Page 25 of Hate to Love You
She continues to ramble on, as if anyone in this room is actually listening.
“...And there was cum all over the back seats!”
“What the…?” Pasha asks, scrunching up his face. “Yuck.”
“Exactly what I said,” Nikolai snorts, looking at him with a grimace.
“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time!” She whines, desperate for sympathy. “I came out this morning to find some bitch’s panties on the steering wheel and cum all over the back seats. I had to set the car on fire! I’m not getting diseases from your trashy sluts who don’t know how to wash their pussies!”
“Again,” Lev says, shaking his head, disgusted. “Gross.”
Polina begins exchanging curses at Igor in Russian, and makes a step toward him with her fist raised, but I bang my hand down hard on the desk.
“Alright, enough!”
The rattle of the sturdy oak desk is enough to make everyone jump, and make Caesar, who has been happily munching on his bone, look up at me.
“I don’t give a flying fuck about roses, panties or mistresses,” I glare at Igor and Polina. “But I swear to God, this fucking nonsense needs to stop.”
“Tell him that, he’s the one who—”
“No!” I growl, standing to my feet and storming over to her. “I’m saying it to you. You’re not a teenager anymore Polina, so this shit isn’t cute or funny! You can’t just go screaming your tripe out first thing in the morning or setting cars on fire in a neighborhood like yours!”
I step up into her space, my face just inches from hers, my blood boiling in my veins.
“I keep trying to drill into your thick fucking head that your antics will draw attention to you, and us! And I’m not going to see all of us go down because of your marriage that you two shitheads can’t seem to figure out for yourselves!” I thunder at her so forcefully I accidentally spit on her in the process. “Save this dramatic shit for the family dinner. This is a business meeting and therefore is not the place. I’m not going to tell you again, get your fucking shit together or I will cut you off, Polina. For good! Am I clear?”
Polina stubbornly opens her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.
“Am I fucking clear?!” I shout in her face, banging my fist on the glass wall behind her, making her flinch.
She slowly looks up at me, fury in her eyes before she pushes past me and storms out of the room, back toward the elevator.
“Do you want me to go retrieve her?” Ana, my favorite sister, and my twin, asks quietly.
“No,” I sigh, rubbing my chin. “I think we can all agree this shit is easier without her. It’s always easier.”
“You got that right,” Igor snorts, leaning against the wall by Cal, pushing his hands in his pockets.
“You can fuck off too,” I snap at him. “I won’t tell you how to conduct your relationship because frankly I don’t give a damn about your shitty marriage. But I won’t have it causing drama for me, this family, or the fucking business I am trying to run. So, if you can’t keep your dirty laundry out of sight, I will remorselessly find some other juiced-up meathead to replace you. And God knows my sister won’t weep for you should you disappear. Understood?”
“Yes, Boss,” Igor swallows hard, bowing his head in submission. “Understood.”
“Now,” I say, walking back around to my chair and taking a seat. “We have more important things to discuss.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Pasha says, looking down at his watch. “That’s a new record for us.”
I shoot him a glare, silently informing him that if he says another fucking word, I might strangle him.
“Last night,” I say, turning back to the rest of my family. “There was a bit of a situation.”
“What kind of situation,” Nikolai sighs.
“The kind that ended with this one getting shot in the shoulder,” I say nodding to Pasha. “...And us executing one of the McCleary clan.”
“Which member,” Anastasia asks, her brow suddenly furrowed.
“Cillian’s cousin,” I say, pursing my lips as murmurs go up around the room.