Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183
Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183
Roman’s POV
I don’t like being dismissed. Especially not by someone who thinks she’s the smartest person in the room. Lara’s office door was half-open when I approached. I hadn’t planned to overhear anything but when I heard Rosaleen’s name, I slowed.
“…I’m not interested in anything long-term with him,” Lara was saying, her tone cool and unbothered. “I was using him.”
I leaned lightly against the wall, listening.
“To get Nikolai jealous,” she continued. “That’s all.”
A pause.
“I’ll handle it,” she said finally, and ended the call.
I stepped in before she could turn around.
“Handle what?”
She didn’t flinch. That was one of the things I admired about her. Steel under silk.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked calmly.
“Long enough.”
She leaned back against her desk, crossing her arms.
“You shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
“You shouldn’t underestimate me.”
A faint smile touched her lips. “Is that what this is? Wounded pride?”
“No,” I said smoothly, walking further into the room. “It’s strategy.”
She didn’t respond.
I placed a folder on her desk.
“My proposal.”
“I’ve already reviewed it.”
“Then you know it’s profitable.”
“It’s aggressive,” she corrected. “High risk.”
“High reward.”
“For you.”
“For us.”
She tilted her head slightly, studying me.
I could see it in her posture. In the way her shoulders remained angled slightly away from me. In the lack of real engagement in her eyes.
She was already done.
“You’re wasting my time,” I said quietly.
Her brows lifted.
“And yet you’re still here.”
“I can read you,” I continued. “You’ve already decided.”
“Maybe I have.”
“And you won’t say it directly because you don’t want conflict.”
She laughed softly. “You give yourself too much importance.”
That stung. Not because it was cruel. But because it might be true. I stepped closer.
“Lara,” I said, lowering my voice. “This isn’t just business.”
She stiffened slightly. Subtle, but I caught it.
“It never was,” I added.
She looked at me then.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” she said.
“Do you?”
“Yes. You’re trying to salvage leverage.”
“I’m trying to build something.”
“With me?” Her tone was skeptical.
“Why not?”
She shook her head lightly.
“You don’t want me. You want access.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
Frustration flickered through me.
I shifted tactics.
“What if I said I liked you?” I asked.
She didn’t respond.
“What if I said we could make this real?” I continued. “You and I. We’re aligned. Ambitious. Ruthless when necessary. We could build an empire.”
Her expression didn’t change.
“We could start a family,” I pressed. “Legacy. Power that doesn’t evaporate with headlines.”
For a split second, something in her gaze shifted. Then the door opened. Nikolai stepped in without knocking, eyes sharp and assessing.
“I need to speak with her,” he said, looking at me as though I were an inconvenient object.
“We’re in the middle of something,” I replied coolly.
He didn’t break eye contact with Lara.
“Personally.”
The tension in the room tightened.
Lara exhaled slowly.
“Nikolai, give us a minute.”
“No.”
Her jaw flexed faintly.
“I’ll come to you,” she said firmly. “Wait outside.”
He hesitated, gaze flicking to me again, measuring. Then he stepped back out. The door closed.
I looked at her. “Is that the future you prefer?” I asked.
She didn’t answer immediately.
“Roman,” she said finally, “you’re intelligent. You’re driven. But you move like a man who always needs to win.”
“Because I do.”
“That’s exhausting.”
I laughed once. “Stability is boring.”
The conversation was slipping. I could feel it.
“I know you were using me,” I said suddenly.
Her eyes flickered.
“But that doesn’t mean it can’t become something more.”
She shook her head slowly.
“I don’t mix my games with my boardroom.”
“So that’s it?”
“Yes.”
The finality in her voice left no room for negotiation. I picked up the folder.
“I won’t beg.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
I walked out without another word. Nikolai stood in the hallway, watching me leave.
His expression held quiet satisfaction. I hated that more than the rejection.
—
By the time I got home, the frustration had curdled into something darker. Failure has a way of tightening around the ribs. Elena was waiting in the living room.She stood as I entered, uncertainty in her eyes.
“You’re back early.”
“Come here,” I said.
She hesitated. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to. She followed me upstairs. I poured my anger into her without speaking about it. Without explaining it. But even as I tried to lose myself in distraction, Lara’s words echoed.
You move like a man who always needs to win.
Because I do.
Afterward, I stood by the window, staring at the city lights. Lara thought she could dismiss me. She thought she could close the door cleanly. She underestimated how far I was willing to go. I walked to my desk and opened a secure folder on my laptop.
There it was. The recording. Insurance.
Later that evening, when Lara returned home, she looked tired.She stopped when she saw me in the living room.
“We need to talk,” she began.
“I agree.”
I picked up the remote. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing you something.”
The screen flickered to life. She watched. For a second, she didn’t understand. Then recognition dawned. Her posture changed instantly.
“You recorded that?” she asked quietly.
“As insurance.”
“For what?”
“For moments like this.”
She didn’t look shocked. She looked disappointed.
“You think this will force me?” she asked.
“It will remind you,” I replied evenly, “that I’m not disposable.”
Silence stretched between us. The game had shifted. And I had just played my last card.