Page 232 of The Harbinger
“I think you mean Ruslan’s,” she said, her tone arrogant and biting with anger.
“What does he have to do with this?”
“He is the only reason I was part of this whole mess. Nikolai and Jenny worked together to get rid of him and you.” She paused and gasped as though she’d said something she shouldn’t have. “Don’t hurt her.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“She’s grieving.”
I chuckled and tossed the pen on my desk, my gaze narrowing at the display case holding my sacrificial knife. “We’ve had this conversation once before. I believe we were in the woods with a dead girl at my feet.”
“Don’t be cruel, Sacha.”
Gritting my teeth, I responded to her bleeding-heart defense of that woman. “Cruelty doesn’t even enter into the equation. She ruined your life and infiltrated mine. She deserves everything she’s due. My only wish is that I could do it myself.”
Jennifer didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, much less be on Mia’s mind.
“She wasn’t the only one to blame.”
“Then tell me, who else?” My hand balled into a fist at my chin, my elbows digging into the desk. I’d had my tracker working around the clock, sifting through anyone who could have been involved in their long-awaited scheme, but there were thousands of people in my employ and hundreds of thousands of believers. It would take centuries to uncover the depths of their unfaithfulness. But now that Jennifer had shown up… the time just got cut in half.
“Nikolai dragged her into it. They both worked together to see this done. Jenny said many people were frustrated with Ruslan over the last decade.”
“She confided in you?”
“More or less,” she sighed, her voice laced with weariness that could cut through steel. “She mainly wanted to hear about Nikolai,” a pause punctuated her words as if the weight of the name hung heavy in the air. The silence that followed was as rough as a sandpaper kiss, leaving my nerves raw and exposed. “They wanted me dead. Did you know that?” Her voice descended to a pained whisper that seemed to claw at my heart, igniting a primal urge to reach out and ease her pain.
“I assumed as much.”
Silence pervaded through the phone, and then she exhaled. “Sacha. Don’t you miss me?”
Slumping in my chair, I clamped down on my fist, grinding my teeth. The words stuck in my throat, refusing to budge. It wasn’t my call anymore. She needed to decide for herself what she wanted, and if I told her how much she meant to me, she’d drop everything and come back. I craved her company, her essence, her very being, despite the internal turmoil she stirred within me.
“Give the phone back to Vlad.”
She let out a sharp gasp. “You’re an asshole.” A toxic strain quivered her verbal lashing, and I embraced it.
So I’ve been told.
“Yes,” Vlad said.
“Come home.”
“You don’t want me to watch over her anymore?”
“I have something else planned for you.”
“But what ab—”
“If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it.” I gritted my teeth more times in the span of five minutes than I had in my whole life. “I said you’re through. Come back.”
“Da, Alexander Ruslanovich.”
I slammed my phone down onto the desk and ran a hand roughly down my weary face, feeling the weight of the day bearing down on me. Just as I tried collecting myself, the intercom buzzed to life with my secretary’s tired voice. “Your appointment has arrived.”
“Send her in,” I grunted, mustering up all the energy I had left to face my next task.
As Dmitri opened the door, Marina glided into the room, her poise and grace exuding from every movement. “Wonderful to see you,” she purred, sinking into the chair opposite mine, her gaze locked on me with a sly smile.