by Bella Rose
“There has been an issue with one of the suppliers,” Maxim explained. Even that felt lame and ineffectual. “But I’m in the process of—shall we say—trimming the fat.” And there was another one of those ridiculous euphemisms. “I believe once I’ve renegotiated this particular contract, you should see at least a ten percent increase in your return on investment.”
There was a murmur around the table. It did not take a psychologist to see that there were several different points of view in the room. However, this consortium would require only a majority in order for Maxim to get his money. Sometimes, though, getting that majority could be sketchy.
“Ten percent is a large number,” someone commented. “I’m not sure I’m willing to take that on faith.”
Maxim thought of Boris and his treachery and ground his teeth together in frustration. There was only one thing to do. “Then I’ll chip in that ten percent out of my own pocket if I can’t deliver as promised.”
“Really?” The president of the consortium raised his eyebrows. “You’re that confident?”
“Let’s just say there are extenuating circumstances that I’m about to adjust in a more equitable way.” Maxim was intentionally vague, but he couldn’t help the flat tone of his voice that told everyone present that someone had pissed him off.
There was a lot of laughter on the other end of the conference call. Then the president offered Maxim a nod. “I feel no sympathy for whoever stepped on your toes, but I will say that I’m certainly glad it wasn’t me. I’d hate to imagine what you can cook up for revenge.”
“Not revenge,” Maxim corrected. “Just a little bit of natural consequences. When one plays with fire, one often gets burned. Occasionally one of those consequences causes someone to lose a little more.”
“I’m guessing it might involve losing a company,” the president suggested.
Maxim froze. That was perfect. That right there. Losing a company. It was the perfect way to push Boris out of Maxim’s way for good. He had tolerated his old friend for many reasons, but if Boris was going to play dirty then Maxim was going to show him every single reason that was a bad idea.
“Uh-oh,” someone in the back of the room said. “I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing something about an international hostile takeover in the next twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t do hostile,” Maxim retorted. “By the time I buy it, he will be begging me to take it off his hands.”
With more than a few shouts of encouragement and a promise of a signed agreement for financing before end of day, the West Coast investors signed off and Maxim was left with a few things to put in motion that would assure Boris’s expulsion from his life for good.
***
Spying for human resources. That was what Landry was doing. She was spying for human resources and it was absolutely insane to think about. Who did that? She had never heard of such a thing. And even so, she was now marching her way back through the building toward Taylor’s cubicle. She had every intention of putting this ridiculous plan into motion regardless of whether or not she thought it was a good idea. Because really, what did she have to lose at this point? Hell, Mr. Danvers had basically promised her amnesty!
Taylor was muttering to herself and scribbling on a pad of paper at her desk when Landry paused beside the entry to Taylor’s cubicle. Landry didn’t know the other woman very well, but there was a definite sort of uncomfortable tension emanating from Taylor. It made Landry feel positively twitchy.
“Excuse me, Taylor?” Landry ventured.
Taylor spun around in her chair. Her eyebrows shot up in obvious surprise when she spotted Landry standing there. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to know if you would be interested in going to lunch with me.”
Taylor’s mouth actually dropped open. “With you?”
Okay the fact that she sounded so skeptical was not flattering. Or perhaps Taylor didn’t believe that Landry would ever try to be that friendly. It was hard to say. It wasn’t like Landry was looking forward to the impromptu lunch date. She’d had to text Dinah and tell her something had come up and she’d be late getting back to finish up what they’d been working on that morning. As it was, Landry would need the rest of the afternoon to tell Dinah all of the crazy shit going on at the office.
“Yeah.” Landry tried to sound like she didn’t really care what Taylor’s answer was. “I was trying to bury the hatchet somewhere other than your back, you know? I thought maybe we could have lunch and just chat. Maybe we have more in common than we thought or something.”
“You’re disgustingly nice, you know that?” Taylor snorted. Then she stood up and grabbed her purse. “But if you’re buying, I’m not going to refuse free food.”
“Okay.” Landry shrugged it off, but Taylor’s choice of words was not lost on her. There was something really weird going on with this woman.
Landry led the way to the elevator and out the front door. It was an awkward sort of trip out of the building. There was almost no talking and Landry could feel Taylor’s gaze raking up and down her body every five seconds or so. What was the woman’s problem? It was like she was hardwired for aggression and nothing else.
They walked into a deli and took a table by the windows. Landry sat down, picked up a menu, and stared over the printed plastic at her unusual companion. “So, what’s the deal with you and Boris?”
The words certainly had an effect, though Landry could have never guessed how instant and extreme it would be. Taylor paled to a sickly milk-white color and her lower lip started to tremble. “How do you know about Boris?” she whispered.
***
Maxim moved his mouse cursor from one screen to another. He currently had three monitors and about sixteen search windows going. He was digging into Boris’s business dealings with ravenous interest. Not only that but he was on a time clock. He needed to make his move before end of business on the East Coast, and that meant time was short.
“Are you sure?” His banker did not sound pleased. “I cannot verify that this is a good financial decision, Mr. Sokolov.”
“Do it,” Maxim snapped. “I don’t need you to verify anything.”
