Page 120 of Queen’s Gambit

“Yulianna, your father stopped giving you weekly deposits after you married Christov. Christov doesn’t give you any money. The account is drained.”

“What about the money from my businesses and investments? Where is it going?”

“You haven’t been able to concentrate on your businesses, and they’ve been hemorrhaging money for the past year. I can pay your guards and Frida for one more month. You have options, but it will take some effort. You must focus on your profitable companies. If you tried to liquidate everything you’ve acquired, it would be a loss. Your investments are doing well, but again, the plan was to hold it for another five years, so it’s locked up.”

Shit.

I was doing so well. It wasn’t Lilya’s fault, but since she was born, most of my day was spent with her. After all the craziness Alina pulled, I refused to have anyone from Christov’s staff do anything for me. I made our meals, cleaned this entire wing of the house, took care of all my own paperwork, and when I could, I slept an hour here or there. Living like a single mom and trying to build a corporation was apparently not as easy as I thought it would be. I was such a fool. I couldn’t even remember the last time I opened a business report.

“Do I have anything left in my trust?”

“Yes, that hasn’t been touched. But do you really want to use it? That’s all you have left in easy-access cash.”

Did I dare tell Mr. Russik why I needed the money? It was a risk, no matter how loyal he’d been so far. Any word of me running from Christov could cause a series of events I didn’t know how to contain.

“Not yet, but be prepared to use it. I’ll think of something,” I said and walked out of my bedroom. Lilya would be home soon, and I should probably grab a snack.

Heading down the stairs, I had just locked my phone when my foot caught on what felt like a line. Then, I was falling forward. The wooden steps filled my vision, and I didn’t have time to react. Instinct took over, and I got my hand on the railing just before I would’ve crashed face-first. I slid and tumbled on the way down hitting my ankle, hip, wrist, and head at odd angles. Sprawled on the floor, dazed and confused, I cried out.

What the hell just happened? I looked up the stairs but didn’t see anything.

“Aw, did you fall down and hurt yourself? Too bad you didn’t break your neck,” Alina said as she stepped into the far end of the foyer.

How the hell?

She couldn’t be standing there now if she pushed me at the top of the stairs a moment ago. I had no idea how she’d done this, but I was sure it was her fault.

Alina took another step toward me. A rustling noise drew my attention to her hand. The crazy bitch was holding a plastic bag. Jesus, she was going to suffocate me. Well, if she thought I was going to be easy to kill, injured or otherwise, she had another thing coming.

“What the hell do you want Alina?”

Quickly testing my body to see if anything was broken, it seemed my ankle was the only issue. When I tried to roll it, pain radiated up my leg, but I hoped it was just a sprain.

She opened her mouth to answer when the front door opened. Her demeanor shifted immediately as my mother walked in with Vlad and Lilya. Alina ran toward me, her face suddenly a mask of fake concern.

“Oh my god, Yulianna, are you okay,” she asked dramatically.

“Mommy,” Lilya cried as she ran to me and hugged me tight.

Vlad and my mother were equally concerned and dropped down beside me.

“What happened,” Vlad asked, checking me over.

I looked at Alina but bit my tongue.

“I tripped. That’ll teach me to pay attention to my phone instead of the stairs.”

“Oh, thank God you’re not seriously hurt,” Alina said.

Who was she trying to fool?

Not even Lilya looked convinced by the act.

“For a second there, I thought this was another attempt. I mean, after the poison and the other issues you’ve had, I just….”

“Attempt?” I crossed my arms and glared.

“You know what I mean,” she said and looked around. “Don’t make me say it.