Page 35 of Beautiful Deception

I knock his feet from my desk and take my seat. “You. Showing up here. Intimidating my staff.”

“You’re pretty little maid.”

“Yes. My pretty little maid. Leave her alone, Finn. I told you so before.”

“I don’t see why I should have to. She’s just your maid. It’s not like you have a claim on her. She’s not your wife.”

“And that would stop you? If she were my wife?”

Finn’s smirk tells me he wouldn’t care about that fact at all. He’s a man who does what he wants when he wants. And sometimes, that includes women.

“Just leave her alone,” I sigh. “Can you do that? You reached out to me, need I remind you? You wanted this partnership. I can easily end it if you piss me off.”

“Fine,” he grumbles. “I’ll stop bothering the girl. But what if she wants me?”

“She doesn’t want you.” The thought of Inessa wanting another man bothers me, though it shouldn’t. She’s not mine. She might have a boyfriend for all I know.

I might have to kill him if she does.

No. I can’t let my mind go there.Don’t let the pretty maid distract you, I tell myself. I have more important things on my mind: like taking down Erik and Dante.

“What if she does?” Finn asks.

“Are you here to discuss business or not?”

“Just answer my question and I’ll move on.”

“Fine.” I lean back in my seat. Talking with Finn is like talking to a brick wall sometimes. “If she likes you, you can have her. But only if she likes you. But the fact that you made her scream tonight tells me that she doesn’t like you. So it’s a moot point. Now can we discuss business?”

“All right. I know Dante has a shipment of drugs coming into the harbor in a few days. I say we go blow it up.”

“Or steal it for ourselves and sell it.”

“Or that too.”

I steeple my fingers together. “Can you handle that?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course I can handle stealing Dante’s shipment. Just give me a few men and I’ll handle it. We’ll rake in more money and fuck over Dante in the process.”

“We’ll be fucking over your brother too,” I remind him.

Finn’s brow furrows. “He’s dead to me. After he married that bitch.”

“Don’t call Elena that,” I snap.

“I didn’t know you cared for her.”

“I don’t care for her. But she was a nice woman. She never deserved what you did to her. She’s not a bitch. You’re just an asshole.”

“I’m curious, Viktor. How is it you can be so nice to the women who literally fucked other men over you? Both Elena and Nadia did it and yet, you only ever say nice things about them.”

“Because I don’t blame them. They’re women. In our world, men rule. I blame Erik and Dante and your brother. Dante for seducing Nadia. Aiden for seducing Elena. And Erik for agreeing that they could all marry. But as for Nadia and Elena, they were just following their hearts.”

“So, you want a woman who loves you, is that it?” Finn’s laugh is full of sarcasm. “I didn’t know you had such a soft side to you, Vik.”

“Viktor,” I say. “Don’t use a nickname for me. I’m not ten.”

“I like Vik. It suits you.”

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