Dr Meera Saravana has been on the run for the last ten years due to a fatal misunderstanding. She ends up in New York, hoping that maybe this time everything will work out. But that's turning out to be impossible the more she gets involved with the...
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IVAN
I'm at my office when I receive a call. I stand up, paperwork forgotten. So much for getting anything done today. At this point I'll have to hire another PA just to deal with this.
I don't bother with a greeting, I just pick up the phone. "Do you really have nothing to do?" I asked. "Am I on your speed dial or something, Zoya?"
"Ivan," the voice on the other line growls out. "Is that how you greet me, you two faced bastard?!"
It's not Zoya. Which is a relief but not really. Arlo is annoying me, I'd rather he just shoot me than call me at the weirdest hours of the day.
"Is there a reason that the Commission is barking at my door like a bunch of mad dogs?"
"Your dear father left me no choice, Arlo." I said coldly. "I don't want to go to war but you're not leaving me much of a choice either. You shouldn't have touched Nik."
I hear him laugh, it sounded hollow to my ears. It unnerved me sometimes how nothing phased him as it phased me. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "You stupid prick!" He hisses through the speaker. "Nik shouldn't have been in our territory!"
I scoffed, glaring at the view of the Hudson River. "Nik was in our territory! If you were half as smart as your father you'd known that! You think I'll let you walk in and fuck up my brother? Not happening! Especially when I'm alive, you rat faced backstabbing bastard!' I growled out.
Another threat, another fight. I was getting sick and tired of dealing with this man. The war had started the moment Zoya put a hit on me. In my eyes, it was open season.
Arlo went silent, I could only hear the sound of his breathing. I stared out across the New York skyline, waiting for his answer——whatever it is.
"You're nothing like your father, Ivan."
And I closed my eyes and pretended those words didn't affect me but then I would be lying. I hated those words. It's all I've ever heard since he died.
You're not strong like him. You're not wise as him. You're father would've done this. You're father would've done that.
You're father would've kept your family safe.
I was tired of it. So fucking tired. I let out a laugh that sounded mad to my own ears. "You're right, Arlo! I am not my father."
"He was better at accepting deals." He said. "He put duty before emotion."
"Let me correct you about the man you call my father, asshole. My father was a criminal. He put money above everything else. No matter the cost." I snapped at him. "I am too. I've done things I'm not proud of. I am not a good man. But right now, My family is where it is today because I made it that way. My family can hold their heads up high because of me. This company has clawed its way through the markets because I chose to fight. Not my dad, not his countless 'advisors' and certainly not you." I growled. "I've bled for this company and if you think I'll hand it over to you because you threaten my board members, sabotage, and try to kill me—which by the way you failed at—— then forget about it. It's you or me, make a choice. I made mine."
