Ivan’s POV:
“Turn it off,” I snapped, and everyone turned to me.
“Sir, is everything alright?” Sara’s assistant asked.
“Turn that shit off!” It was a growl this time.
Sara signalled to the tech team and photographers.
She walked up to me, Harry spotting a knowing smirk on his face. “Is something wrong?” Sara asked, clearly confused.
“This interview is over, whatever you guys have done today should be more than enough,” I gritted.
The useless fucker went against the lines that were provided for his speech, not like I was expecting him to obey blindly but still…
“Okay, understood. Thanks for today,” Sara muttered and turned to her crew. “You heard the man, wrap it up! We are done for today.” She walked away as Harry strode toward me with a big grin on his face.
One I’d happily wipe off his face soon enough, just a few more hours…
“How was it?” Harry asked gleefully.
I took a menacing step toward him, locking eyes with him. “You think you’re so funny? Let’s see who laughs last, why don’t we?”
His smile faltered. “Is that a threat?” He gritted.
“I don’t make threats, Harry. I make promises and I always keep my promises.” Without moving my eyes from his. “Let’s go, Sid.”
I wasn’t satisfied with his speech, but my hands were tied. For now. I hated being out of control!
Fuck.
I wanted Sophia to get the apology she deserved… Not the shady, silly excuse Harry spewed.
“Any more grinding of your teeth and they will be nothing more but powder,” Sid scoffed, drawing me back to the present as we entered the car. “I know it didn’t go as planned, but there are good reviews.”
I arched my brow, confused.
He handed me his phone. “Here, look.”
I took the phone from him, scrolling through. Truly, things were looking good… Not that I expected everything that had happened in the past week to suddenly go away but this looks… promising.
Still doesn’t mean I would let Harry go free though. “You know what we have to do tomorrow, right?” I handed the phone back to Sid.
“Sure, everything’s in order, there will be no mistakes,” Sid said firmly.
Ding!
My phone pinged and I pulled it out of my pocket.
Solnyshko: I just got a weird text. More like ‘scary’ text. When are you getting home?!
Sophia’s POV:
Bile rose to my throat as I read the text over and over. Maybe I thought that would make the words on my screen change?
God, this was bad! Really fucking bad.
+44 XXXX: Get the kidneys (150 of them) and the 100 sacks of cocaine to the location we will send to you. Failure to do so and we will come for you, we’ve been patient for months. Your father owes us.
Beneath it was a picture of the signed deal they had with dad.
My mind was spirally and that was mildly putting it. I was panicking. Even from the grave, the man I call, ‘father’ tormented me.
So, what? He died and left me to deal with his dirty business? Something I knew absolutely NOTHING about?
You know what? They could come and kill me now anyway, there was no way I could give them what they wanted.
“You’re sure it’s not a prank?” Daisy asked nervously.
I released my lower lip from between my teeth. “No, Daisy. This isn’t the first time they’ve texted. At first, I brushed it off thinking they had the wrong number, and when the number texted again. I ignored it.”
“And you didn’t think to tell anyone you were getting weird texts?” Ivan snapped. “Do you know how dangerous that is?! Do you know how dangerous these people are?”
“I didn’t know, okay?!” I retorted. “I just didn’t think these texts were really meant for me. I didn’t know Dad dealt with dangerous men, he never tells me anything!”
Just like the rest of the world, dad was nothing but a businessman. How was I supposed to know he dealt with dangerous men? I guess I suspected when Ivan had issues with dad… I just didn’t know how bad all this was.
Ivan walked around the living, raking his hands in his hair as frustration rolled off him. Then he stopped and turned to me. “The other times these texts came, did you get any name?”
Did they drop a name? They didn’t, right? Fuck, why did I delete those texts!
“… You don’t know,” Ivan said stiffly, interrupting my thoughts. “I don’t know how you could be so careless with your own life!”
What the fuck? Why was he so angry?! “I said, I. Didn’t. Fucking. Know!”
“Calm the fuck down!” Nick snapped. “We need a fucking solution and arguing gets us nowhere! We have a bigger problem at hand.”
The silence after Nick’s outburst was deafening.
“Reply to them.” Ivan broke the silence.
“What?” I gasped. “Why?”
“Just do it!”
“What do I say to them? We don’t have what they are asking for or do you, perhaps, have 100 sacks of cocaine and 150 human kidneys lying around somewhere?” I sneered.
His eyes hardened as he glared daggers at me. “I don’t do organ trafficking.”
A breath of relief escaped me. “So, why should I text them?”
Ivan took two long strides toward me, meeting my gaze. “Just ask where and when we could meet them, godfuckingdammit! Have you always been this mouthy?”
My chin lifted in defiance. “You acted out first!”
“You put yourself in danger!”
“Guysss, we are digressing again,” Sid interjected.
“Phew, that was a lot of tension,” Nick added, and my face heated. For a moment, I forgot we weren’t alone.
A warm hand touched my arm and I turned, locking eyes with Daisy. “Listen to Ivan, I’m sure he has a perfect solution for this. These people sound dangerous, Soph.”
Logically, I knew she was right. If anyone could get me out of this mess, it was Ivan. But, since when was Daisy a fan of Ivan? Oh, right, after Harry’s incident.
Wordlessly, I took out my phone and sent them a text.