldn’t you agree?"
And though I don’t tell her this, I've already decided that if I am to absorb the Radin empire, it will be sooner rather than later. It's looking like the only way to do that is to convince one very young heiress to merge our families using the very means herstepmother intends thievery by, and I won't have my future wife sleeping in servants’ quarters.
"Yes, of course," Mila says sheepishly. I reach up and curl a stray hair out of her face, and she stiffens at my touch, but she doesn’t pull away.
“Try to rest for a moment, Mila. You don’t have to hate this.” My fingers linger on her cheek, and I swear she leans into that soft touch for a second.
Then I call, "Yegor," startling her. She drops the bag and stiffens, squaring her shoulders. "Take Ms. Radin to the guest room, please, and have her things brought up. Whatever she needs or desires, provide it."
"Yes, sir," he says, dipping his head. He rushes over to pick up her bags and then leads her out, but she glances over her shoulder at me as she goes, and I notice the look of gratitude on her face.
I have always been the sort of man who can't let anything pass by me without understanding it fully. Mysteries of the world, complex relational issues that require mastery. And now this… There is a mountain looming in my purview that needs to be scaled by an expert mountain climber, and I consider myself the master of all.
Vera has no clue the can of worms she's opened, though I will show her one way or another. She wants a marital agreement to form an alliance between our families and she has no legal authority to hand it over. It's becoming ever so clear to me that Ms. Koval purposefully sent her stepdaughter directly into my path in hopes that it would be the end of her.
I think she capitalized on my appearance at her door after the fact, though. I don't think her spontaneous offer of her daughters' hands in marriage was well thought out. I think she hoped I'd kill Mila as a way to release Anton's fortune and that backfired, but now she's looking for a new way forward, and it will come back to bite her like a venomous serpent when she least expects it.
And I have surveyed the land and I know just how profitable an alliance could be now. That bait was so effective, I'm going to take it with eyes wide open. I will have Anton Radin's legacy as my own, and I will consume every bit of his authority and subject his men to my leadership.
And I will do it by marrying Mila Radin, whether she likes it or not.
But not before I uncover the real Vera Koval and whatever web of lies she's woven to deceive me.
9
MILA
Yegor walks ahead of me with a quick gait and hunched shoulders, not even caring that I can barely keep up, and I scurry behind him clutching my memory box.
Roman is a confusing man. One minute, he's scolding me and scowling at me for eavesdropping, making me think I'll be punished or something. And the next minute, he's being kind, offering a promotion and touching me. I lift my hand as I shuffle to keep up with Yegor and touch my cheek where Roman's hand lingered. The way he looked at me, with compassion in his eyes, it's confusing.
"You alright?" Yegor asks. "Because you look like you might throw up."
