Page 26 of The Fixer
“You don’t apologize often, do you, Aleksander Makovich? It’s obvious. I’d bet money that you’ve never ? not a single time ? admitted defeat. Tell her earnestly that you’ve learned your lesson and you’re going to actively try not to treat her like garbage. She’s not a chess piece, even if everyone else is.”
He jerked his head in a nod just as the door to the anteroom opened.
Satisfaction nearly bowled me over. Aleksander acknowledged he’d fucked up— that was great. All of this could’ve been avoided, though, if he didn’t make the mistake of thinkingeveryperson was expendable. Some people, like his brother and Ophelia, simply weren’t realistically replaceable.
“What did she say, Envre?” he asked the girl who’d wandered in.
Envre sashayed over to perch on the armrest of the sofa, and
My interest peaked at her drawn expression. She was pretty, plain, but obviously lived a long, long, young life.
Aleksander stared at her. “I didn’t expect her to pour her heart out to you or anything, but—”
“She said she psyched herself out, and you’re not nearly as godlike as she was led to believe.” Her tone was chiding, almost.
Aleksander groaned softly as he flopped his body back forcefully.
Envre went on, “She won’t tell you anything unless you negotiate. I told you before that your stupid idea to marry her off to some dirtbag over the Urals wasn’t going to work, Aleksander.”
“I wasn’t actually going to go through with it…I just needed something to dangle over her.”
My heart nearly stopped beating long before Aleksander’s poor attempt to rationalize came rolling off his tongue.Marry her off? Ophelia?Was that why she kept bringing up breaking up so much? Before last week, she’d never breathed a mention that she thought we needed space— or that she doubted me standing by her.
But if Ophelia thought she couldn’t withstand Aleksander, and he’d told her she would suffer the same fate as her parents…
“I take back what I said just now.” Hoisting myself up, I scowled darkly as both pairs of eyes watched me from across the low coffee table curiously. “Ophelia won’t give you an inch, no matter what you do. And we’re leaving. You might as well cut your balls off now, because that’s what it’ll take to get her to tell you anything.”
“Aleksi,” Aleksander called out.
The hulky guy who’d been watching a movie on his phone the entire time I’d been here finally moved at Aleksander’s command.
As I looked over at him, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Aleski only shrugged. Casting Aleksander the most ‘I told you so’ look possible, the scar on his face rippled as he frowned. “You’re fucked, Carlyle. Accept it. Everyone told you to back up and think, but you ignored us. What’s the point of having any of us around if you won’t listen to us? So… I think this guy’s right. You accept the consequences and let them go home where they can decide exactly where they want to display your balls in a jar.”
Well, this was a surprising twist in this terrible drama. Aleksi didn’t make any move against me, he barely even looked at me, as I exited the room. A fired breath escaped my nostrils. I clenched and released my jaw while my mind worked furiously.
“Hey…”
Ophelia’s call drew my gaze.
Her posture seemed lighter than it had been in days as she bounced down the stairs. “You look mad…what happened?”
“I spent a few minutes too many with Aleksander.You, on the other hand, look very good.”
Ophelia smiled broadly—her beautiful, happy smile that had rarely left her face in four years. She still wore bags under her eyes ? still looked tired ? but she clearly felt better than she had in a long time.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked. “You went through all that in a few hours?”
“There wasn’t nearly as much to actually read as there was with my parents’ stuff. I’m ready, yeah.”
Meeting her at the bottom of the curved staircase, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.She’s warm.A smile of my own tugged at my lips, and I glanced over at the closed door to my left with a smugness.
She let out a sigh. “I need to go home and think…”
“Do you want me to drop you off at your place, or do you want to come to mine?” We strolled out of Aleksander’s mansion without any hesitation. The overcast had grown dark as I took a deep breath of the wet air. “It’s gonna rain— we’re probably better off taking the train back.”
“Yeah. We can go to yours. Your car is still at my parent’s house, though.”