Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Her eyes bulge at the end of my sentence. “Shit. A cake! I was meant to organize Vasily’s cake.”
She glares at me when I murmur, “It isn’t the end of the world if he doesn’t blow out some candles on his birthday. He’s a grown-ass man.”
“Who will expect a more decadent dessert if I don’t show up with something decent.”
I stare at her, lost.
Mercifully, she’s accustomed to my gaped-mouth responses.
“When Vasily couldn’t track my phone—”
“Switching your phone off and removing the battery works wonders, by the way. Thanks for the tip.”
She smiles, grateful for my praise, before continuing. “I told him I was organizing a special treat for his birthday. Vasily being Vasily thought—”
“You were offering for him to stuff your cream puff?”
Polina groans before nodding. “So if I don’t turn up with something more elaborate than a supermarket sponge cake, he’ll smell a rat.” I shouldn’t love the desperation in her eyes when she locks them with mine, but I do, because it isn’t there for me. It is there for Yev. She wants to protect him as badly as she wants to screw his brains out. “Do you have any contacts?”
“No…” I let her hang for three whole seconds so she knows just how much she is asking of me, before saying, “But I know someone who might .”
20
NATALYA
Matvei’s hand announces he’s spotted me long before his eyes. It balls on the glass table in a conference room a few doors down from his office. He’s speaking to a handful of men and women. Their attention is rapt on him, but his focus is solely on one person.
Me.
“If you’d take a seat, I’ll let Mr. Ivanov know you’ve finally arrived.”
The Ivanov Industries secretary stops in her tracks when I mutter, “He’s expecting me?”
“Yes.” She smiles, which lessens the strict lines on her face. “Despite his hectic schedule, he advised the staff to bring you straight to him upon arrival.”
Her comment should weaken the jealousy bubbling in my stomach as she bobs down to Matvei’s level and presses her lips close to his ear. However, it is there, as fizzing as ever.
This is the first time the naughty secretary and her boss storyline has played in my head for the past three days, but it is almost as nauseating as recalling how I left Matvei high and dry in a hotel full of women willing to answer his every whim.
He has a thousand beds at his disposal, and I shudder at the thought of him using every one of them. I’ve never hated myself more.
Matvei nods at the secretary before silencing a man standing beside an electronic whiteboard by swiping his hand through the air. “We will finish this later.”
“Matvei—”
Maksim is cut off in the same manner as the staffer packing away his belongings. “The figures are solid. That is all this meeting was to establish.”
Since Maksim can’t disagree with him, he dips his chin before exiting the boardroom ahead of everyone else.
“Ohhh…” he murmurs in a long drawl when he spots me waiting in the foyer. “Now his twitching jaw makes sense.” He stuffs his hand into his pocket before rocking on his heels. “How have you been, Natalya? Any fun developments to share?” I don’t get the chance to answer. “I take it from Matvei’s response earlier this week that you didn’t appreciate my gift.” My brows screw together for barely a second before he relieves my confusion. “No matter how violent, I’ve always believed in following through with a threat.”
“You sent me the hands.” I’m not asking a question. I am stating a fact.
Maksim’s smirk is identical to Matvei’s. “And I didn’t even get a thank-you card.” My heart thuds in my throat when he murmurs, “Perhaps next time.”
His smirk turns into a full-blown smile when I seethe, “There won’t be a next time. I made sure of that.”
“We’ll see.” His reply reminds me of Matvei’s frustration the night Tyler asked for my number, but I still don’t believe having a fondness for someone warrants a death sentence.
“Ms. Lefevre, Mr. Ivanov is ready to see you,” the secretary announces, interrupting my standoff with a known Russian gangster.
“Thank you.” I gather up my purse and coat resting on my lap before sidestepping Maksim and entering the now-empty conference room.
“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t send the hands?” I snap out before we’re alone.
Matvei’s jaw tightens before he requests the secretary to close the door on her way out. “And hold my calls. I may be here a while.”
“Yes, sir. It will be my pleasure.”
She wants to fuck him. Her tone announces this, not to mention how often she flutters her lashes at him.
Whore.
Once we’re alone, Matvei meets my watch before grinding out, “Sit down.” My hand only graces the chair across from him before he barks out, “Not there. Here.” He pushes his chair back before nudging his head to a portion of the desk in front of him. “Because we’re not discussing anything until I find out if you traveled across town wearing no fucking panties for the second time this week.”