Page 39 of Bound By Sin
"I said don't go there." I lean forward in my chair, and my ribs scream, but I push past the pain to make sure he gets my point. "Zora has nothing to do with any of this."
"Nobody's accusing her," Stepan says carefully, still looking at the table. The fucker can't even look at me because he knows how much he's pissing me off. "We're looking at the facts. The problems started after she came into your life. She's been in your apartment. She's been around your phone. She's had access to your schedule because you've been sharing it with her."
I push back from the table and stand, leaning over it with my hands splayed on the cold wood. “I share my schedule with her because she's my girlfriend and that's what people do when they're in a relationship."
"And before her, none of this was happening." Stepan finally looks up at me. "How much more obvious does it have to be, man?" He shakes his head, narrowing his eyes. I see the compassion in his expression but he's wrong. He has to be wrong.
"It's a coincidence and nothing more," I tell him.
"It's not that much of a stretch to think she could've done this." Timur sits back, planting his elbow on the armrest of his chair and resting his chin on his hand.
"She didn't do this," I say as the heat climbs up my neck. "I know her. I've spent months getting to know her. She's not capable of this."
"Everyone's capable of anything," Timur says. "It's human nature."
"You don't know her," I tell him, now so angry, I don't even care if I make them mad, or Roman. They're outright attacking someone I love, and if it were them and the tables were turned, they would feel exactly like I do.
"You're right, I don't. And that's part of the problem." Timur shakes his head. "We haven't vetted her, Kaz. You refused a background check when Stepan offered it months ago. We don't know her family or her connections, and we don't know anything about her except what she's told you."
"Because what she's told me is the truth," I say hastily, starting to feel even more defensive. I start for the door, but I know it's wrong to just storm out, so I stop myself and fist my hands at my sides.
"How do you know that?" Timur asks.
"Because I love her." I turn and glare at them both, hoping they finally get the point. "And I trust her completely. If you're gonna sit here and build a case against the woman I?—"
"We're not building a case," Stepan says. "We're trying to protect you." He stands and starts to come toward me as if he's gonna smack some sense into me, or try to get me to sit back down, but I take a step backward toward the door.
"Then protect me by finding whoever's actually doing this instead of pointing at the one good thing in my life," I tell them. "This is a personal attack on me, and it's hitting this whole family. You'd think you guys would do your job finding the real bad guy here."
I spin back around and stomp to the door, but as my hand turns the knob and I pull it open, Timur calls my name. "Kaz, hold on a second." I look over my shoulder as he lifts his coffee toward me. "For what it's worth, I hope we're wrong."
"You are wrong," I growl, and I walk out.
I'm so fucking mad, I could punch the wall, but the concrete would do a number on my knuckles, so I control myself and make my way out to my car. But there's this little voice inside my head insisting that I get to Zora and be with her, probably to reassure myself that she really isn't the villain my cousin and uncle think she is. All of that is a bunch of horse shit I don't have to put up with, and I want to see her to make myself feel better.
So I pull out my old phone and dial her number, and the instant she picks up, I feel better.
"Hey," she says, "Kaz, I was just thinking of you."
"I'm coming over," I tell her without waiting for small talk. I'm too worked up to sit around asking her how her day was.
"Right now?" she asks.
"Right now, Zora. I need to see you."
"Is everything okay?" There's concern in her tone. No matter what my family thinks, I know this woman loves me. I know she'd never hurt me like that.
"Everything's fine," I say. "I just need to be with you tonight."
"Then come over." I can hear her smile through the phone. "I'll be here."
I hang up and get in the car and pull out of the lot. The conversation in that office is still rattling around in my skull, pissing me off. I get it that they want to protect the Kuzin name and reputation, but taking it out on me is a surefire way to blow this whole thing up. If they're not for me, they're against me.
And it takes a stupid man to be against a man like me. I have nothing to lose, and I won't let them divide me from the one good thing in my life.
Not ever.
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