Page 27 of Devil In A Suit

“Why don’t you wait and find out tomorrow if I’m good for it,” he says. “Take it to the bank and let me know.”

He rises to his feet and I panic, feeling my control over the situation slip away.

“Wait!” I call out, louder than I intended.

He turns, his face blank.

“Dad,” I say, turning back to my father, but he shakes his head emphatically. “No, I’m not leaving. We will resolve this here, together. This is all my doing and I’d rather go to prison than have you suffer the consequences.”

“For God’s sake, Dad, please just leave,” I plead, unable to hold back my temper any longer. “I told you... he and I have this unfinished thing. We will resolve this together, and you will get back everything you’ve lost to him.”

But he shakes his head obstinately like a child making a final useless stand against a parent. “No.”

“Please, Dad.”

Suddenly, he looks small and defeated. His eyes start to swim as he stares at me with guilt and regret. My heart aches at the sight. Rising to his feet, he shuffles out of the room. I watch his sad figure until the door shuts, and then I turn around to see that the Russian has once again taken his seat.

He plays with the gold ring on his little finger, turning and twisting it. Then he looks up at me from under his lashes and it makes my heart skip a beat. The sensation is so unfamiliar my legs feel like jelly. I have to look away and quickly sit. Obviously, these strange sensations have nothing to do with sexual attraction for there is no one else I hate more in this world than him. It must be the intensity of hate.

I hate feeling so powerless. From the glint in his eyes, I know this is going to be a bargain with the devil.

My voice is barely above a whisper. “At this point, seeing the kind of man that you are, I’d rather die than sleep with you. But I don’t want to die, and I don’t want my father and his business to die either. He has run that agency for the past ten years. It’s his baby, his last big dream and he won’t survive its loss.”

He responds calmly, his tone light as if he is discussing the weather, and it puts me on edge. “Let’s not sugarcoat the situation. Your father is an addict, in an endless black hole. That baby and that last dream you speak of, it will be lost again right in this room, or in another sordid place just like this. No matter how many times you throw money at him, he will piss it all up. He needs help and fast.”

I stare at him, flabbergasted, realizing a total stranger has seen what I didn’t. Or rather what I didn’t want to see, but I can see now the enormity of the problem that needs to be faced and faced urgently. I take a deep breath. Hopefully, I am not too late.

“You are right. I will get him the help he needs. If you will be kind enough to turn this debt into a loan? We’ll pay you back. Every last cent. I promise. It might take a little while, but?—”

He raises his hand, cutting me off mid-sentence.

Chapter Seventeen

IVAN

"Idon’t do instalment payments,” I tell her with amusement. “It’s not a policy of mine, and even if I were to agree, what are we talking about here? Twenty years? Thirty? Do you want to be in debt to me for that long?"

She stares at me with consternation, and I notice a fascinating twitch in the corner of her left eye. I like that little quirk a lot and I realize that it’s actually wonderful she hates me. I don’t want her to be soft and foolish; instead, I want her fiery, arrogant, and full of fight. It’s exactly what I need to set me on fire.

“So what’s your plan?” she asks. Ice drips from her words.

"My proposal is for you to pay off the entire debt in a month," I say. "Maybe even less. I am neither willing nor able to deal with you or any other woman for longer than that. A month of your time, and all of your problems, as well as your father’s, disappear."

“Mr. Ivanovich,” she replies disdainfully. “You don’t seem to grasp what the problem is here. I can’t even bear to be with you for one minute, and you want me to be with you for a month?”

I expel my breath. We’re getting nowhere. Never have I been engaged in a negotiation so ineffective considering I am the one with all the bargaining chips in hand, literally. I rise to my feet, and instantly, she does the same, panicking and preparing herself for my next move.

“You can’t bear to be with me for one minute? Yet, here you are for the past ten minutes wasting my time.”

“I’m wasting your time? May I remind you, I’m not here by choice. You called me. I’m enduring you because my father has become entangled with you and I’m trying to solve the problem at hand in a way that is satisfactory to all parties,” she throws at me, even as she takes a fearful step back.

“I know you’re attached to your pride,” I say quietly as I close the gap between us. “It’s as big as a man’s, and probably even bigger. I don’t blame you. You’ve made your own way in life and you don’t want to be considered a damsel in distress, but sweetheart?—”

“I’m not your sweetheart” she grates through gritted teeth.

I smile at the fire in her voice. “Sweetheart,” I repeat, savoring the way a vein in her temple pulses with irritation. God, she fascinates me. “As much as you detest the idea, you are currently a damsel in distress. It’s no consolation to you, but your dad put you there so be mad at him, not me. I’m the white, or you might prefer, dark knight, swooping in to save you.”

By this time, I’m a mere step away from closing the distance between us and she is already pressed up against the door and trying to melt into it as if it could hide her from me. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, the tension between us almost tangible.

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