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“You think he’ll agree?”
“He’s an ostentatious man with too much money and nothing to spend it on. Those kinds of people are always greedy and in need of more. I’m sure he will.”
Katerina nods, reaching for a grape from the plate on the table. “You know, if he doesn’t bite, we could always find some dirt on him and blackmail him to sign the agreement,” she says thoughtfully.
I sigh, “You and Papa have a one-track mind. We don’t have to get our hands dirty to do every single little thing. And I refuse to let this mining business have even a whiff of deceit or corruption. The billionaire will accept. He just needs some coercion, which I can provide. Just leave it to me.”
My sister smiles. “You’re good at this, you know. Convincing people to do what you want. Business.”
I clear my throat and rub my hands together, “Yes, well there’s not a lot I’m not good at.”
“Cocky,” she says, brushing our shoulders together.
We eat fruit in silence for a while before she suddenly looks at me with an apologetic expression.
“I almost forgot to tell you, Dimitri called.”
My eyes widen and I sit up so fast my head hurts. “Who did what?!”
“Dimitri,” she reminds me. “The guy Papa wants you to marry.”
I make a face. “I told him to call off the match.”
“And he did. But Dimitri’s persistent. I think he’s coming back to New York soon. Maybe you guys can make up,” Katerina says hopefully.
Oh my sweet, sweet sister.
“First off, Dimitri’s a sexist asshole who doesn’t think women should be in charge. He’s always making those annoying smart-ass comments about how he can’t believe Papa wants you to be his heir and how Rico would be more deserving of the title.”
Katerina shrugs. “Yeah but those are harmless comments. Rico’s never been interested. And Dimitri’s our friend. We’ve known him since we were kids.”
“He’s your friend,” I retort. “I don’t even like the guy.”
“You liked him enough to date him when you were 16,” she says and I immediately get war flashbacks. Dating him was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. “It’s why Papa encouraged the match in the first place.”
“Whatever. No, I do not even want to think about Dimitri talk less talk about him. He’s a thing of the past.”
Katerina smiles. “I just told you he’s coming back.”
“He can come all he wants. I’ll just ignore him,” I say my head falling back onto the couch.
“I’m not sure it’ll be that easy to ignore the next boss of a reputable Bratva family,” my sister says gently.
My head pounds at the reminder. Great, as if I needed something else to worry about. I decide not to stress about Dimitri though. He’s not here yet and he’s a problem I’ll handle when he does arrive.
The rest of my dad goes well until I’m heading home and I find myself in a moment of weakness.
I decide then that control’s overrated and even if I can’t see Tony, I might as well go to the one place I found comfort in the past few weeks. The rooftop we met at will always hold a special place in my heart. And I still have the keycard that gives me access to it.
I ask Albert to drop me off and then before I can second guess myself I head up. I’m not sure why I convinced myself that Tony won’t be here. In my head, there’s no way in hell he would ever return to the place he was betrayed so badly. But when the doors open and I step onto the roof, he’s there. Taking off his shirt. His pants are already off.
I only catch a second’s glimpse of him. Right before he dives into the pool. There’s a loud splash and then nothing, barely even a ripple in the water. I walk towards the edge of the pool and I can see him at the bottom. He’s barely even moving.
So I wait. A few seconds pass and I’m wondering if I should just leave. Then a minute, two. By the time we hit the five-minute mark I’m starting to get worried. Because he’s not coming up for air. And I’m terrified he’s not planning on breathing at all.
CHAPTER13
Tony
