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Kendra laughed. “Then Viktor must have brought you home and tucked you in himself.”
“Maybe he had someone else do it for him,” suggested Tegan.
“Not a chance. He might be willing, and probably will, show you off naked at the club, but there’s no way he sends you home with anybody other than himself to tuck you in. If I were you, I’d check to see if you have any pajamas or nightgowns left.”
“Don’t be stupid. He wouldn’t steal my clothes.”
Kendra shrugged. “Think what you like. By the way, Tegan put your flowers back in the vase he sent you.”
Emerson glanced at her desk. It really was a gorgeous vase. “Thanks, T. Are you sure you can’t get this thing off my neck?”
“Even if I could, I don’t think I would. Viktor wouldn’t be too happy about that. Did he have you sign a contract?”
More details of the night they’d spent were coming back to her. “Yes, but it’s just for ninety days.”
“Was it written specifically for you?” asked Kendra leaning forward.
“Yes. Is that significant?” Kendra leaning back in her office chair and whistling told her it was. Choosing to ignore her, Emerson said, “Don’t you two have work to do?”
She went to her desk and sat down, booting up her system and beginning to go through her email. Normally, if she came across an email whose address she didn’t recognize or which seemed odd, she dispatched it without opening, but there was something about the one from a sender whose address was a jumble of letters and numbers—completely unfamiliar and making no sense at all—that caught her attention.
Her finger hovered over the keys and her heart began to hammer as she opened the email. She squinted, looking at the email address and trying to make sense of it, as if narrowing her eyes would help. It didn’t. Nothing came to mind nor made her connect with it in any way. Frowning, and with a worried brow, Emerson clicked on the message, her eyes darting down the screen in search of a name. There was none.
A chill ran down her spine as she began to read. The email consisted of a brief paragraph, followed by several photo attachments. She hesitated only a moment, her finger floating over the first attachment. Taking a deep breath, she clicked.
The first image appearing on her screen showed Viktor, the man who seemed to be dominating all of her thoughts this morning. She looked twice to make sure that it really was Viktor. It was, but he seemed to be sharing a meal with Oliver Toney. Toney's greasy smile was unmistakable, his eyes glinting with the promise of deceit. Viktor, on the other hand, looked composed, his expression inscrutable.
Her stomach churned as she clicked on the next image. Viktor and Toney were in an office, the background revealing it to be a high-end hotel room, perhaps the Wentworth Mansion? Viktor appeared to be signing documents, his pen gliding smoothly across the paper. Zooming in, a glance at the documents appeared to reveal those which had caused many of the city’s wealthiest denizens, including some people she cared about, to lose thousands. It was generally believed that Toney had been behind the money laundering scam, but nothing had been able to be proven.
The final photo made her blood run cold. Viktor and Toney stood side by side, shaking hands. The image was crisp, clear, and damning. Viktor's face was calm, almost detached, while Toney's smile was smug, victorious.
Emerson's hands trembled as she stared at the screen. She had always known Viktor had a dark side, one which he didn’t try to hide. It was fascinating and repugnant in equal measure. But this? This wasn’t something she could even fathom. Oh, she knew there were rumors he had ties to the Russian mob, but this was a level of betrayal she hadn’t anticipated. She felt a mix of anger, hurt, and confusion swirling within her.
Why was Viktor involved with Toney? What did this mean for their relationship, tenuous and complicated as it was?
She forced herself to read the brief paragraph again, hoping she had missed something, some clue that would make sense of it all. But the words remained the same, stark and unforgiving.
"These photos were taken during the Charleston deal. You should know who you're dealing with," was all it said.
No signature, no indication of who had sent them. Emerson’s mind raced, trying to figure out who could have access to such intimate moments. The sender had to know the gravity of these images, the impact they would have not only on her but on Viktor’s reputation. This was the kind of info that might give the police what they needed to bring down Toney and restore several family fortunes. The other part of the Ravenel family was rumored to have lost a bundle.
Did she owe her father’s family, the one that had disowned him, knowledge of what she’d been shown? Did she owe Viktor anything because of their burgeoning relationship? Was it even a relationship? Not sure of the answer, she closed the email and tried to focus on the work she needed to complete.
Emerson's heart pounded as she considered each image, each line of text. They were all daggers to her heart. Viktor and Toney, together in ways that seemed too intimate, too secretive. She had discovered them by chance—or rather someone had wanted her to discover them—but the implications were clear. If Viktor was in bed with Toney, both literally and figuratively, everything between them was a lie.
In that moment, she realized just how deep she was in. The darkness surrounding Viktor was vast, and she was caught in its web, unable to escape even if she wanted to.
CHAPTER 10
EMERSON
Emerson tried to focus on something different, but her concentration was cracked and threatened to be shattered altogether by what the pictures and the email seemed to indicate. Realizing her ability to get anything constructive done had vanished, she chose to print out the email and the photographs. Her fingers trembled as she gathered the pictures and papers from the printer and stuffed them into her purse.
“What’s up?” asked Tegan.
“Nothing. I just remembered something I have to do,” she replied evasively. She was glad Kendra had gone out a little earlier. There’s no way Kendra would have been so easily sidestepped.
“Need some help?”
