Page 25 of Forbidden Boss

“If someone were to, somehow, get past the twenty guards between the front door and my penthouse, they could take you both as leverage. Or they could kill Sophie to make her one less problem to deal with.”

“Her name is Susie,” I correct, rolling my eyes. “Really, if you’re going to ‘protect’ her too, you should probably learn her name.”

“Her name is of no consequence to me,” he answers sharply, infuriating me even more. “The point is, she’s only in danger because this person knows where you live. So she can’t go home, and the guard is just an extra precaution. As I said, you should probably call her and let her know. He’ll be at the hospital in approximately two minutes.”

I huff and get off the couch, heading in the direction he went a few minutes ago. I find a study with the door half-closed, and know I shouldn’t go in. It’s clearly his private space. Which is exactly why I do go in and shut the door. If he’s going to take away my privacy and my choice, I’m going to return the favor.

I lean back against the door and take deep breaths, trying desperately not to cry. The panic hits me all at once, but I promise myself I can fall apart after I call Susie. She needs to know what’s going on.

She doesn’t answer the first two times I call, which is to be expected. She doesn’t normally answer her phone at work. When she does finally answer, she sounds almost annoyed.

“Jesus, Mari, where’s the fire?” she asks.

I don’t even know where to start. How do you explain to someone that her whole life is about to be turned upside down and that it’s my fault? I take another deep breath and talk very fast.

“Susie, listen. Something’s happened and you can’t go home. One of Lev’s men is going to show up at the hospital and he’s going to escort you to a safe house after work. I’m really sorry, but they’re going to get your stuff for you and bring it there.”

“Very funny, Mar.” She laughs. “I think you’re taking this mob stuff a little far.”

“This isn’t a joke, Susie,” I say harshly, my voice finally breaking. “A man is going to show up at the hospital any minute. If he looks anything like Lev’s other guards, he’s probably Russian and huge. He’ll look terrifying, but he’s there to protect you.”

“Mari.” She sighs, and I can hear the eye roll in her tone. “I really have to get back to—” She abruptly stops talking, and I hear her muffle the phone to talk to someone. She sounds annoyed and slightly hysterical. My stomach sinks as I wonder what’s happening.

“Mari, what the fuck?” she asks quietly a second later. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“I told you who he is.”

“He’s a tank!” she hisses into the phone. “He’s just sitting in the waiting room, staring at me.”

“I promise I’ll explain everything soon,” I tell her earnestly. “Just do as he says and don’t try to argue. They’re just here to keep us safe. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Mari—” she starts, but I no longer have the energy to stay standing.

I hang up on her and slide down the door, finally giving in to the panic and letting the tears fall.

12

LEV

Living with Mari this past week has been hell.

She’s in my space, yet she still refuses to even talk to me. After we brought her things from her apartment, she took the guest room, shut the door, and stayed inside for two days. Then she went full-on nuclear.

The first morning she finally left her room, she tore through the kitchen, banging every cabinet door and making as much noise as possible.

Then she loudly complained that there was nothing in the apartment to eat, which was categorically untrue. I’d had a staffer get a list of all her favorites and stock the kitchen. I kindly offered to order in anything she wanted, but she yelled at one of my guards that if he didn’t let her leave the penthouse to get her own breakfast, she would twist his balls off with her bare hands.

After that, it was clear she wouldn’t stay in the penthouse for anything short of a death threat, so I conceded and let her work at the office. The trade-off, of course, was that she had to travel with my men and be under physical surveillance at all times.

She hasn’t given my men an inch. They have a bet going among themselves to see who she can make cry first. They’re all contenders.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of making this better for her. While she’s freezing me out, I’m burning hours hunting the embezzler I knew was there before she arrived, keeping the Kozlovs from mistaking my silence for weakness, and closing the holes the Delancey hit tried to open. I have to be everywhere at once, and I simply don’t have the time to coddle her.

Not that she’d let me, anyway. As angry as she is, she still refuses to even look at me. At the penthouse, she disappears the second I come home, and at work she keeps her door shut and only communicates with me through short, clipped emails.

My team complains. To one another, of course, because they’d never complain to my face. They like their jobs too much. But Yuri’s been showing me the text thread they maintain.

Marcus:She refuses to sit in the back seat if the driver takes the FDR. Says the view’s boring.