Page 65 of Pursued By My Grumpy Fiancé
“Please don’t interrupt me,” he says evenly, barely contained fury evident in his eyes.
He takes a deep breath and composes himself before flashing me a small smile. “What was I saying? Right. You need to break off your relationship with Hailey. After that, we will publicly reconnect, forgetting all the nonsense that sullied our friendship in the past. As part of our renewed friendship, you will publicly sign over a majority share of Gould Holdings to me.”
A laugh escapes me and Ivan frowns.
“Sorry, that just has to be the funniest thing you’ve ever said. Why on earth would I do that?”
“Well, I— Because if you don’t, I’ll reveal the true nature of Hailey’s and your deal to the press!” I start laughing even harder, snorts emerging.
Ivan looks taken aback. “What about this is funny to you, Landon?”
“Oh, man. It’s just— Did you actually think this would work? Cause, yeah, no. I won’t be doing any of that. I’m actually embarrassed that that was your grand master plan. Come on, you’re better than this, Ivan.”
Ivan’s face contorts with rage at my laughter, reacting to my condescension just the way I thought he would.
“You’ll see, Landon. I’m giving you a week to the day to give me your final answer. If you don’t agree, you’ll regret it. I do have receipts. This won’t be a baseless accusation.” He stalks off.
An amused sound escapes me as I watch him walk out the door. He starts his Aston Martin and peels off into the distance.
I admit that I probably should be taking his threat more seriously. He did say he has receipts, but it will be a cold day in hell before I show any weakness to Ivan Sokolov.
“Did you catch all that, Bruce?” I say into the wire.
My phone rings, with Bruce’s name lighting up the screen.
“Sure did, Mr. Gould,” he responds.
I swear I can hear the hint of a smirk in his voice.
“Good. Dig up everything you can about Ivan Sokolov and what he’s been up to in the past year. I don’t think he’s a threat, but I’ll be damned if I end up wrong.”
“Understood,” Bruce says, and the line goes dead.
There’s one problem taken care of. Now there’s just the heavily pregnant one sitting on my mom’s couch.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hailey
“Thishasbeensolovely, Eleanor, thank you so much for inviting me here,” I say to his mom over a cup of coffee.
“Oh, of course, I wanted to spend some time with just us girls again! I figured it might be much safer at home.” Eleanor presses her lips together, and I’m sure we all remember the post brunch mugging that happened just a short while ago.
“You know, Hailey, I’d really love it if you let me design your wedding dress,” Penny says, her face flushed.
I’m amazed that she is so much more pregnant than she was the last time I saw her, looking as if she’s going to give birth any second. She’s holding a cup of decaffeinated tea.
“That would be so nice, Penny, but are you sure you won’t be too overwhelmed? I’m sure it will be hard being a new mom and trying to design a wedding dress all at the same time.
Penny sits back and puts her hands on her stomach as she considers what I’ve said. Truthfully, a wedding dress designed by Penny would be a dream come true. But I would feel awful if I was ever the cause of her feeling upset or overwhelmed.
“You know what, let’s revisit the topic after I’ve had the baby.” She chuckles as she nods her head.
Eleanor and I laugh along. It’s hard for me to stay in the right frame of mind, because there is something that I’m itching to do.
“So, where’s Victoria today?” I ask as nonchalantly as I can.
Penny and Eleanor exchange a look.
