Rallying as quickly as possible, she pressed on. ‘I am not responsible for the actions of a man who took those actions before I was even at school.’ But guilt? Yes. She did feel guilty for all that she’d been given and all that his mother had been denied. And somewhere deep down she also felt heartbroken for the child who had been denied, the young boy she could see simmering beneath the surface of this dark façade her husband had come to wear, a boy who would have begged and pleaded for help to save his mother.
* * *
Despite her flatly delivered refusal, he could see the truth shining in her eyes. His wife was not such a great actress after all, and had clearly been as much in the dark as he about Vladimir’s plans to dangle her like bait. Nor could he fail to see the open wound he had poked and prodded with the reminder of just how badly she had been used by Vladimir.
‘Why are you here?’ he demanded, seeking a reason to avoid the reminder that he had inflicted his own damage upon her. ‘Because I doubt it was to rehash the past.’ Instead he focused on words that would bring back his worthy opponent. ‘You turn up on the night of my grandfather’s funeral dressed like sin and my only conclusion can be that you want something—but I think it would be remiss of me to assume.’
‘It would. I want a divorce.’
He’d known it was coming. Had been ignoring emails and letters sent to his office by her team of lawyers for some time now. Yet inexplicably he wanted to prolong this moment.
‘And what if I suddenly find I don’t want a divorce from my delicious wife?’
‘Then you’d better rethink your in
tentions. Because I have nothing left to lose.’ Her simple declaration sliced into his skin, the accusation hitting his usually impenetrable heart infallibly. ‘You, however, have a great deal to lose.’ He felt everything in him rear up at the warning. This wife of his should not be underestimated and suddenly he found himself enjoying this new version of her. This determined and confident woman was much more intriguing than the guileless young woman from France.
‘So,’ she pressed on, ‘if you choose not to grant the annulment you taunted Vladimir with, then I will make myself deeply inconvenient for you.’
He scoffed. ‘How do you think you could do that?’
‘As someone with twenty-five per cent of the shares of Kolikov Holdings, left to me by my father’s trust fund, and now by Vladimir, a number that automatically makes me a shareholding partner rather than a silent one, I think I could become quite a problem for you.’
Shock cut through him like a knife. A physical reaction that wasn’t missed by his newly determined wife and, much to his chagrin, she laughed, the cool sound scraping over suddenly sensitive nerves. That bastard. His grandfather had not only fooled him, tricked him, but, further than that, he’d had the last laugh.
‘You might have got the company name,’ she said, ‘you might have got the CEO’s position, but did you think Vladimir would make it that easy? Did you think I would make it that easy after what you did to me? If I were of a mind I could start by renewing my friendship with the members of the board. Is Burian still trying to brew his own beer? He would always try and get Vladimir to drink the stuff. And what about Evgeni and Illarion? Are they still trying to compete with each other over who can out-gift the other at Christmastime? Such dear men and so very kind to me growing up.’
Roman struggled to laugh off her warning. ‘I don’t think you know those men as well as you think you do. Each and every one of them would sell their grandmother for a greater payout.’
‘That might be the case. But this company isn’t the only thing you care about, is it? After all, your reputation is one of the things that makes men quake in their boots. How do you think they would feel to see you brought low by your wife?’
‘And just how do you think you might achieve such a thing?’
‘As my own reputation means so very little to me, I would be more than happy to create such a scandal that you would see my face everywhere you went, every newspaper, every online article—I would make sure that the world knew that the Great Wolf’s wife was bringing him to his knees.’
She was joking. Surely.
‘Imagine—the wife of the world’s greatest seducer looking elsewhere for her pleasure. What would that do to your precious reputation?’
‘You’re an innocent, you wouldn’t even know how,’ he declared.
He watched in horrified fascination as his wife turned her gaze from his to some poor dolt at the neighbouring table. Roman hadn’t spared a glance at him, but the other man had obviously not done the same for Ella—who now focused her entire being on him. A quirked eyebrow and delicious curve of red-painted lips brought a blush to the man’s cheeks. Before he took in Roman’s scowling features, put his drink down and made his way to a safe distance on the other side of the room.
Ella turned back to Roman, the look in her eyes unadulterated victory.
‘My virtue is meaningless, my innocence destroyed. You saw to that. You like to think that you’re the big bad wolf, but I was raised by the biggest, baddest wolf of them all. You taught me revenge and vengeance and I might just find that I enjoy it.’
CHAPTER FIVE
And the wolf smiled. For Red Riding Hood had knocked upon the door and in a heartbeat he would bid her enter. And once he had her where he wanted her...there would be no turning back.
The Truth About Little Red Riding Hood
—Roz Fayrer
SOMETHING INFERNAL ROARED within him. Hot, hard and angry. He was angry that she would try to seduce another in front of him, and also angry on her behalf. She had no idea what kind of power she wielded. Especially looking like that. He hadn’t lied when he’d said she looked like sin. All the images crashing through his mind taunted him with what he could not have. Writhing in his mind as if on silk bed sheets.
The sheer naivety of trying to get at him, at his reputation by sleeping with another man, infuriated him. Not that for one moment he believed that she’d actually go through with it. But Ella’s fiancé had fought hard with Roman not to give in to his baser desires and take her time and time again in France. All those opportunities he’d turned back from in order not to ruin her innocence and here she was, just wanting to throw it away?