“Well, they’re off. I knowIhaven’t touched them. I’ve been here in your custody. But based on the slight differences, my first guess would be that there is evidence of internal sabotage. Either at your end, with whoever processes things before they come to me, or at the firm.”
“Again, that’s why I want to determine your father’s reasoning to give you to me.”
“I…” I lowered my face, feeling ashamed. “I thought it was because you were mad about the mistake and being, um, who you are, he was worried that he’d be killed. So he offered me to you instead.”
“He cares that little about you?” he asked, piercing me with an intense stare.
I couldn’t stop the bark of a laugh that burst out of me. “What? Of course, he did. I mean, he cared about keeping me where I was and doing what I did.”
He never cared aboutme, though.
“Your father is under the impression that we will continue to employ his firm to handle our selective requirement of banking services.”
I gave him a dubious expression. “Weird. WhenIwas the one who did it.”
“Who could replace you?”
“At the firm? No one.”
“He could hire an outsider.”
I shrugged. “He’d have to.”
Sitting back in the chair, he studied me. The more he did it, the more I could brace myself for his scrutiny. I bet I’d always wonder what he saw in me. What he noticed and what could bother him.
“Then I’ll do the same.”
I raised my brows. “Huh?”
“I’ll hire you, as an outsider. You can work with the bookkeepers in house and track what your father’s firm is doing with our accounts. Any discrepancies, you interfere from here and correct them.”
My mouth hung open. I wasn’t going to be killed. I wasn’t going to be released, either. As much as it pained me to acknowledgethat I could only survive if I were useful, I wouldn’t toss away the opportunity to, well, to live.
Every day for the rest of the week, I “went” to work. I showed up on time, ready to stay at the desk in a large study in the mansion where I guessed Adrik lived. Maybe all his brothers and cousins lived there too. It was the biggest residence I’d ever seen, but not once did I run into any of the other Volkovs who’d interrogated me that first day.
Adrik wasn’t with me constantly, but one of his bookkeepers would be there. A guard was always present. I wasneveralone, but the more I dug into the assignment of acting as an oversight or quality check person, my fear of being hovered over or micromanaged faded.
I pointed out mistakes in the files when Adrik asked for a report. And it seemed like as the first week evolved into a second, he was making more of an effort to be present, attentive and listening to what I said, not dismissing me. With time, he and Maksim, too, became increasingly worried that someone at my father’s firm or elsewhere could be messing with their accounts.
As I shifted into my role, I picked up on cues and clues. When to speak. When to wait and defer to the men in the room. When to jot notes and when to show someone something that stood out to me. I learned in the process of being there and enmeshed in their setting that Adrik was more of an interim leader of the Bratva family.
The one night I asked if he’d just taken over the leadership, though, I learned the lesson of trespassing.
“You are asking too many questions,” he warned in that gruff tone.
I pressed my lips closed and damned my cheeks that heated in embarrassment.
It was onlyonequestion.
But I heard him and heard him well. It was one question too many.
“Sorry,” I said, backing off and lowering my gaze. “I meant no harm.”
And I didn’t mean to make the stupid choice of wishing I could learn more about him and his family.
Because where the hell would that go, El? What are you thinking?
I wasn’t here as a guest, despite them all giving me space and privacy with that guesthouse for me to stay in. I wasn’t here as his woman, duly reminded when I was escorted out of the mansion at the end of each workday.
