by Katie Reus
Dominique figured that Lizzy could pretty much do whatever she wanted, and not just because she was married to Porter. The woman was one of their online security experts and a more than decent hacker. In fact, Dominique had heard some of the guys call her scary good. Something she was really hoping for right now. “That’s a little insane.”
Lizzy shrugged. “If I don’t let the energy out, I go insane.”
“Fair enough… Can I ask you a favor that you can’t tell your husband about?”
Lizzy’s expression turned serious. “Depends on the favor.”
“It’s not work related. I just…need to know where someone is right now. I need to talk to him and it has to be in person.”
Lizzy frowned, absently pushing back a loose strand of her long, dark hair. “Why not call this person?”
She could. Heck, she probably should. But no, this needed to be an in-person conversation. Dominique needed to see Ivanov’s face, gauge his reaction. “It’s…personal.” Dominique was friends with Lizzy but she never forgot that Lizzy was also her boss’s wife. Shaking her head, she stood. “I know I’m putting you in a weird position and that I’m asking you to invade someone’s privacy. Can we just forget I asked—”
“Who do you want to track down?”
She shifted from foot to foot, debating if she should just leave, but she really wanted to know where he was. And to talk to him right freaking now. “Viktor Ivanov.”
Lizzy blinked in surprise. “Is this about Raegan?”
“Not remotely. Nothing to do with her, the club, or work. It’s very personal. This is his number.” She held out a sticky note she’d scribbled the number on earlier.
Lizzy gave her a mischievous grin. “Personal, huh?” She pulled her computer back into her lap and her fingers started flying over the keyboard at an alarming pace.
Dominique wanted to correct her, to tell her not personal in the way she implied, but held her tongue as Lizzy worked. When she started to move around to see what her friend was doing, Lizzy shook her head.
“Uh-uh. Just sit down while I work. Plausible deniability, my friend. If you don’t see what I’m doing, you can’t admit to any wrongdoing.” She didn’t glance up once as she said it, her expression almost gleeful.
“Are you breaking the law?” It was a dumb question. Of course Lizzy was. Dominique had heard the rumors, knew that Lizzy could pretty much hack anything. It was the whole reason she’d come to see her.
Lizzy just snorted then grinned. “He’s at one of his hotels.” She rattled off the name and address, but Dominique already knew where it was.
She’d lived in Miami her whole life and knew the city well. “Thank you.”
Lizzy didn’t look up, just typed in a few more commands. “Looks as if he’s currently in the ground-floor restaurant. East side. Well, his personal cell phone is. I’m assuming it’s with him.”
Dominique blinked. “You’re terrifying.”
“Thanks,” Lizzy said, looking up. “Are you in trouble?”
“No.” She felt like a mess though. “It’s just personal. I promise.”
Lizzy slid her computer to the side and stood. “What I know about Ivanov isn’t much, but I’ve heard enough that he’s a dangerous man.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“Be careful.”
“Thanks. I will. If, uh, he leaves, will you call me? I’m headed over there right now.”
“I’ll keep an eye on his phone and let you know. Do you need an escort or anything?”
She shook her head. She didn’t need an audience for this, didn’t want anyone to know her personal business. None of her friends from work knew what had happened to her parents—or if they did they’d never brought it up—and she planned to keep it that way. She didn’t want pitying looks. “If you need to tell Porter about this, it’s okay.”
Lizzy just nodded, which wasn’t really an answer whether she was going to tell her husband or not. Dominique didn’t really care though. She needed to talk to Viktor Ivanov right now and ask him why the hell he’d sent her a contract signing over the rights to her childhood home. He supposedly just wanted to give it to her.
For free.
There had to be a catch. Even if there wasn’t, she sure as hell wasn’t taking it. She was going to get to the bottom of this and find out what the heck he was up to. Because a man like Ivanov wouldn’t give away such a valuable piece of property for nothing.
* * *
Dominique was a mix of nerves and anger by the time she made it to Viktor’s hotel. Or one of them, apparently. She’d known he was successful, but when Lizzy had said ‘one of his hotels’ she’d realized that he must be wealthier than she’d thought.
