“What’s wrong?”
“I need Allie.”
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I’m fine. Allie!”
She worked for my father’s assistant, Irina, when he was here. I fired Irina and promoted Allie. She’s young. Eager. And she’s loyal to me.
“Yes?”
“Who was in my office?”
She looks confused. “Your cousin. He told me he was taking over while you focused on school. I didn’t know you were coming in. I would have had your coffee.”
I have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling at her. She didn’t do anything. Not really.
“Allie,” I keep my voice low. Controlled. “He is not allowed in that office. Period. Do you understand?”
Her big brown eyes widen. “Yes. I’m sorry. He was so nice and he said he was your cousin and he came to town to help run things because your father?—”
She doesn’t finish the sentence. She doesn’t need to. Everyone knows my father is too sick to be here. We all pretend it isn’t a thing, but it is.
“That’s fine, but no more. When was he here?”
“Yesterday. And the day before.”
“Did he meet with anyone? Any of our business contacts?”
She grimaces and nods. “Yes.”
I take a second to digest that. “I want a list.”
“I’m so sorry, Sofia.”
“It’s fine. Get me the list.” She rushes back to her desk.
Gregor is watching. “Yuri.”
“I need Viktor.”
He pulls out his phone. I go back into the office and look around with fresh eyes. I want to know everything he touched. I notice immediately that things have been moved. Not much—just enough that someone who didn’t spend hours at this desk wouldn’t catch it. The stack of contracts I left aligned with the edge of the desk is moved.
My hands curl into fists.
I move to the computer and wake it up. The login screen appears, and I type in my password.
Access denied.
I try again, making sure I hit every key correctly.
Access denied.
“Son of a bitch.”
He changed my password.
I grab my phone and call IT.