Chapter 17: Spasiba(1)
Everyone was waiting in the large conference room for the arrival of the two Eaton men. It was a surprise to see that the young Mrs. Eaton would join them.
"What is this, Marcus?" Stevenson asks.
"You asked us here, don't you remember?" Marcus replies snippy. Stevenson, obviously feeling his ego hurt, retaliates.
"I meant the girl," he says and points toward Tris.
"That's my wife. You better remember that," Tobias growls being all intimidating. Stevenson backs down a little but regains his composure quickly.
"This is a board of directors meeting," Stevenson.
"She stays. She is my translator," Marcus says calmly and sits down at the head of the table. To his right are two empty seats. Tobias allows Tris to sit right next to his father, while he sits next to her.
"Mr. Petrov can speak English very well," Stevenson counters.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough," Marcus says loudly, his voice resonating in the room, making everyone look toward him and instantly stop breathing. They never saw him this way.
A silence falls over the room that you could hear a needle fall down and know its exact location in the room.
"My daughter-in-law stays. If anyone needs to leave, then that's that woman."
"Ms. Alvarez is here for my pleasure," Petrov says for the first time. Marcus wants to sit up, but Tris holds him back.
"Mr. Petrov, as Mr. Stevenson already said, this is a board of directors. Is Ms. Alvarez your personal translator?"
"Perhaps," the Russian says with a cocky grin.
"Very well," Tris says and gets up. "Mr. Petrov, you should be more careful. Not everything that shines is gold," Tris says in perfect Russian.
"Sovershennyy, Kukla(2)," he answers.
"I'm not your doll," Tris replies in English but switches back to Russian. "I have to ask you something." When Petrov nods, she continues. "What is more important to you? To have this whore here next to you or honoring your potential future business associates?"
"Can't I have both?" he asks with a wide grin.
"Niet!(3)"
"What if I insist?"
"You can." Tris turns to her husband and father-in-law and smiles slightly. "It appears Mr. Petrov has his priorities sorted out. We're leaving," she says and walks toward the door.
"What?" Stevenson asks outraged and gets up. "Marcus, you leave it to this housewife to decide for you now?"
"Careful," Tobias warns getting in Stevenson's face.
"Tobias, leave him be. He isn't worth it for you to sink to his level," Tris says. "As for you Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Petrov. That woman next to you, Nita Alvarez, is jealous of me for marrying my husband. She keeps harassing us, appearing on our doorstep uninvited. She is just a nuisance. However, this is a place of business. Whether you like it or not, I am an Eaton. I am part of the board of director because one day my husband will inherit his father. And as it so happens, Marcus personally asked me to be more involved to be able to help my husband. The bottom line is this. I want this company to prosper just as much as any of you," she says looking toward the other gentlemen at the conference table. "I have a right to be here, since I work here. I have a right to state my opinion and advise my father-in-law if it so pleases him, since I happen to have experience in the business world. I have a right to speak my mind about people who are only here to make my life harder. I am honestly asking all of you. Would you rather have someone who is both qualified and interested in helping this company or would you rather choose a pretty face and other parts," she says and some chuckle or hide their faces, "who has absolutely no business here?"
"Everyone in favor for Mrs. Eaton staying at the meeting?" Hamilton asks and all but Stevenson raise their hands. "All in favor of escorting Ms. Alvarez out of the room?" Before they can vote however, Tris intervenes.
"Off the premise and not be allowed back in. I will take it as a personal attack if this woman would step foot in here ever again."
"Very well," Hamilton says. "All in favor to banish Ms. Alvarez and not allow her back in?" he asks and once again all but Stevenson raise their hands. Tobias walks to the door and asks the guards he texted already to escort Nita out.
"You can't do this to me. Don't you know who I am? Tobias! You bastard! You will regret this!" she screams and kicks but the two guards escorting her out are too tall and strong for her to even think of escaping.
"This is outrageous!" Stevenson says.
"You are welcome to join her," Tris says nonchalantly.
"How dare you?" he asks and steps in front of her, his arm wide and ready to strike her. But Tris moves quickly, grabs his wrist, twists it behind his back and slams him into the wooden table.
"If you try to slap me one more time I am going to break your arm. Are we clear?" she asks in a threatening voice.
"Let go of me, you little bitch!" Tris twists his arm further as to inflict even more pain.
"If you are disrespectful to me again I am going to pay you back with the same amount of disrespect. As for you, Mr. Petrov, I don't know what Mr. Stevenson promised you, but we won't agree to anything until we have a full report. I want to hear your proposal, why you want to be partnered up with us. All. You have until Friday at noon. Meeting adjourned." Tris lets go of Stevenson and turns to leave the room.
"You will regret this," Stevenson yells and walks past her.
"If I had a dollar," Tris says absentmindedly.
"You sure got balls. I mean for a woman," Petrov says in an East-European accent.
"Thanks, but yuck," Tris replies. "I want a full report on your activity, your balance and detailed argument why you want us to do business with you. Then and only then will we discuss a potential partnership with you. As I said, Friday at noon. I expect the report on my desk. If the report is satisfactory, we will contact you and schedule a new meeting."
