Luck of the Devil (The Forge Trilogy #2)(51)

“You know you sound like a sappy self-help book, right?” I lower my empty glass to the table between us and sit forward.

“Fuck off, Forge. I know what I’m talking about. Only one of us is happily married and has the most gorgeous daughter in the world who will never date until I’m dead and buried, because no man will ever be good enough for my Rose.”

Karas’s entire expression softens when he talks about his daughter, and I can’t help but think about the fact that Indy and I didn’t use protection. Before her, I never thought I’d be interested in having kids because of my shitty childhood, but now I can see Indy with a little girl, teaching her to bluff at poker. Or me with a little boy, helping him learn to fish off the pier on the island.

Suddenly, I’m jealous as fuck of what Karas has with his wife and daughter. His family.

Isaac told me I was his family, and family always came first. How did I forget something so basic and important? How did I fuck this up so badly?

I have to fix it. I have no choice. I can’t let her go like this.

“What do I do? How do I salvage this thing?”

“First off,” Karas says, rising to walk inside the penthouse. “It’s not a thing. It’s your marriage. And congratulations, it’s now your top fucking priority. It takes more work than anything you’ve ever done before in your life, including building a shipping empire from almost nothing to biggest in the world.”

“You’re really doing a great job selling this, by the way.”

He disappears inside and returns a moment later with the bottle of whiskey. Using it to gesture, he says, “Shut the fuck up, Forge, and listen. Don’t, for a single minute, think she’s going to be easier to negotiate with than her pissed-off Russian father. That’s your first mistake. I don’t know what the hell happened between you two, but I do know that you’ve probably hurt her somehow, and now you have to fix it. What does she want more than anything, right now?”

The argument Indy and I had right before I left storms into my mind. “A divorce.”

Karas waves me off as he splashes two fingers into my empty tumbler. “Other than that.”

“To play a grand prix in Prague, which is too fucking dangerous to consider after the shit that’s gone down.”

He narrows his gaze on me. “Are you, or are you not, a fucking billionaire? You could buy the fucking Secret Service to keep her safe, so that’s a cop-out. If she wants to go to this thing, and it’s that important, you move heaven and fucking earth to give her that.”

My jaw tight, I nod. “Go on.”

Karas exhales a long breath as he fills his own glass. “You might be a lost cause, brother. I hate to say it, but I don’t think there’s a romantic bone in your body.”

He pulls two cigars from his pocket and drops into the chair. He holds one out to me, and I take it.

“Think for two seconds, of all the stops you could pull to make this the most incredible experience for her. How you could go above and beyond to shock her with your thoughtfulness, because that’s what you need to do—be fucking thoughtful. Listen. Think. Do one better. And sometimes . . . sometimes you might have to compromise or sacrifice things that mean something to you in order to show Indy that you’re sincere. Because if you’re not sincere in this whole fucking thing, what’s the point?”

I roll the cigar in my hand while I mull over his words, thinking of all the things I could do that would fix what I’ve obviously fucked up.

Clearly, my silence lasts too long for Karas’s short measure of patience.

“Are you going to do this or not? I need to know what the fuck to tell Riscoff about the deal.” He pulls out his cutter and snips off the end of his cigar before handing the cutter to me. “We can always go looking at Chinese steel, or gut our profits completely to buy North American.”

“Let me win back my wife first. Then we’ll worry about the deal.”

Karas’s cigar tilts in his mouth as he grins. “Good fucking answer. Hopefully, she doesn’t kill you as soon as she sees you.”





52





India





Seventeen phone calls later, there’s a boat on its way to get me. Forge must have told his employees that I’m a flight risk, because they’re all out patrolling the grounds and the pier, and Dorsey has latched onto me like a barnacle to one of her boss’s ships.

“Are you sure you’re not hungry? You haven’t eaten anything today. I’d be happy to have a nice lunch whipped up for you.”

Considering this is about the tenth time she’s made such an offer, my patience is waning.

I turn and give her a polite smile. “Still not hungry.”

The hopeful expression on her face crumples like she’s lost a battle. “Can we talk frankly for a moment, Mrs. Forge?” Dorsey swallows and threads her fingers together at her waist.

“It’s Indy, please. And feel free to say whatever you need to say.”

“Indy, have you ever had a job before that you couldn’t afford to lose?”

I have no idea where she’s going with this, but I nod.

“For me, this is that job. Working for Mr. Forge personally is a chance of a lifetime. He grooms all the people who move up the ladder in his company, and gives them amazing opportunities once they prove their loyalty and willingness to do whatever it takes to complete a job well.”