I was sitting in the second chair and my hand was still heavy on Darian's thigh but the air had changed. Darian wasn't looking at my dress anymore. He was looking at the wine in his glass like it held all the secrets of the world.
"You know," he said and his voice was casual. Too casual. "This house used to be a lot noisier. Journalists. Reporters. Always trying to dig up dirt on the Volkov name."
My heart did a violent kick against my ribs. Journalist. My father was a journalist. A damn good one. One who found out too much.
"One in particular," Darian continued. He took a sip of wine and he didn't even look at me. "A man named Daniel Hayes. He spent years trying to write an expose on our tech acquisitions.
He thought he was a hero. He thought he was uncovering some great conspiracy."
Stop talking. Please stop talking.
"He was a nuisance," Darian said and he let out a short, dry laugh. "He was a man who didn't understand that some doors are meant to stay locked. He lost his job. He lost his reputation. And in the end, he lost his mind. My father said he died in a hit-and-run because he was too busy looking over his shoulder to see the truck in front of him.A pathetic way to go."
I felt the blood drain from my face. My fingers dug into the fabric of his trousers. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him that my father didn't lose his mind...he was hunted. He wasn't a nuisance; he was a threat to the monsters in this room.
He's making me spiral. He's doing this on purpose.
"Is that right?" I asked. My voice sounded thin and brittle, like old glass. "You think a man trying to tell the truth is pathetic?"
Darian finally turned his head. He looked at me and his eyes were cold. "I think a man who can't protect his family because he's obsessed with a story is a failure. He left his daughter with nothing but debts and a sick mother. That is the definition of a weak man, Liora."
I hate you. I fucking hate you.
I felt the tears stinging the back of my eyes. I couldn't let them fall. If I cried, I lost. If I showed him that his words were tearing me apart, he would know who I was. I had to stay in the game. I had to stay the seductress even if I felt like a little girl losing her father all over again.
I forced a smile. It felt like my face was cracking.
"Maybe he just cared about something bigger than money, Mr. Volkov," I whispered. I leaned in and I let my hair brush his shoulder. I looked at him through my lashes and I tried to make my eyes look bedroom-dark instead of tear-filled. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Darian's jaw tightened. He looked at my mouth and then he looked back at the table. The mention of my father...of the man he thought was just a nuisance"
had created a wall between us.
I didn't pull my hand away from his leg. I kept it there. I wanted him to feel me. I wanted him to feel the person who was going to take everything from him....eventually
"Eat your fish, Liora," he said. His voice was a low growl. "You're getting emotional. It's boring."
Boring? I'll show you boring.
I didn't say another word. I just moved my hand slightly higher on his thigh, feeling the way his muscle coiled like a spring under my touch. He was affected. He was lying through his teeth.
I picked up my fork with my other hand and I took a slow, calm bite of the fish. I chewed it and I swallowed it while I stared him right in the eye. I was shaking inside but I looked like a queen.
"You're right, Darian," I said after I swallowed. "The truth is boring...Let's stick to the contract."
I shifted my weight and I leaned back in the chair. I kept my hand on his leg, my fingers splayed wide, claiming the space.