"Mrs. Eaton, you seem to have been mistaken me with a secretary," Petrov says smiling but his voice changed to a more tensed and threatening one.
"No, you Mr. Petrov are mistaken. Let me speak in plain English. My father-in-law holds over fifty percent of this company. Even if all the others," she says gesturing toward them, "would like to do business with you, you need to convince the three of us."
"You seem to be under the impression I sought you out, when it was the other way around," Petrov says taking a more offensive stand.
"And you seem to think that I care. In the end, if this union wouldn't be beneficial to you, you wouldn't be here. And let me be clear," she says and gets in his face, "I am not Nadja to take your crap. Clear?" Petrov takes a step back, astonished by what she said. All the men, including Marcus and Tobias look at the two and wonder what exactly they are talking about.
"Are you threatening me, girl?" Petrov asks angry.
"I am not threatening. If I wanted to threaten you I would tell you I could give Dimitri Chevchenko a call and let him know where his favorite cousin is currently hiding."
Petrov's face is drained of all color. You could read it in his eyes that he is terrified by what Tris just said. However, nothing of that makes any sense to either Eaton nor the other businessmen.
"But I am a nice person, Mr. Petrov," she says and walks past and behind him, lurking just behind his back, making sure he realizes that she has the upper hand. "Gentlemen, I'm sure you have other things to attend to. Don't worry, after Mr. Petrov feels better I will personally escort him out," she says politely but even the most clueless of them all understood that they were supposed to leave without asking further questions. The businessmen didn't quite understand what was happening or why this young woman suddenly took over. And they were surprised their partner and friend would just allow her that.
In the end, they all left until only Tobias was left. He was reluctant to leave and lingered as long as he could.
"Mr. Petrov, sit down. Tobias, please pour some water for Mr. Petrov," she says in a sweet and calm voice. Petrov, focused on his water, doesn't register when Tris makes Tobias a sign to remain behind the Russian.
"How did you know?" he finally asks in his native language.
"You really need to use fake names if you're running from the Bratva(4)," Tris says. "I know how dangerous they are and if they would ever get their hands on you, well, there won't be much left of you," she says and for the first time, Tris sees some humanity in him. He is scared. Scared for his life; and for good reason. She herself had some dealings with the Russian mafia and only barely made it out to tell the tale.
"You are the first one to recognize me," he says leaning back in his chair.
"That's because Americans rather care about what the Kardashians did the night before than about the world they live in. Listen, I have no intention to hand you over to Chevchenko."
"Really? Why not?" he asks incredulous, but a small smile forms on his face.
"Don't get too excited," she says and his smile fades. He knew it wasn't too good to be true. "I want to know everything about Stevenson."
"Stevenson and I met during a convention in Dubai," Petrov starts narrating in English so that Tobias understands him as well.
During Petrov's story, Tris doesn't learn much about Stevenson, other than things she already suspected. The man seeks power and wealth and is without any scruples when it comes to achieving his goals. When Petrov is finally done, Tris tells him to leave and not come back. She won't allow this Stevenson to hurt her father-in-law's company.
"I'm going to say this only one time, Mr. Petrov. Leave and never come back. Break off any contact to Stevenson. I know you are not without fault, but whatever Stevenson is planning isn't legal. And I would hate to see you behind bars joining maybe some former comrades of yours," she says, her voice calm and gentle, but the deadly threat is like a knife slicing piece by piece into Petrov. He only nods and leaves without turning back. "Let's go to your father's office."
Tobias takes Tris's hand and together they go to see his dad. The latter immediately dismisses his secretary when he sees his son and daughter-in-law.
"What happened?" he asks nervous.
"Petrov won't be a problem anymore," Tris says.
"But what did he say?" Marcus inquires further.
"I have no clue. First, they talked in Russian," Tobias starts saying and looks at Tris briefly before returning his gaze to his father, "then I think she threatened him."
"You think?" Marcus asks confused. Tris chuckles.
"To bring you up to speed. Petrov is the distant cousin of Dimitri Chevchenko, Russian mob boss. Dimitri had a daughter, Nadja, who fell in love with Petrov. Petrov tried to take advantage of the girl's feelings for him, trying to climb the mob ladder through her. But he is not really one to respect women, as you could see. Nadja was head over heels in love and accepted about anything Petrov asked of her. It's a bit unclear what exactly happened to her, but I have some sources who tell me that during a rough session on SM sex Petrov chocked her to death. He successfully hid her body from her dangerous father, but one of Petrov's former allies ratted him out in exchange for his own life. Ever since, the Russian mob is looking for Petrov."
"Wow." Both men sit down and look astonished at Tris as she tells them more about the man they almost welcomed as a partner. "What about Stevenson?" Marcus asks.
"Petrov told us that Stevenson is trying to do some illegal business through our company," Tobias tells his father.
"WHAT?" Marcus asks outraged.
"Relax, both of you. Stevenson will try something like this again. Next time, we'll be prepared and set a trap."
1 Thank you
2 Sovershennyy, kukla – perfect, doll
3 Niet - no
4 Russian mafia