“As you say,” the man said with a sigh. “The money will be available by close of business.”
“Good.”
Maxim stripped back a few more layers of Boris’s life and realized that his friend was in way over his head. He was deeply in debt—to Maxim’s brother, Pyotr. Maxim sat back in his seat and laced his hands behind his head. It hurt to know that his brother was very likely the one sending Boris after Maxim. How could Pyotr have done such a thing? His brother was a successful man. What need did he have for Maxim’s fortune too?
A cell phone buzzed in Maxim’s pocket. He pulled it out and answered. “Da?”
“We found him,” the lead on his security personnel team informed him.
“Where?”
“At a hotel in the city.”
“Send me the address.”
Maxim lowered the phone and put his head in his hands. Both of them were here. Both Boris and Pyotr were here in town to conduct business against him and he had no idea. He had grown lax. He’d trusted foolishly. A man like him should have known better. He was barely one step away from being one of his mafiya Bolshevik ancestors. Yet here he was about to be surprised in his own back yard by two men who smiled to his face while they played a game to stab him in the back.
“Not yet,” he muttered. “They have not gotten to me yet.”
He pulled up the address that his security advisor sent him and then found the schematics for the building in a database. He carefully made his plans, wondering as he did if he would have to commit murder to get what he wanted. H was not even sure that he cared. One thing was for sure. By the end of the night, Boris and Pyotr would no longer believe that Maxim Sokolov was a man to be taken advantage of.
***
“How do you know about Boris?” Taylor whispered.
Her e
yes were so big in her face that Landry almost expected them to bug out completely. Then they began to fill with tears and Landry gave an inward curse. Dammit! Was Taylor trying to play the pity card on purpose, or was she really just this pathetic?
“Don’t cry,” Landry told Taylor. “You’ll totally smear your makeup.”
As Landry had expected, Taylor sniffed and pulled a tissue from her purse to carefully wipe her eyes. So image trumped emotion. Interesting.
“Mr. Danvers told me about Boris,” Landry informed her coworker. “You were spotted with him. What we can’t figure out is why you would jeopardize your job just for some fat Russian dude and a paycheck. You’ve got a lot going for you.”
“You have no fucking idea what I have or don’t have,” Taylor snapped. “You with your big eyes and big smile and your disgusting be-nice-to-everybody attitude.”
“Yeah,” Landry said drily. “That just really sucks about me, right?”
“Shut up.” Taylor made a face. “I knew what you were the minute you walked through that door and I was determined to get rid of you.”
“Why? You’ve been here longer so you have seniority. You’ve been making my life hell all week. Why add in espionage too?”
“Boris is my ex-husband’s uncle,” Taylor said quietly. All traces of bravado or attitude were gone from her expression. “Either I help him, or my kids will never get a penny of what should be theirs.”
“Meaning?” Landry swallowed the lump that had just appeared in her throat. “That’s up to their father, right?”
“Boris killed him.” Taylor shuddered and began shredding her paper napkin into tiny pieces. “It was some deal or something gone wrong. Ever since Vasily died, Boris has been using my kids’ inheritance against me.”
“Wow.” Landry sat back in her seat. “That’s low.”
Taylor swallowed. “I didn’t want to help him hurt Maxim. I like Maxim. He’s a really great guy and he’s sexy as hell.” She curled her lip at Landry. “I think it’s bullshit that he seems so interested in you, but there’s no accounting for taste, right?”
“Gee thanks.” Landry pursed her lips and tried not to think mean thoughts about this horrible woman who really wasn’t all that horrible after all. “For what it’s worth, I never thought you were the hardcore bitch you kept trying to pretend to be.”
“Oh whatever.” Taylor rolled her eyes. “I hate people like you. Just say what you really feel and stop trying to put a nice face on it.”
Landry snorted. “Oh trust me. I’m not going to be inviting you to my slumber party this weekend, and there’s no way I would trust you anywhere near my prom date.”
Taylor actually laughed. “I wanted a promotion. That’s the only problem with Maxim’s company structure. There’s no room to move up.”
“But they give you raises every year,” Landry pointed out. “Why is the title so important to you?”
Taylor only shrugged. “Titles mean power.”
“Yeah? Well so does getting rid of Boris. I vote we go back to the office and come clean with Maxim. He’s bound to have some anti-Boris ideas.”
“Ugh!” Taylor groused. “You’re such a fucking Pollyanna. I swear!”
Chapter Twenty
Maxim could safely say that nothing until now had prepared him for the sight of Landry and Taylor walking into his office. Both women had varying degrees of determination etched into their respective expressions. He sat back in his seat and waited for the sky to fall in.
“Taylor needs your help,” Landry informed him. Then she turned to Taylor and gave the disgruntled-looking woman a sweet smile. “Go on. Tell him.”
“You suck,” Taylor muttered. “You really do. Pollyanna.”
Maxim frowned. “Who is this Pollyanna character?”
Suddenly Taylor and Landry were both on the same page. They smirked and rolled their eyes. Taylor was the one who answered. “It was a book character who was so positive that she pissed off everyone around her looking on the bright side of things.”
