Chapter 6 - The Truth About Anton
Odessa laughed.
She could not help it.
After twenty-four hours of secret mothers, missing brothers, fake employees, hidden ledgers, and unexpected inheritances, laughter was the only response her body had left.
“Of course he wasn't.”
Anton frowned.
“You think this is funny?”
“I think if someone tells me tomorrow that my grandmother is secretly the Queen of England, I'm going to accept it without questions.”
Anton almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Odessa saw the DNA report.
The humor disappeared.
“No biological relationship.”
She read the sentence twice.
“If Aram wasn't my father, why did he believe he was?”
“Lorraine knows.”
They found Lorraine sitting in Stefan's apartment.
Odessa placed the report before her.
Her mother closed her eyes.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Who is my father?”
Lorraine looked toward Anton.
That frightened Odessa.
“Mom.”
Lorraine began explaining.
Years earlier, before Aram, she had loved someone else.
Daniel Kazarian.
Aram's cousin.
Daniel wanted nothing to do with the family's criminal operations.
He planned to leave Savannah.
Then he died in a boating accident before Lorraine could tell him she was pregnant.
Aram discovered the pregnancy afterward.
He promised to protect Lorraine and the baby.
Eventually their friendship became love.
Aram publicly allowed everyone who mattered to believe Odessa was his biological daughter because being recognized as his child gave her protection.
“So Anton isn't my brother.”
“No.”
“Stefan isn't either.”
“No.”
Odessa sat back.
Something complicated happened inside her.
Relief arrived first.
She hated herself for it.
Because relief meant acknowledging something she had tried not to examine.
Anton.
The office.
The black dress.
Apparently, it does.
She looked toward him.
He had gone completely still.
Lorraine noticed.
Mothers apparently remained mothers even after twenty years.
“Oh,” Lorraine said softly.
Odessa wanted the floor to open.
“Mom.”
“I see.”
“Please stop seeing.”
Anton cleared his throat.
“I’m going outside.”
He left.
Lorraine waited approximately three seconds.
“You love him?”
“What?”
“I've missed twenty years. I don't intend to waste another minute pretending I can't read my daughter.”
“I don't love him.”
Lorraine raised an eyebrow.
“I barely know him.”
“You've worked outside his office for three years.”
“That doesn't mean I know him.”
“Then find out.”
Odessa stared at her mother.
“You don't get to return after twenty years and immediately give dating advice.”
Lorraine smiled sadly.
“Fair.”
That single word softened something.
They talked until dawn.
Lorraine explained the years of hiding.
Some decisions Odessa understood.
Others she could not forgive yet.
But forgiveness, she discovered, did not need to happen in one dramatic moment.
It could happen slowly.
In pieces.
A week later, Kazarian Import and Freight changed.
Federal investigators reviewed the old accounts.
Anton cooperated.
Illicit operations connected to former executives were dismantled.
Legitimate shipping continued.
Anton announced an internal restructuring.
Then he did something nobody expected.
He promoted Odessa.
Not because of Aram's will.
Not because of family history.
Because she had earned it.
Director of Compliance and Operations.
When Priscilla's old coworkers heard the announcement, several looked stunned.
Odessa stood before them.
She wore green.
Not the dress.
A tailored green suit.
No cardigan.
“Any questions?”
Nobody spoke.
Then one employee raised his hand.
“Does this mean you're moving into an office?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
Odessa smiled.
“The one beside Mr. Kazarian.”
Anton heard about that answer later.
He appeared in her doorway.
“You could have chosen thirty-nine.”
“I like the view.”
“You've had the same view three years.”
“Yes, but now I have a door.”
He smiled.
“You've changed.”
“No.”
Odessa leaned back.
“I think I've stopped apologizing.”
His expression became serious.
“Good.”
Silence stretched.
Neither moved.
Odessa finally asked:
“Why did you ask me?”
“What?”
“That night.”
Anton knew immediately.
“Who I was dressing for.”
“Yes.”
He entered and closed the door.
Odessa's heartbeat changed.
“Because I was jealous.”
She blinked.
“That simple?”
“No.”
Anton looked almost irritated by his own honesty.
“I had spent three years telling myself noticing you was irrelevant.”
“Why?”
“You worked for me.”
“Reasonable.”
“You were kind to everyone.”
“Usually.”
“You remembered everything.”
“My job.”
“You smiled at people who didn't deserve it.”
“Character flaw.”
Anton came closer.
“And then you walked into my office wearing that dress, and I realized some man was probably waiting for you.”
Odessa folded her arms.
“There wasn't.”
“I know that now.”
“You forgot how to breathe?”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Who told you that?”
“Your brother.”
“I’m going to kill Stefan.”
“No violence in the workplace.”
Anton laughed.
It transformed him.
For a moment he wasn't the feared Kazarian boss.
He was simply a man.
Odessa liked that man.
Possibly too much.
“Odessa.”
“Yes?”
“I want to take you to dinner.”
She stared.
“As my boss?”
“No.”
“As whatever complicated cousin relationship our family tree says we have?”
“Definitely no.”
She laughed.
Anton became serious.
“As a man who should have asked three years ago.”
Odessa's answer came slowly.
“One dinner.”
“One.”
“No private dining room.”
“Fine.”
“No intimidating restaurant staff.”
“I don't intimidate restaurant staff.”
“You intimidate furniture.”
He smiled.
“Seven?”
“Seven.”
Anton reached the door.
Then Odessa stopped him.
“Anton?”
He turned.
“Who are you dressing up for?”
He looked down at his black suit.
Then back at her.
“You.”
That evening should have been simple.
It almost was.
Until Odessa arrived at the restaurant and found Grant Hollis standing outside.
Her ex-boyfriend.
The man who had spent two years convincing her she was never enough.
Grant stared at her.
Then at Anton approaching behind her.
His face changed.
“Odessa?”
She stopped.
Grant smiled.
“I've been trying to reach you.”
“Why?”
“Because there's something you need to know about Kazarian.”
Anton went still.
Grant looked directly at Odessa.
“He didn't hire you because you're talented.”
Odessa's expression hardened.
Grant continued.
“I know who paid to put you inside that company.”
May you like
And then he named the one person Odessa had never suspected.
“Your grandmother.”
