Page 42 of Sinful Wrath
Is this how I want everyone to see me? As nothing more than an irresponsible party girl? A spoiled brat like Mikhail calls me?
I have no intention of turning into Mikhail, but perhaps I need to have a bit more focus, a direction to head in.
The only problem is, I don't know what direction to take.
I shake my head. “I’m having a midlife crisis at twenty-one.”
My life was great. Not perfect, but really fucking close to it.
But since I met Mikhail, everything’s been turned upside down, and I can’t seem to work out which way is up.
10
MIKHAIL
It’s beena week since I last used the lock on Lucia’s door and so far, it seems she’s kept her promise of staying in the house.
I’ve been trying to make it home for dinner each night so that she doesn’t spend the entire day alone. I could think of nothing better, but Lucia is my opposite, which means she craves company and conversation.
Two things I could definitely live without.
But unfortunately for Lucia, tonight will have to be different.
Alexei has called a meeting at the family’s penthouse and as much as I hate skipping out on dinner with Lucia, I also have a responsibility to my brothers.
No doubt Alexei will want an update on my bride-to-be, and I’m hoping that there will be some news regarding Alfonzo Morano.
If there’s time, I’ll try to pick up some dessert fromAngelo’s on the way home.
Seeing as she no longer has her weekly dinners with herfather, it’s the least I can do to try and bring a small sense of normalcy to her life while she’s under house arrest.
I don’t want her to think that I haven’t acknowledged the sacrifice she’s been making by staying at home.
I’ve been at the office since six A.M., and the last fourteen hours have been brutal. I knew taking over a company on my own would be tough, but I thought Alexei would have kept it in better shape than this.
Perhaps it’s just another way for him to test me. Either way, it’s grueling work but after six months of being CEO, I finally feel like I’m making progress.
When I step out of the elevator at my family’s penthouse an hour later, I find the downstairs living area completely empty, which means my brothers must be upstairs in Alexei’s office.
Despite this being our family’s penthouse, We now mostly use it for meetings.
Ever since Alexei took up permanent residence at our family’s mansion in Forest Hills, he spends most of his time out in Queens with his wife and son.
Dimitri, Danil, and I all have our own places in the city, so this penthouse sits empty most of the time.
I make my way upstairs where the faint sounds of my brothers’ voices filter down the hall toward me. I try to get a read on their tone, but it’s too quiet for me to tell if this will be a productive meeting or a fist fight.
Either way, I’m going to need a drink in my hand before we get started.
“Nice of you to finally join us.” Dimitri smirks as I enter the office.
He’s sitting behind the large mahogany desk that used to belong to our father.
When I was a kid, I used to imagine myself sittingbehind it, so eager to follow in his footsteps. I idolized my father, but ever since I learned of his affair with Igor Ivanov’s wife, my memories of him have become tainted by his betrayal.
When I think of him, I don’t picture a successful businessman, a loving father, or a doting husband.
I just see a lying traitor.