Page 55 of Gilded Shackles
"I came to fix your mess," I say, shutting the door behind me.
She walks to the kitchen, pours a green smoothie that looks like pond water, and sips it with the satisfaction of someone who hasn't done a hard day's work in her life.
"What mess?"
"The property. You buried half the zoning under fakeapprovals and forgot to mention the land is in active litigation."
"Oh, that." Like I just pointed out a typo in her novel.
I stay still. "Drop the price."
She laughs. Full-on, head-back laughs. Like I told her the joke of the year.
"Or throw in one of the other parcels," I say, jaw tight. "You've got plenty."
She leans against the counter. "Elle's worth three buildings, at least. Honestly, you got a bargain. It's generosity for family that keeps me from asking for more."
The way she says it.Elle's worth.Like she's something to be tallied on a spreadsheet. It makes my skin burn.
"She's not a commodity."
"She's a negotiation," Gayle says, smirk firmly in place. "She always has been."
The way she says it. Like Elle is a line item she's still collecting interest on.
I let the silence stretch. Then I cross the room. Slow. Until I'm close enough that she has to tilt her head back to hold my eyes. I don't touch her. I don't need to.
"Let me be clear about something," I say quietly. "You sold her. That transaction is complete. Whatever you think you still hold over her — her loyalty, her guilt, her need for a mother who actually showed up — that's done. She's mine now. Which means your access to her is exactly what I decide it is."
Gayle's smile doesn't waver. But I see the vein on the side of her neck throbbing. I can smell her fear.
"And if I were you," I continue, "I would be very careful about what you do with the time you have left in that penthouse. Because the building belongs to my uncle now. And goodwill runs out."
I turn and walk to the door.
"Was that a threat, Nikolai?"
I don't look back.
"It was a courtesy. I don't usually give those. You’re still breathing which is more than you deserve. I warned you once and you still touched my wife. Next time, there will be a bullet in your brain before you can blink.”
By the timeI get back in the car, I already know what I'm going to do.
I've got money. More than Uncle Viktor knows, stashed in private accounts. It's not that I hid it from him or kept it secret. I just never had the need for the kind of pay he gives me. Years of bonuses I never touched, business deals he wanted no part of, cash I couldn't refuse and didn't spend.
It's clean. It's mine.
And I'm going to use it to fix this.
I'll tell Viktor she folded. That she dropped the price after I threatened to go public. He won't dig if I bring him numbers and results.
It's a risk. A massive, stupid risk for a woman I've known less than a month. Elle will never know. She'll never need to.
Because this is the thing no one understands about me: I'm loyal.
Fiercely.
Violently.
