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Chapter 14
ESTHER LEVENTIS’ BLOODchilled at the underlying note of furious panic in Yehor Kokinos’ voice when he answered her call. He always sounded in control whenever they talked, a man who knew he had absolute power in his ever-increasing world. But now he sounded exactly the opposite.
“I hope I did not catch you in a bad time, but this is important.” They had not talked in over two weeks, long enough to have her worried. Enough to have Esther swallow her pride and call him first. “The hearing is coming up soon, Yehor. We have not yet discussed—-”
“I don’t have time for your petty problems,” Yehor said, cutting her off.
“A potential merger that could make us a monopoly of the industry is not petty!”
Yehor’s temper snapped. “You’re right! It’s not petty when it should have been. I should have known you would be incapable of keeping your son in line. After all,” he added in disgust, “if you couldn’t do it with your husband—-”
“How dare you?” Esther screeched, never failing to feel livid whenever the topic of her deceased husband was introduced.
“I dare because we both know that your son has always been the real brains behind your company. Short-term gains were all you could bring, while your son has always been the one credited for Leventis’ long-term growth. You brought more profit by squeezing money out of your suppliers and employees, but that can only give you a paltry few millions at best.”
Esther’s fingers tightened around the receiver, her body shaking with mute rage. “If you don’t stop being rude, I swear—-”
“You swear what? You have already done your worst to your son, but he’s survived it. So what can you still do, Esther?” he jeered. Cursing the woman in his mind, he muttered almost to himself, “I should have known better than to trust you. If I hadn’t gotten myself embroiled in your stupid plans, I would have seen it coming. Someone is trying to take my company away—-” Yehor bit off the rest of his words, knowing he had already said too much.
But it was already too late.
“Who could take your company away from you?” Esther asked sharply, her question prompted not by concern over Yehor but more for his ability to keep his bargain with her.
“Forget I said anything,” Yehor said curtly and slammed the phone down.
But Esther could not forget, and the feeling of something bad persisted inside her. She was not a suspicious woman by nature. She relied only on facts and never on feelings, but she also knew she would be dumb to ignore what her instincts were telling her.
Someone knocked on her door, and before she could demand who it was, the door burst open, Cimon Onassis pushing past Esther’s harried-looking secretary.
A sick feeling formed in her stomach. Cimon Onassis was the president of the company’s accounting department as well as being the man she had bribed to doctor certain accounts so that everything would show in her favor and not Damen’s.
“Something’s come up,” Cimon said abruptly as he stopped in front of Esther Leventis’ desk.
“You can go,” Esther told her secretary sharply.
The moment the door closed behind Esther’s secretary, Cimon said, “We have a problem. My secretary has not come to work for over a week now.”
Esther scowled. “And this is my problem because?”
“—-she may have incriminating evidence against us,” Cimon finished flatly.