Page 79 of Boardroom Sins

Lukas watches me flounder. His face doesn’t move an inch, but something surges in his eyes. A rare flare ofheatbeneath all that ice. Fire in the tundra.

“I want you to understand something, Rae.” He leans in closer, almost nose-to-nose. “I didn’t just pay five million dollars soIcould own you. I paid it so no one else could.”

If it weren’t for him holding me up by my throat, I might’ve melted to the floor. “Wh-what?” I whimper.

Lukas’s lip curls. “For instance, do you know what kind of man Preston Howell is? Do you know what he does to women who catch his eye?”

“I…”

“He uses them and discards them.” His hand curls into a fist against the marble wall. “There’s a trail of gibbering, broken girls in psychiatric hospitals across the country, courtesy ofhim.”

I swallow hard. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t. You don’t know anything about this world.” His breath is warm and fragrant against my face. “You walked in here tonight in a dress that screams ‘take me’ and you have no idea what kind of predators are circling.”

“Ididn’t pick the dress,” I snap. “Youdid!”

His mouth twists to the side. Is that regret I see? No. It can’t be. That doesn’t make any sense.

“Yes,” he admits. “I did.”

“So what does that make you? Another predator?”

Lukas doesn’t answer at first. His eyes search my face like he’s looking for something. I don’t know what.

“Maybe,” he concedes finally. “But whatever you want to call it, you should be afraid of me.”

“Believe me, I am.”

“Good.” He pushes off the wall and steps back. The sudden distance leaves me cold. “Then maybe you’ll listen when I tell you to stay away from my son.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Kir is the only person in your company who’s been decent to me.”

“Kir is playing a game. You’re too naive to see it.”

I shake my head. “What game? He apologized for coming onto me. He introduced me to people tonight. He made me feel like I actually belonged here.”

“He was using you to get to me.”

“Not everything is aboutyou, Lukas!”

“With Kir, it is,” he growls. “Everything he does is calculated to provoke me. Every woman he chases, every deal he makes—all of it designed to prove he’s the better man.”

“Maybe he just wants your approval.”

The look Lukas gives me is almost pitying. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s none of your concern.” He turns away. “Tonight is over. I’ll have a car take you home.”

I push off the wall. “That’s it? You drag me off the stage, trap me in a hallway, and now, you’re just going to dismiss me?”

“Yes.” He doesn’t look back. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”