She had her car valeted because she couldn’t even think about dealing with parking. After a confirming text from Lizzy that Ivanov was still in his restaurant, she headed into the lobby. The decorating was minimalist but everything was high-end. A huge chandelier hung right in the middle of the foyer of the five-star boutique hotel, glittering prettily above everything. She was almost certain the place didn’t have more than a hundred rooms. The interior had an Old World feel to it and was truly beautiful. She’d read about it in one of the luxury publications she kept up to date on for Porter. She just hadn’t realized Ivanov was the owner.
Before she’d taken two steps, a man wearing black pants, a white button-down shirt and a simple black jacket with the hotel’s logo on it approached her, a warm smile on his face. “Welcome. How may I help you?”
She gave him one of her most winning smiles. She hadn’t really thought this through before coming down here. She’d just been so impatient to see him and hadn’t wanted to wait—or call. For some reason that had seemed intimidating. Now, she realized, seeing him in person after she’d told him that his family disgusted her was nerve-racking. Gah, what had she been thinking? “I’m here to see Mr. Ivanov.”
Before the man could respond another man appeared as if out of nowhere, moving silently across the marble tile as he approached. She’d seen him at the Celebration of Chefs on Saturday with Ivanov and thought they might be business partners. He was just as big and definitely as intimidating as Ivanov. The man smiled at her, sort of, and dismissed the hotel employee with a few short words.
“I take it you’re here to see my brother, Miss Castle.”
She blinked at his words, surprised he even knew who she was. “You’re Viktor’s brother?” She hadn’t realized that he had any siblings. Once upon a time she’d done her research on him too. But that had been years ago, when she’d been obsessed with finding out everything about the man who’d destroyed her family. She’d moved on since then, had avoided reading anything about Ivanov once his father died.
“Half-brother. He’s working but he’ll make time for you.” Without waiting for her to respond he turned on his heel and headed toward the open entrance to a restaurant. There was a sign outside that said it was closed until four o’clock.
“I can come back later,” she said as she hurried to catch up with him. Looking at the man now it seemed obvious he and Viktor were related. He was just as big, with similar blue eyes. He even had a similar haircut, buzzed close to his head. “I should have called.”
He stopped as they reached the entrance. “How did you know he was here?”
Feeling her cheeks flush, she just shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
He gave her an assessing look before turning away again and motioning for her to follow him.
She gritted her teeth at his rudeness, but whatever. She’d just shown up here without calling—after illegally tracking Ivanov down. Dominique wasn’t going to throw stones about manners.
He led her across a mostly empty restaurant with white tablecloths on all the tables except a circular booth Viktor was sitting at. There were two men about ten feet away from him, standing quietly by the bar. His bodyguards, she guessed, if the way they sized her up was any indication.
His half-brother held up
a hand to them, said something in Russian she didn’t understand. Unlike Viktor, he didn’t have an accent when he spoke English.
Viktor stood, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her, his gaze sweeping her from head to toe. There was a mix of lust thrown in too, which completely screwed with her head.
He started to say something, then one of the men said something under his breath to the other one in Russian, the look the guard gave her easy to define. She might not understand the language but the way he leered at her made her skin crawl.
On instinct she took a step back but to her surprise Viktor moved into the guy’s personal space, getting right up in his face. It was amazing—he didn’t even touch the guy but it was clear he didn’t have to. The guard’s body language showed fear, if the way he tried to shrink back in an attempt to be invisible was any indication. Viktor murmured something too low for her to hear, but whatever it was, the man paled a deathly white and nodded once before practically running from the restaurant. He gave her a wide berth and avoided eye contact as he left.
The remaining man looked just as uneasy.
“Leave us,” Viktor said to his brother—whose name she still didn’t know—and the remaining man.
Once they were gone, he motioned that she could sit across the booth from where he’d been sitting.
She swallowed hard, wondering why she’d thought it was a good idea to just show up here. Viktor was huge and had a ruthless reputation. Clearly she needed to get her head on straight. She paused, unsure if she should sit or not.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he snapped.
She jumped at the harsh tone.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. Please sit.”
Pushing out a breath, she did—because she wanted answers. “Why the heck did you send over that contract to me this morning?” The question came out as a half shout, making her cringe at herself. “Sorry, I’m just… Well, why did you?”
