Page 7 of The Payment

“Finding the perfect location and the proper building isn’t an overnight achievement.”She swallowed hard.“In Atlanta...I worked with the architect, mulling over every aspect of the design of that building.”

Her spine straightened as she gathered her composure like a shield.“I refuse to drop my standards purely because I don’t have a year or two to design and have one built.”

“It’s already been done.”Jarek’s words fell into the space between them like stones into still water.

Her eyes narrowed as confusion momentarily replaced hostility.“What are you talking about?”

“TAP’s new headquarters.”Power emanated from him.His cold demeanor caused a drop in the room temperature.“At the perfect location with a better and bigger office building and warehouse than the one in Atlanta.”He advanced toward her with measured steps.“It’s been operational and generating rental income, which I have placed in high-earning investments.”

“How...when...”The color drained from Tatiana’s face as understanding dawned.Her voice turned brittle to match the glacial look in her eyes.“How long?”

“Two years.”The words emerged with studied precision as Jarek allowed his mask to slip, revealing the darkness beneath.Her earlier disgust had struck deeper than he could ever have anticipated, and it awakened the cruel streak he usually kept carefully controlled.The Dark One always lurked just below the surface, a fact he had come to realize more and more over the past five years.Time had widened the gap between what good he still had left and the darkness that had become the dominant player in who he now was.The need to remind her of her position, to make her feel the force of his power, surged through him.

“You...two years?”Her breath caught as she struggled to process his words.She took an instinctive step backward.Blinking, she stared at the wide expanse of the blue sky that stretched out behind him as a silent witness to their confrontation.

“It’s been ten years, to be exact, since I actively began manifesting the success of your company.”

“I don’t...what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I came to the States with one goal—to destroy Gregor Polov.You starting your company coincided very timeously with my arrival.All those big contracts?The overnight success of a startup logistic company among amalgamated powerhouses out there?”He shrugged.“I made it happen, Tatiana, but only to the extent of offering you the olive branches.Make no mistake, the success you achieved is all yours.”

“God, how I hate you.”Her voice cracked as she struggled to retain a modicum of control.“All these years, I believed I succeeded because we were the best in the business.Because I worked my ass off, and now...”

“Don’t sell yourself short.You were that good...you were the one to evolve TAP to become one of the best and biggest in the South.I gave you a nudge...you’re the one who ran with it.”

“A nudge...why don’t you call it what it is, fuckface?You used me, pure and simple.”She was trembling with a rage she made no attempt to hide.

Jarek closed the remaining distance between them and effectively caged her against the wall with his strong body.

“You already know this, my dear wife.”His voice dropped to a dark and intimate whisper, “I told you, you were always the target...the currency for the debt Gregor owes me.”

The morning sun cast half his face in shadow while highlighting the ruthless set of his jaw on the other half.He watched realization chase across her features.Her fate had been sealed long before she had known his name, and her careful plans and independent success over the past ten years had always been moving according to his design.The knowledge settled over her like a ton of bricks, and her shoulders sagged slightly before she caught herself and straightened.It was one of her admirable qualities—fearlessly facing challenges.

“You’re a fucking bastard, Jarek Farrel, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I despise you.”Her body shook with barely contained fury.

“Well, that comes with the territory, and I didn’t expect anything else.”His voice was a masterclass in restraint, flowing with such practiced evenness that only those who knew him best would detect the hairline fractures in his control.“However, since we are man and wife, and I am still owed one payment, this cold shoulder routine is over.”

The sharp barb hovering on her lips never found voice as his hands seized her face with the delicacy of handling a fragile treasure.Jarek’s hesitation lasted mere heartbeats before his patience shattered completely, and his mouth crashed against hers.There was a reckless abandonment in the act, as if he was seeking salvation in the very element that threatened to drown him.It was laced with pure dominance, a demonstration of control that broke through her walls of resistance.

For a moment, she remained rigid against him, but then her inherent submissive nature betrayed her.Her hands clutched at the lapels of his jacket as she responded and surrendered to the inevitable pull between them.The trembling of her body against his bartered with his desire to break her spirit.

The kiss evolved into an unspoken declaration, a passionate conversation without words, and an admission neither was ready to voice.Her fiery response cracked his indifference as it unleashed an unfamiliar vulnerability.The darkness in him celebrated her wild submission, yet amid that triumph bloomed an inconvenient truth of a desperate, unwanted thirst to exchange power for partnership, to risk everything for the chance that her fire might permanently warm the frozen wasteland of his soul—to love...and be loved.

The realization rocked him.The love she had for me very quickly turned to hate.He broke away abruptly as he struggled to regain his composure.They stood there, both breathing heavily, staring at each other.

“Come,” his voice emerged with an unfamiliar roughness.“I’ll take you to the new TAP headquarters.”

The morning sun spilled through the window, illuminating the unshed tears pooling in Tatiana’s eyes.She stared at him with her arctic composure crumbling into ruins, exposing raw, unfiltered bewilderment.His lungs constricted as if bands of steel were tightening around his ribs.The pressure expanded outward, crushing his chest in a grip he couldn't identify—couldn’t control.

This unguarded version of her unleashed a primal protectiveness and desires that he had deliberately buried beneath years of practiced indifference.Her vulnerability threatened the very detachment and defenses that had become his sanctuary.

He turned away, unwilling to face what he had glimpsed in those azure depths.He sure as hell wasn’t ready to turn soft from one look of warmth from his ice-queen wife.

“Your lunch, madam,” Tony said as he held out a small cooler bag to Tatiana, oblivious to the power play unfolding of a man controlling the most lucrative mafia group in the States, having just reminded his unwilling wife exactly why she wore his ring.

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