“An American thing I assume?” Maxim had never heard of such a thing.
Landry pressed her lips together. “I suppose you could say that. But that’s not important. Can we get back to why we’re here?” She shot a pointed glance at Taylor. “Nice diversion, though.”
Taylor heaved a sigh. “Boris is my ex-husband’s uncle.”
“You were married to Vasily?” Maxim could not help it. He gaped at the woman. “How did I not know this?”
“Boris didn’t want you to know it.” Taylor folded her arms across her chest and looked belligerent. “His plan was that I should be here as a sort of mole, feeding him bits and pieces about the inside of your operation. You know, how the company works.”
“Why?” Maxim gripped the armrests of his chair, feeling betrayed in so very many ways. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“Because he cannot understand how you make so much money hand over fist when he is just barely able to keep his head above water.”
“If he would cut himself off from the mafiya he would have less trouble making legitimate business!” Maxim burst out. He started cursing in Russian, snarling and railing against Boris.
To his shock, Taylor answered back in flawless Russian. “Boris does not understand that you make money because you are willing to spend a little in order to make things right.”
Now even Landry was staring at Taylor with undisguised interest. “Wow! You actually speak Russian? That’s cool.”
“And an asset to you in this company,” Maxim pointed out. “Though you did not choose to disclose it.”
“I could not.” Taylor spread her hands before her in supplication. “I would have been running the risk of you finding the connection between myself and Boris.”
“So what is his plan?” Maxim demanded. Finally. He could get a few steps ahead of Boris before formulating the final part of his plan and putting the whole thing into action.
“At the moment?” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “He believes if he can get me into your bed I’ll have more influence. Then he can use me to somehow force you to increase his percentage of return on the business agreements he has with you.”
“Wow,” Landry mused. “That’s so unimaginative it’s pathetic.”
Taylor whipped around, frowning at Taylor. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning that you’ve been running around here making yourself the target of a pretty hefty human resources investigation just because you’re lobbying so hard to make Maxim your bitch.” Landry glanced at Maxim. “No offense.”
He didn’t bother to hide his grin. “None taken.”
“What I’m saying,” Landry went on in a very reasonable tone of voice, “is that if you had been trying to snag Maxim on your own—without Boris pressuring you—would you have gone about it in the same way?”
“No.” Taylor looked at her nails. It was as if she couldn’t meet their eyes. “High pressure is rarely the way to prove you’re the best candidate.”
“Exactly.” Landry clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling. “Which tells me that you were actually trying to sabotage Boris’s plans on your own.”
“Maybe.”
Landry snorted and poked Taylor in the arm. “No maybe about it. You told me that if you didn’t help Boris, then your kids lost their inheritance from their father. But you have no control over Maxim’s choices. If you could prove that you did everything in your power to make Boris’s plan a success, but still failed, then he would have to give you what he promised. Right?”
Maxim suddenly realized what Landry was attempting to do. He shook his head in wonder. The woman never ceased to amaze him in some way. Taylor had done everything in her considerable bag of tricks to make Landry’s life miserable, yet Landry was determined make certain that Maxim saw the reasons behind what Taylor had done. Landry was essentially protecting Taylor.
Maxim help up his hand. “You don’t have to convince me that Taylor wasn�
�t acting of her own volition,” he told the women. “Taylor, would you excuse us please?”
Taylor grimaced. “Of course.”
“Thank you.” Maxim nodded to her. There was no doubt in his mind that she was still feeling jealousy, but that was just a run-of-the-mill human emotion he could not alter.
Maxim waited until the door was closed before he opened his arms. “Come here.”
“What?” Landry walked into his embrace and sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “She didn’t deserve to be punished just because Boris is an ass.”
“I still can’t believe she got that one by on me,” Maxim grumbled.
Landry nuzzled his chest. “She got one by on human resources, not you. I’m sure you don’t interview prospective employees. That would be very time consuming and you’re a busy guy.”
“Not too busy for you,” he told her softly. “Never too busy for you.”
***
Landry wished she could stay like this forever, but it wasn’t practical. She pulled away and looked up at him. “We’re at work, you know. This is highly improper.”
“Hang propriety,” he said humorlessly. “I already talked to Danvers about getting rid of that stupid section in the employee code.”
“Um-hm.” Landry didn’t even need to ask to know what Danvers had told him. “And that’s a bad idea, isn’t it?”
“Apparently that is what Danvers claims.” Maxim actually looked pouty. It was rather cute. “But he says there are no rules about marrying you.”
“Excuse me?” Landry hopped back a step and wondered if her face displayed her level of alarm. “Marriage?”
“Sure.” Maxim was nodding as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world. “I want you in my life, Landry. You’re an incredible person. You light up an entire room when you walk in. You have an incredible way about you that people cannot help but love. How could I ever want anyone else?”
His words were flattering in the extreme, but Landry could not get past the cool voice of logic in her head reminding her that this man did not know her. Not really. Their acquaintance spanned all of what—a week? They’d met in a club! She had gone home with him because she wanted one wild weekend in her life to prove to herself that she was over David and ready to move on with her life. Now Maxim wanted to get married? It was absolute insanity!
