Page 119 of Desperate Crimes

I feel it.

Like a tremor before a quake.

She thinks this is why I married her.

She thinks it’s all strategy.

And I want to shout that it’s not.

That it never was.

That I’d have married her in a gutter and signed this deal later in a boardroom with blood under my nails and ash in my lungs if I had to.

But the words can’t come now.

Not in front of everyone.

Not when the empire is on the table.

Adrik lifts a glass of water, sips once, then sets it down.

“I see,” he says, voice unreadable. “This is quite the offer.”

“It’s the future. Wolvers and Vipers work better together, Mr. Volkov,” I say.

Adrik raises a brow. “You’re saying Viper Enterprises controls his holdings now?”

“I’m saying I do.”

A slow, calculating pause.

“I see.”

“This doesn’t have to be a threat,” I say, tone even. “It can be a bridge. A merger between Fury Holdings, a subdivision of Viper Enterprises, and Volkov Industries—clean lines. Legitimate. No overlap.”

Adrik laughs under his breath. “Legitimate,” he echoes, the word dry on his tongue.

“It’s been coming for years, you know that. But now it makes sense. With me and Leanna married?—”

That’s when I feel her tense beside me.

Not much. Just a subtle shift in her weight.

But I feel it.

And, fuck me, it makes something cold and hot spiral through my veins.

Goddamn it.

No.

She definitely thinks I used her to get this deal across the line.

I turn my head, just enough to catch her eyes. I can’t do this.

Not now. Not here.

But I see it.