Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(74)

"Thank you, Vasilii," she said, surprised by his admission. "I'm glad to hear that."

"I need to see you in person to discuss  …  things. I know you asked for some time off, and I am more than willing to honor that, but I believe we should talk. Clear the air. Can you by chance come by the house?"

Despite being scared, she felt a tiny tremor of anger surge through her. "You delayed talking to the police, putting me at risk. Have you corrected that? Do the police now have all the details?"

Vasilii exhaled noisily. "I have spoken to them. Yes. If the sample has truly been stolen, which I now believe it has because a thorough clear-out of all laboratories in the building has failed to find it, I am nervous about the fallout. I don't want the publicity of losing a dangerous sample to reflect badly on the lab  …  or you," he added in a way that unless she was sorely mistaken was an implied threat.

Louisa stood and began to pace. She reached for the pens she'd left on the small desk earlier and began to line them up, then dropped them as she remembered Six's words about her habit. "Why would it reflect badly on me when it is a lapse in lab security? I came to you about it as soon as I realized they were gone. If there is any delay in an investigation to understand what happened, that's on you. If there is no security camera footage, that's on you too. But people have attempted to kidnap me twice, and I am certain the two things are connected. Your refusal to handle this properly for the sake of reputation left me hanging in the wind." The conversation had taken a sudden turn south, leaving her confused.

"This is my reason for wanting to talk. Away from Ivan. Away from the lab. To see if we can't come to some kind of agreement. At a minimum, we should talk about your future. I want you to continue working for me. I would hate for this  …  misunderstanding  …  to jeopardize this. "

The shock at his words made her shake. "It's much more than a misunderstanding."

"We need to move on, Louisa. I made a mistake, I have said I am sorry. And now we need to figure out how we go forward."

Fury replaced every other thought in her head. Its heat streamed through her. "Go forward. I'm still trying to figure out who is trying to kidnap me. I can't believe I am saying this, but put the research on hold. Schedule the lab for its detailed clean or something. Ivan is good, but he does not have what it takes to forge a breakthrough, and you know it. He was my arms and legs, but he was never the brains. You are a businessman. You should have looked at this objectively. You should have taken action. You should have told the police when the sample was stolen."

"I understand, but please try to see things from my perspective. Where is the objectivity you have always prided yourself on? I have explained my reasons. They were wrong. You were wrong to divulge company information to the police. Please. Come to meet with me. It is most urgent that I speak with you. Right now, you are overwrought. You should-"

"No, Vasilii. I shouldn't do anything." Her head throbbed with the idea that he thought she was in the wrong. "We should be working together to find out who took it because whoever they are, I have a feeling they are struggling to re-create the test sample and they are after me to help them do it. It is either a competitor of the lab, in which case we definitely don't want them to get ahead of us. Or it has been stolen for a much more dangerous reason. Yet you call me and tell me nothing I don't already know. And seriously, if you suggest I was wrong to give the police information that I thought was imperative to my personal safety, information you should have already provided to them, again, I will sue your ass for any and every reason I can think of and I'll use that money and my own to set up my own lab."



       
         
       
        

The idea hit her hard, and suddenly she became excited. For the first time in nearly a week, she realized she could form a plan of her own. A lab would be a pricy proposition. But perhaps her mom would help her. For insurance purposes, though, she wondered if she would need to disclose that her father had carried a hereditary disease. Perhaps it was time to know one way or another.

"You are behaving irrationally, Louisa. Your paranoia is taking over. Maybe it is time for you to get tested because I worry-"

Louisa rolled her eyes at the mention of the symptom of her illness he knew she was sensitive to. "We're done, Vasilii."

She hung up and flopped back down on the bed. She knew she wasn't paranoid. Was confident that this wasn't the onset of her illness. She wasn't her father.