Page 74 of Vexatious Queen

He stepped forward, and I felt Liam tense beside me.

“Lilya, you have no reason to trust me. And you don’t owe me anything. But would you entertain having a coffee with me?”

I glanced at Dean Henry, but his feelings on the matter were hidden behind his stoic demeanor.

If I was going to be queen, I needed to handle difficult conversations like this one and make important decisions like a leader. Hiding out at Wayward and wishing that all these terrible things would just go away wasn’t practical.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

Vadin reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card.

“You can reach me at this number.”

I still didn’t know if this was a good idea, but I took the card.

“Will you walk me out?”

“Sure,” I said, and glanced up at Liam.

The look in his eyes told me all I needed to know…he wasn’t letting me out of his sight, and I loved him all the more for it.

JANUARY 27 – Forty Minutes Earlier

Edmundo

“This is unacceptable,” I growled, my anger rising to a very dangerous boiling point. “I warned you that I would come in person. What do you think will happen when I do?”

Mr. Valentino stuttered on the other end of the line.

“You have my deepest apologies, Mr. Genovese. The data has been scrubbed. There is nothing I can do to retrieve it. I’ve had the entire IT department working on the issue, but it looks like someone got access to our system, and it is…irretrievable.”

“One of two things is going on here. Either you’re lying to me, or you’re incompetent. Neither is reassuring concerning my continued business with your bank.”

“I would never lie to you, Mr. Genovese. Your business is extremely valuable.”

My teeth ground together as Mr. Valentino continued to kiss my ass. There was only one thing he was concerned about, and that was me moving my money. Which I could easily do, considering I had accounts all over the world, but that wasn’t the point. Someone was fucking with me and my emotions, and when I found out who, I was going to kill them with my bare hands.

“Enough! I’m tired of your excuses. If someone could so easily bypass your security system, how safe is my money?”

“Mr. Genovese, I swear that⁠—”

“No. I will give you one more week to find out who did this and get me the footage. Then…well, let’s just say you don’t want to see me angry, Mr. Valentino,” I snarled and hung up on the man before he could cry and tell me his sob story.

“Still nothing,” Marcus asked.

I glared at him across the desk, but he didn’t flinch.

“Who the fuck would do this to me? After all this time?”

“I can think of three people, but one doesn’t have that kind of pull without using someone else’s money,” Marcus said.

“Christov. He’s a snake, and I wouldn’t put it past him, but you’re right, he doesn’t have the funds to pull this off. Who else?”

“Patricia, she’s the most obvious,” Marcus suggested.

I sighed, knowing that it was true. To prove it, I would have to do a deep forensic accounting dive, which would take weeks if not months.

“The last one…Vadin,” he said, and I sat straighter. “I know it seems like a long shot, but we both know how backstabbing and underhanded he can be. He’s old, his wife is dead, his daughter is dead, and there is no way that Christov hasn’t been in touch with him about Lilya.”