Page 8 of The Payment

Chapter Four

Tatiana

The new headquartersof TAP United Logistics, Lovell Street, Boston Logan International Airport...

No matter how much she hated Jarek for his betrayal, Tatiana couldn’t keep the awe from her expression as she stood in front of the impressive glass and steel building emblazoned with the TAP United Logistics logo.

The thirty-five-story structure towered before her, with its glass façade reflecting the clear Boston sky.Unlike the Atlanta headquarters this building reached higher and commanded more attention.The familiar spiral pattern of glass panels remained, but here, they were executed with greater precision—narrowing toward the top like a ship’s bow cutting through water with the company’s signature architectural statement now perfected.

“Shall we?”Jarek stood at the revolving door as he gestured inside..

Tatiana joined him but was surprised that his normally stern face softened with unmistakable pride—a characteristic she didn’t associate with the man she now knew he was.As she stepped into the double-volume reception area, her heels clicked against the pristine gray and white marble floor.People from companies renting floor space moved about silently—another surprise.He had said he had been generating income; she just hadn’t expected there to be that many rentals.

The layout mirrored Atlanta’s design but was expanded in scale and ambition.Living green walls framed the reception desk, where water trickled down into a reflecting pool twice the size of the original.

“We applied your environmental principles from Atlanta but enhanced them,” Jarek explained as he followed a step behind her.“Triple the solar capacity, rainwater collection for all building systems, and the warehouse uses entirely geothermal heating.”

Tatiana traced her fingertips along a marble column.“You certainly spared no expense.”

“Only the best for TAP’s new home,” Jarek replied succinctly.“And for its highly competent owner.”

“Competent owner?”The words she uttered rang hollow.“I don’t own this building, Jarek.You do...or rather Bolton Enterprises does, I imagine?”Glacial contempt solidified in her blue eyes in a stare weaponizing the temperature between them until even hell would surrender to winter.“You keep forgetting, so let me remind you.I’m not here by choice but by contract.The living currency paying for my grandfather’s debt...your words.In five years, I will walk away, back to Atlanta.TAP United Logistics will return to its origins, my dear husband.You can fucking bank on that.”

Ten years of Jarek's planning had culminated in this farce of a marriage, and the contract bound her with a five-year sentence and the production of an heir as part of the terms.She’d be damned if she gave up everything she had worked for without a fight.

“My office?”she said in a deliberately flat voice.

“In the same corner location you preferred in Atlanta, but with improvements.”Jarek gestured toward the private elevator.“I kept your designs and the same specifications.”

“How thoughtful,” she said with an edge in her voice.“Imagine having to spend ten years planning all this...for little old me.”

She reveled in the tightening of Jarek’s features as she identified the momentary crack in his composure.

“Long-term planning ensures success,” he cut back, his expression turning stoic.

“Indeed.In business and...other ventures,” she replied cryptically.

They entered the glass elevator that moved silently up the building’s spine.Tatiana watched the floors slip by, each an expanded version of the Atlanta departments.Many of them housed companies that had settled in over the past two years.Everything was familiar yet completely foreign.

“So, you left the rolling hills of Ireland and relocated to the granite forest of Boston.Was I the target from the moment you arrived here to collect on my grandfather’s debt?”Tatiana asked suddenly, her eyes fixed on the rising numbers.

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