Page 91 of Wicked Refusal

“Boss?”

“I’m listening.”

Maksim pretends to believe me. “We’ve got the situation under control with Rurik’s commitments, but we need to start thinking about a replacement. One for Slavik, too.”

Replacement.He means promoting someone else tovor.“That’s out of the question.”

“Yulian—”

“Desya’s still out there,” I growl. “I’m not going to promote two of my best lieutenants just to send them home in a pine box.”

“They know what they’re signing up for.”

No, they don’t. Because they don’t know Desya.

I stand abruptly. My chair scrapes the floor with an ugly screech. “I said no. That’s final.”

Maksim puts his hands up. “Fine. I won’t press. But I can’t keep subbing in for twovoryat once and still be your second, Yulian. Something’s gotta give.”

“Are you saying you want to leave my side?”

“I’m saying the complete opposite.” He speaks calmly, cold water to douse my fire. “But if you don’t make a decision soon, I won’t be able to do any of those things. Either I’ve got one job to do well, or three jobs to half-ass, and right now, we’re heading straight towards the latter.”

“Then I suggest you stock up on coffee and farm out the gruntwork.” I shut my laptop and grab my coat. “I don’t care how you do it, just get it done.”

Maksim sighs. “Yes,pakhan.”

I stride out of the office and check my watch. 6:33 P.M.—almost time for Mia to be here. To be certain, I pull up the camera feed on my phone, but there’s no sign of her at the ER.

Good. Right now, there’s nothing I need more than a hot cup of coffee.

And her,whispers the nasty voice at the back of my head, but I don’t pay it any mind. What Mia and I have right now is pure want. Physical or not, all-consuming or not, it cannot cross overto need. She made that perfectly clear, and I won’t be the one to beg for more. Apakhannever begs.

We share a bed. We share a family. But we do not share a heart, and that’s fine.

Is it?My own mind sneers at me.Or is it just better than admitting you’re the one who fucked up that part?

That, for the first time in your life, you want something you can’t have?

I’m about to shut those thoughts out for good when something else does it for me.

The cold, hard press of a gun.

“I’d keep still if I were you,” a smirking voice drawls behind me. “Wouldn’t want to put an end to the game so early. Right, Yul?”

Desya.

I’m just outside the StarTech doors. If I signaled the guards, they’d be here in seconds, but by then, it might be too late.

I didn’t hear him coming.That, more than anything, sets me on edge.I let down my guard. I was distracted—again.

Desya slings an arm around my shoulders, the mouth of his gun pressed right against my side. His large trench coat covers the motion. Passers-by are walking in front of us, but all they’re seeing is two friends catching up.

Fury spikes inside me. “Take your filthy arm back before I snap it in half.”

“Ah, but will you be fast enough?” The gun bites harder into my side. “You know what they say about bringing your bare hands to a gunfight.”

“Try me.”