Page 93 of Mafia and Scars

I turn toward my desk.

But then I stop dead.

And blink slowly.

Then blink more rapidly.

But I still can’t actually believe my eyes.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

Because my spreadsheets have been…defiled. That’s the only goddamn word for it. Because my immaculate spreadsheet is now a rainbow-colored fucking circus. Bold letters. Gradient columns. Lurid colors. Empty cells that have smiley emojis.

I’m frozen. Unable to move an inch.

Pink. Neon green. Purple headers. Andsparkles—where the hell did they come from? Then there’s a cupcake emoji next to ‘Bribery Totals’ and a goddamn glittery heart beside ‘Explosives Budget.’What the actual fuck?

Gone is the clean, black-and-white efficiency of my inventory and logistics. In its place? A fucking multi-colored nightmare. I blink hard, as if that might magically fix it.

“What the hell is this?” I roar, my voice bouncing off the bulletproof glass of the windows.

Nikolai’s snort echoes from across the room. “Oh no,” he says, nudging Matvey. “He found thesparkle sheets.” The asshole doesn’t even try to hide his guffaw of laughter. “Told you it’d give him an ulcer.”

I stomp over, glaring at both of them. “Which one of you idiots did this? Was it a dare? Are you fucking twelve or something?”

“I wish I were that creative,” Nikolai drawls. “But nope, wasn’t me.

Matvey raises both his hands in front of himself. “And it definitely wasn’t me. I’m too busy for shit like that.”

“Then who the hell thought it was a good idea to turn my quarterly accounts into a goddamn kindergarten art project?”

And then…she appears.Avelina. She glides in like she’s floating on a fluffy cloud.

“Oh, hey!” she trills.

I can’t speak. My eyes dart up and down as they frantically scan the spreadsheet.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t touch the formulae,” she says, noticing my expression. “I triple-checked, and they’re still all the same as before.”

“Okay. But…um, the colors?” I manage to finally croak.

She blushes, looking a little embarrassed, and shrugs a little. “The colors just make me feel happier, you know? I looked up online how to do a few different things.”

My jaw drops.Oh, please no, no, no…

Matvey coughs into his hand, definitely laughing. And Nikolai, the fucker, actually starts wheezing.

My eye twitches. “I—We don’t… This is abusinessenterprise,” I stutter. Why the hell am I suddenly sounding exactly like Grigory did this morning?

But I know why. It’s because it’sunexpected. Although having the toys in here feels messy and chaotic, I was able to prepare myself for it before it happened. But this spreadsheet mayhem has just been sprung on me from out of nowhere. Christ, Grigory was right all along.This was a fucking bad idea.

Her smile doesn’t falter. “I know. And that’s exactly the reason why it needs to all be a bit more cheerful, don’t you think?”

I want tofiresomeone.

Orkillsomeone.

But not her.Never her. She stands there in her favorite yellow dress, holding a mug with a rainbow on it—where the hell did that come from? She’s also made herself a lanyard with a glittery unicorn charm. Why does she look like she just came from hugging a rescue puppy?And why does she look so utterly beautiful?