Preg-Not

18

MAKSIM

When Raelynn left and Viktor followed, he was tempted to rip a computer monitor off a table and haul it at Viktor.

He had to force himself to grip onto a desk. One of his knuckles was busted, but the pain barely registered. It was muffled by the tearing at his chest and the ache in his gums.

He couldn't stop thinking about Viktor being wrapped around what was once his.

Viktor's arm protecting Raelynn's face. The face Maksim kissed so many times that he could map every crease, every seam.

His other arm protected her belly. The belly Maksim filled so many times that he could still feel her wrapped snugly around him.

Raelynn had been his, damn it. He didn't want anyone to enjoy her, including himself. He wanted her, but didn't at the same time. It was an unhealthy tug-of-was that was tearing him apart.

His feelings made no sense. He fell asleep with her name and a curse on his lips so many times. After five months, he should be free. Instead, the mouth that cursed her so many times now wanted to bite and leave a claim on her.

When he rubbed a hand down his face, his suit strained against his biceps. Feeling caged, he ripped the jacket off, followed by his button-down shirt. He walked out of the room and headed for the elevators.

Alarmed employees stared. It wasn't every day that their CEO walked down the hallways and give casual Fridays a new meaning with his bloody knuckles and tattoos.

He went to his office and slumped in his chair.

His secretary entered the room a minute later. "You're back," she scanned his body, taking in his chest. "Do you want me to... help?"

Do you want me to suck your cock?

"Get out," he gritted.

"Right. Well, the lip-reading professional was given the bonus as you requested. Call me if you need me."

The lip-reading professional.

It was astonishing how badly Raelynn fucked him up. One day, he humiliates her. The next day, he's hiring a lip-reader to scan video footage and figure out what was said in a conversation that made Raelynn frown. He fired two employees who dared to insult her and spent thousands upgrading the security cameras in the building.

He wanted to destroy her, but he wanted to destroy the world if it tried to hurt her.

It made no sense. It was sandwiches without crust.

He didn't know what to do with himself. Should he fly out to Phoenix to remind himself of what she did? The apartment was still under his name. He sent monthly payments, although he lived thousands of miles away. Why he kept it was another question on the Raelynn-shaped pile.

He had to stop this.

Opening his laptop, he emailed his private investigator to tell him to stop all operations. Maksim hired him to dig into Raelynn and find out what she had been up to in those five months of separation. Did she play house with another unsuspecting male? Did she drop out of school?

It didn't matter. He needed to unplug the obsession.

With his bruised knuckles, he pounded on the keyboard a bit too hard. After that, he called his father.

"How are you, Maksim?"

"I need Viktor transferred, and the girl he is protecting removed from the company."

"I told you," his father paused, probably to take a puff of his cigar. "I made a deal with Viktor. He called in a favor, and I keep my word. Why don't you two deal with this between yourselves?"

"What is he up to?"

"I do not know. You boys only talk business with me. You are pushing thirty, Maksim, and you are my eldest. You know what is required of you if you are in the bratva."

He was talking about an heir. A son that could carry the Kuznetsov name and business.

"You will not be a grandfather any time soon."

His father sighed. "I am old. I need the warmth of a child again, and only a baby can give me that. What are you waiting for? Just knock up a girl and pay her diamonds for her trouble."

Maksim pursed his lips when a particular girl appeared in his mind.

"Figure things out with Viktor and go put your balls to use. Goodbye. I have to fly out to Sicily to meet with the Italians."

That was Maksim's opportunity to tell his father he wanted to take a step away from the money laundering business and get his hands dirty at the forefront. Putting some bullets and knives in men was what he needed to get his cool back.

But that meant running. It meant let let Raelynn win, which wouldn't happen because he was done letting her have power over him.

He dropped his phone when he got a reply from the private investigator. The email included everything he collected on the case.

Maksim's eyes skimmed the word "therapy," but he didn't want to dive back down the rabbit hole, so he archived the email without reading it.

Next, he opened the program that had cameras fixed on Raelynn's desk. Her head was down and her hair in a messy bun atop her head. Her neck looked slim; disproportionate with her larger arms and torso. It was odd, but Maksim knew nothing about weight gain. He had been fit all his life.

Raelynn's fingers stopped typing. While staring at the screen, she said something like "behave."

Was she talking to herself? Since he could see her ears, he knew she wasn't using headphones. This wasn't the first time he saw her talking to someone that wasn't there.

The private investigator email mentioned something about therapy. Was she getting help because she developed a mental condition? Maybe schizophrenia, which caused hallucinations.

Before he got any ideas to look into it, he closed the program and checked his inbox. The marketing department emailed informing him that their latest project would be pushed back two weeks.

Wanting to look into the delay, he picked up his office phone and dialed his marketing contact. There was no answer, so he called his secretary instead.

"Where are my marketing people? I'm trying to get in touch with Stevenson."

"Sir, you fired him."

"Oh. Is HR working on replacing him? What did Davis say?"

"You fired her too, for suggesting that it was a bad idea to fire Stevenson..."

Now pissed off, Maksim replied, "nevermind," and hung up.

He emailed marketing, asking for further details. They explained that their "significant loss of human capital" put them at a tough spot. They were talking about the two people that he got rid of. Without them, they had fewer hands on the project.

This was a mess, and it was all because of his obsession with Raelynn.

"No more." He told himself.

He had to end this, or he would end up running the company to the ground.