Page 19 of Under His Skin

The combative mood wasn’t unexpected, but Tracht had never heard Anna cuss at anybody directly. She was much more a fan of subtle insults and takedowns.

“Are you sure you want to start a fight with me now?” Tracht asked. “In front of my lawyers? I certainly don’t care, but don’t you have a professional reputation to maintain?”

That gave her pause, and she looked at the two lawyers—who were both pretending to ignore her—before she deflated. “Fine, whatever. I just had a yelling match with Vasilis, so I don’t need another one.”

“Judge Tracht,” Ms. Walter said, standing up nervously. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Krantz was a lot more relaxed about it. “It’s good to see you again. I hope you’re doing all right, given the circumstances.”

Anna gave both of them a searing once over. “Given the circumstances. Of course. I’m only under house arrest, my professional standing is up in the air, I might lose my job, my husband and I are currently fighting—” she cut herself off. “No, I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”

Everybody fell silent, although Tracht thought her outburst had been unnecessary. Those were her bridges to burn, though.

Then Alex coughed loudly. All eyes fell on him.

“So, did you do it?” Alex asked, staring intently at Anna. “The corruption crap.”

Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“Okay, I think we should leave,” Krantz said. He grabbed Ms. Walter’s hand and pulled her along. “Captain Tracht, I’ll be in touch.”

Once they were gone and the door was firmly shut again, Anna glared hard at Alex, although it didn’t affect him. Tracht used his hand to cover an amused smile. Anna would never, ever be able to intimidate Alex.

“How dare you even ask me that,” Anna said. “After all the ways I’ve made you welcome in my home. After I’ve paid you for all your little services!”

Now that, Tracht couldn’t let stand. “Little? He got himself tortured saving Johan. You think that’s a little service? And don’t think I didn’t see through the whole payment thing. You wanted him to leave me, so you filled up his bank account in the hopes that he’d notice and pay everything off earlier.”

“But apparently he’s too stupid to do that! Everybody else wants to get the fuck away from you, but no, not him! The one person who is most inappropriate—”

“You didn’t answer,” Alex interrupted. “Did you do it? Because lady, right now you aren’t convincing me that you’re some sort of upstanding citizen. Like, geez, I know Tracht pretty well right now. You’re not that different from him.”

“I would never—” Tracht started, just as Anna said, “Of course I fucking did it.”

No wonder Vasilis was mad. Tracht was suddenly so overcome with rage himself that he considered slapping her. He quickly backed away, far enough that his knees met the bed. “You what?”

“Yes, I did it. Yes. I took bribes in exchange for influencing outcomes.” She looked him coldly in the eyes. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“That’s… illegal.” The word sounded rough in his mouth. He hated compromising himself or his business in any way, and he couldn’t fathom how Anna had decided that the risk was worth it.

Anna burst out laughing. “Are you going to pretend you have the moral high ground here? Because I haven’t forgotten that whole mess with your crew member all those years ago. The one you’d whipped bloody while out in space? I think that might, also, be illegal.”

“What I did was out in the depths of comms-free space. It was completely untraceable, and the only witnesses to the entire affair are Alex and Singh.”

“Do you think Alex will cover for you if he gets pulled as a witness?” Anna asked mockingly. “That brute of a bondservant whom you’ve used ruthlessly?”

“Hey! Keep me out of this. I’m not going to fucking betray Tracht. I’d never.” Alex stood up and walked over to Tracht’s side, creating a very clear image of solidarity. In a certain way, Tracht was touched.

On the other hand, Tracht knew it was stupid to let Alex know more than he already did, because while Alex would never purposefully betray him, Alex wasn’t the smartest person. “Thank you, Alex.” He touched Alex’s arm briefly. “Why don’t you go find Vasilis and see about getting dinner? I know you’re hungry. Anna and I have a few things to discuss.”

For a second Alex looked hurt, but he put on his defensive scowl and said, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Anna snorted a laugh and ignored the nasty look Alex sent her way. As soon as Alex was gone, though, she was all business again. “So. Come on, let’s hear this judgment I know you’re dying to make.”

“You’re so stupid.” Tracht had a sense that it was smarter to let it go, but he didn’t care. “I’ve gone all my life knowing exactly where the line was and making sure not to cross it. You think I enjoy playing by all the rules? But the risk was never worth it. I thought you knew that too. Why did you even need to do it? You married Vasilis! You can’t possibly want to be richer than you already are.”

Anna flipped her hair and sniffed disapprovingly. “I’m not antisocial like you. It wasn’t just monetary bribes. I was trading favors. Sure, I don’t need more money. But why shouldn’t I let somebody gift me a nice dress, or limited edition earrings? And don’t pretend you didn’t benefit from this. That whole mess a few years back wasn’t the first time I’ve bailed you out. There are quite a few people who ended up wholly unemployable because they pissed you off. You don’t get to accuse me of anything. If not for me, you wouldn’t be where you are today.”

She wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t wrong, but Tracht hated her so much in that moment. All those favors he’d asked of her, they were nothing. He’d never asked for anything that could ruin her career. “When you were taking those bribes, did you consider what would happen if you were caught?”

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