“Don’t threaten me!” The demand came out more like a wail. Could he do that? Yes. What will I do if I’m blackballed by a man as powerful as Vladimir Grigory? The unyielding set of his shoulders and his harshly delivered words said he’d fought many a battle and she would be just another skirmish on the list. Did he even see her as a person? Or was she was just an obstacle to be overcome, and if she was stomped on in the process, well that was just the way the ball bounced. She had to make him see her as herself, not just a wicked character in a drama of someone else’s making.
“I didn’t do anything but fight for my job. There’s no way I would’ve done anything to jeopardize it. And with such a ridiculous story.”
“Ridiculous?”
“Of course. You’re an international businessman, a millionaire,” he smiled at that, “a billionaire,” she corrected, feeling her face heat, “a powerbroker. I’m a low-level office worker and a student. Who would believe…”
“A student?”
She nodded, annoyed at the surprise she could hear in his voice. “Finishing my degree online.”
She turned her face away from those accusing eyes, toward the passenger window, anger at his calmly issued threat whipping through her so fast she couldn’t see, couldn’t focus. What did he care that she’d dropped out of traditional college after her mother’s death because Alex needed someone there for him? That she’d transferred the bulk of her graphic design credits over from City College to an online college?
Sabrina knew she would finish her degree even if she did it literally one credit at a time. Her mother often lamented her own failure to finish college and Sabrina was too close to give up now. But who knew when she would complete her coursework now that she was without a job and embroiled in this drama?
Now that goal was retreating into the cloudy distance.
And it was all Vladimir Grigory’s fault.
“And the last thing I would ever do is claim you as the father of my child.”
****
Something in her words hit him deep in a way he didn’t want to examine. Why would anyone want to claim him as the father of her child? He wasn’t father material. Nor had he been child material apparently.
The fact remained either she herself had schemed to smear his name with people who cared about such things or she’d fallen prey to a bribe from those who wanted to tar his reputation.
Either way, he would discover every detail of her plan and crush whoever had the balls to play with his life like this. He would crush them.
He felt the rage build inside his chest and shoved it back down, breathing deep. He was far from the helpless boy he’d been then. He’d worked and learned and created an empire that was larger and more powerful than his every bold imagining. Childish imaginings he’d once cherished somewhere that consisted of nothing more than having a family. But that desire turned out to be a pipe dream and he’d put it aside long ago.
What he had now was a solid reality, a business he himself created which would be more lasting and more controllable than the ephemera that had clouded his boyish thoughts.
“What I meant to say,” she said, reaching over to touch his forearm.
Vlad flinched and turned obsidian eyes on her. “The last thing I want is to father a child with you,
or anyone else, but the world now believes otherwise,” he said.
“Not because of me.” Her voice was fierce and she gave him back the stubborn look that was becoming all too familiar to him. He almost smiled at her intense expression before a grating sound had him wrenching his gaze back to the road. A gigantic pine creaked with ear splittingly violent suction as its massive base parted with the earth in front of them.
Vlad hit the brakes and pulled hard left to avoid the tree as it hit the ground with a thunderous bounce.
Sabrina’s body jolted forward even as Vlad’s right arm shot out in a reflexive protective motion across her chest.
He yanked the car into park.
“Are you okay?” he forced out a harsh breath and looked over at her. She seemed small sitting on the enormous bucket seat of the Navigator. She had such a bossy mouth he forgot she couldn’t be more than five- five.
“Fine,” she retorted shaking her hair back. “Wearing a seat belt. Better than whoever owns that tree is gonna feel.”
The huge pine had tumbled across the road near a long winding driveway crushing several smaller bushes in its path before starting a slow sink into the muddy earth.
“That would be me. This is my house.”
She sat up straighter and peered through the windshield. The wipers were off and sheets of water ran non-stop across the glass with varying shades of unfocused gray visible beyond.
The pine blocked the driveway. Leaving the car where it was, they made their way up the saturated driveway toward the house. The golf umbrella Vlad pulled from the backseat provided some protection from the driving rain, but it was slow going against the wind, as they squelched through the muck.
“What the hell are you wearing on your feet?” The black lace-up boots were almost completely submerged in the mud as they trudged along.
“Combat boots,” she said.
“Combat? They’re losing the battle,” he said. “You really should have worn something more practical.” The useless footwear was going to be ruined.
“I never expected to be high-jacked into the middle of a hurricane and have to creep along a muddy track with—ooohh, what’re you doing?”