AllFreeNovel
Share Us
64
PASHA
ATTN: Pasha Chekhov, RE: Contract renewal URGENT URGENT URGENT
I don’t bother opening the email. All I have to see is who the sender is before I trash it like all the rest.
Daphne was not exaggerating: when Brittany Cleary homes in on a target, she does not let up.
It’s been days since I fired her, her father, and the entire Cleary consultancy. That same night, my inbox pinged with an email from Herbert begging me to reconsider, to schedule a private meeting with him, to disregard what happened.
I informed him that he’s been disregarding his daughter’s behavior for years. I will not be making that same mistake.
Brittany doesn’t warrant a response. I had all her numbers blocked; the only reason why I haven’t blocked her email address is because I’m compiling them for a harassment lawsuit.
When I’m done, she won’t be able to afford a computer to email me from.
I make a note in my calendar to schedule a meeting with the company’s law firm. With Paris gone, I’m managing my own schedule until we find an appropriate replacement, which I’ve left up to Mak.
The lack of assistant is why I have zero warning when the office door opens and the very last person I want to see walks in.
“Arlo. What brings you here?”
Arlo keeps his hands in his coat pockets. “Oh, just checking in. I heard another shipment arrived last night. Wanted to make sure everything processed smoothly.”
“You know you’re free to check in on the shipments yourself. At any time.”
“I had… prior engagements.” His smile ticks up another notch. “It’s been good to see Asya again after all this time.”
I remind myself that it would be a very bad idea to throw him out of the nearest window. The paperwork isn’t worth it, and I have a discomforting feeling that Mama would give me hell for it.
“I thought you two caught up the other day.”
“We did. There is so much to discuss, and I’m taking her away from you plenty as it is.”
I don’t like that he’s agreeing with my disgruntled thoughts. I don’t like how easy his demeanor is, or how happy my mother has been since they’ve been spending time together.
Too much time.
Way too much time.
I gesture for him to take a seat in one of the chairs. He accepts, tucking his coat beneath him as he does. “So you two have known each other for a while?”
“For a lifetime.” His face grows serious. “Since childhood.”
“I thought that was my father.”
Arlo chuckles. “I am allowed to know more than one person at a time, Pasha.”
“So why now? Why haven’t we heard of you before?”
“That is a conversation between you and your mother, I think.”
“You and I can have the conversation right now.”
He narrows his eyes at me, but that stupid smile remains exactly where it is. “What secrets Asya keeps from her children, she does for good reason. If you really want to know, then give her the respect and dignity of telling you herself.”
“Funny.” I toy with my pen as I tamp down the urge to stab him. “I didn’t know we asked for a new father.”
