Page 73 of Wicked Refusal

And as Nikita herds me to the car, I know he’s right. Somehow, he’ll twist everything that happened here today. He’ll say I attacked him, that I kept his son from him. He’ll bribe witnesses and do whatever it takes to win.

I don’t realize I’m texting Yulian until my finger hitsSend.

25

YULIAN

Brad came to the school.

Five words on my screen, and I’m running.

“Boss!” Maksim calls as I dive for the elevator, but I can’t spare him the attention. All my thoughts are for Mia, for Eli.

And for themudakwho calls himself his father.

Rage explodes in my chest. If he so much as touched them, they’ll never find all of him. I’ll scatter him like a goddamn jigsaw puzzle all across New York City.

Sixty seconds after Mia’s text, I’m in my car. I drive recklessly, running every red light in my path. Mia needs me. Myfamilyneeds me.

I call Mia from the car. She answers by the second ring. “Yulian?—”

“Tell me where you are.”

“I’m sorry,” she croaks. She sounds so broken—so fucking exhausted. “I shouldn’t have texted. You were dealing with stuff, too. I?—”

“Mia, tell me where you are. If you won’t, I’ll call Nikita and make her tell me.”

A brittle exhale. “We’re driving home. We’re near Central Park.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“No, we’re almost there! Really. I-I’ll see you at home, okay? Just wait for us there.”

I grip the wheel with all my strength. Waiting—it goes against every single one of my instincts.

But Mia’s asking, so I do it.

“Okay.”

I make a U-turn and go back to StarTech.

I don’t stop by the office on my way up. I can hear the chaos from inside, but I know Maksim’s got it handled. He’ll hold down the fort until I’m done dealing with this.

When I get to the penthouse, Mia is already there.

I take in the sight of her: eyes red, makeup smudged, hands shaking. She’s doing her best to hold it together, but she isn’t fooling me.

That motherfucker hurt her. Whether he touched her or not, hehurther.

And he will fucking pay.

I close the distance between us in one swift stride. “Are you hurt?”

Mia shakes her head. “I’m fine. He—he didn’t touch me.”

“But he tried.”

She doesn’t need to confirm it. The look in her eyes is proof enough. “Nikita was there. She, um… defused the situation.”