Page 70 of Preferential Treatment

“Yes.”

“Wow, don’t sound too excited about it.” Angel chuckled. “Anyways, that’s love. That’s literally all love is.”

It couldn’t be. Love was supposed to be grand and poetic and magical, and all Mikhail felt was a base need—something like hunger or thirst. It was primal and simplistic and far too straightforward to be love.

“Look,” Angel went on while he stood in stunned silence. “I don’t know what your damage is, but I assure you, love is not as complicated as you’re making it. I should know—I’ve fucked up more good things than most people ever get a chance at. But if you can’t recognize that you’re in love, and admit it to Kate, you are never going to get her back.”

Mikhail’s chest squeezed like a vise had been clamped around it. This was love? This horrible feeling?

“If I tell her—” he began hoarsely, desperately.

“That’s not going to cut it,” Angel said, a hint of dislike coming through. “You already told her you can’t love her. You can’t fix that damage with more talk. She’ll think you’re lying.”

“Then what do I do?” He asked, almost relieved. He understood action better than words, anyway.

“That’s between you and my sister. But whatever you do, it’s got to be enough to override the bullshit you already told her. Prove she’s the most important thing to you.”

Was she the most important thing? He used to think it was his company, his wealth. He’d as much as told her so. But without her, none of that gave him any of the pleasure that it used to. But what would sacrificing his company accomplish?

“I can hear the gears turning in your skull, so good luck, buddy. I gotta go.”

“Yes, well… thank you,” Mikhail said.

“Wasn’t for you. But I hope you figure your shit out anyway.” She hung up.

Mikhail pocketed his phone, walking back to Domovoy slowly, replaying every conversation he’d ever had with Kate about her place in his life. Bit by bit, a pattern emerged. Bit by bit, a plan came together.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Sounds like you quit your job a few weeks too early,” Theo told Kate while Anna dealt cards around the table. They were playing sheepshead because Theo and Kate had managed to ruin cooperative games with their back-and-forth enmity.

“Why do you say that?” Kate asked, pretending disinterest. Any mention of Domovoy had her full attention, mainly because she was hoping for any scrap of news about Mikhail. For the sake of her own sanity, she’d had to use the parental controls on her phone settings to block internet access to anything related to Domovoy or its CEO.

“You didn’t hear? They just instituted a huge stock-sharing program with all the employees. It was all over the news today.”

“What?”

“Yeah. The CEO—Volkov?—gave up, like, half his ownership shares to start the program. He basically cut his net worth in half overnight.”

“He’s still got billions,” Anna said dismissively.

“I heard the other shareholders are suing to have him kicked off the board and removed from the CEO position,” Eric said distractedly, his attention focused on arranging his cards.

“Can they do that?” Mel asked.

Theo shrugged.

“Give me a second.” Kate laid her cards down to pull out her phone. She quickly removed the blocked searches from her settings and went to look up the news. Multiple headlines came up, so she clicked on the first link.

Domovoy Technologies founder, Mikhail Volkov, has distributed half of his Domovoy shares amongst employees, including the associated shareholder voting rights. Given the size of the company, and the number of employees, Domovoy’s employees have opted to vote as a single bloc, electing representatives to attend shareholder meetings. This distribution of shares has reduced Volkov’s net worth—previously estimated at 52 billion USD—to less than 30 billion USD.

The move was unilaterally opposed by all other shareholders, but until distributing shares to employees, Volkov held a controlling interest in the company, and his decision could not be overruled by other shareholders. Beginning in the third fiscal quarter, employee shareholders as a collective will have equal share ownership to the CEO and founder.

This move comes just days after it was revealed that Domovoy stock had split for the second time, and share value increased by 30%. When reached for comment, Domovoy’s spokesperson released the following brief statement:

“People matter more than money. Especially the people we love.”

Volkov, who has previously been a relatively apolitical figure in the financial world, seems to be decisively abandoning that policy.

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