He was sitting ramrod straight, looking uncomfortable as he watched her. As if he didn’t want her here any more than she wanted to be here. “It has come to my attention that my family owes you a debt.”
She clenched her jaw tightly. A debt? A house wouldn’t come close to making up for what she’d lost. “So you’re just offering to give me my childhood home?” A place that held a lot of good memories. It was like he was dangling the best carrot ever in front of her but there was no way she could take it.
He nodded once.
“In exchange for what?”
He blinked. “Nothing. It’s a gift.”
“You can’t offer a gift like that and think I’m going to believe you want nothing in return!”
He shifted against his seat, looking uncomfortable. Something told her he wasn’t often uncomfortable. “I don’t want anything. It’s yours. I didn’t get much from my father when he died, but your parents’ house was part of my trust. I didn’t…know what he’d done until yesterday.”
Even if he sounded sincere she still didn’t know if she believed him. And she regretted coming here. She should have just ignored the contract, ignored everything. Especially since it seemed clear that he must know about her parents, about her mother. It made her feel vulnerable in a way she hadn’t in a long time. “I don’t want it.”
“It’s yours. My father hurt a lot of people.” There was a strained note in his voice, but she didn’t know him well enough to be sure. “I know the house doesn’t make up for anything, but I can’t keep it. Not now. It’s been on a rental program for years since it’s on the beach. It has high ratings and does well in the summers so if you do the same thing with it you’ll make a nice yearly income from it. I can recommend a property management company to run it if you’d like.”
No. This was not happening. The world didn’t work this way.
Unable to find her voice she abruptly stood. She didn’t want the house, didn’t want anything from him and it pissed her off that he thought giving her the property would somehow make up for what his father had done.
And yet, part of her felt conflicted. He was supposed to be a monster just like his father, and now she didn’t know what to think. She turned, ready to run out of there, when his hand lightly clasped her wrist.
She turned back to him but wouldn’t meet his gaze. Instead she stared at his broad, muscled chest. Now she was glad he was taller than her so she didn’t have to look into his eyes. And she hated that she noticed how attractive he was.
“Please take it,” he murmured. “Sell it, do whatever you want. But take it.” There was a sort of desperation in his voice, as if he meant every word.
He just wanted her to take it so his conscience could be eased. And that wasn’t going to happen. “That house…is the last place I remember being happy with my parents.” Her voice broke on the last word and to her horror she started crying.
No! This was even worse than crying at work. Breaking down in front of the man she’d thought was a monster for so long, a man who was supposedly giving her such a huge gift with no expectations—she tried to rein in her tears, but when he made a distressed sound and awkwardly patted her on the back in a half-hug she couldn’t stop herself no matter how hard she tried.
Almost against her will she found herself leaning into the very man she’d always thought of as her enemy.
Chapter 5
Viktor had never felt more at a loss in his life. He had no experience with crying women. He didn’t know if she wanted any comfort and he didn’t want to risk her shoving him away if he pulled her into his arms. Even if the thought of holding her close was something he’d been fantasizing about. No matter how stupid. So he awkwardly patted her back. If she was his he’d do more than this—he’d pull her into his arms, wipe away her tears and bring her pleasure, make her forget why she was in pain.
“Do you want to sit?” he murmured. Maybe he never should have sent that contract over. Maybe he should have contacted her first. But he hadn’t thought she would want to see him or talk to him. Not after their last meeting. He’d just wanted to make things as right as he could. Upsetting her was the last thing he wanted to do, but clearly he’d made a mistake.
She nodded and swiped away her tears before collapsing on the edge of the booth seat.
Instead of sitting across from her he grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat in front of her.
Her pretty brown eyes widened slightly but at least she wasn’t crying anymore. There was still some dampness on her cheeks and he wanted to wipe it away, to touch her soft skin, take her pain away. But he didn’t.
In his periphery he saw his brother reenter the restaurant. When he met Abram’s gaze his brother tapped his watch. Viktor shook his head. He didn’t care about his upcoming meeting. This was more important.
His brother’s expression darkened but Viktor turned away from him and focused on Dominique. “The last thing I wanted to do was upset you,” he said quietly.
“I think I believe you.” She gave him a half-smile he felt all the way to his core. “I’m sorry I thought you were just like your father.”
“It’s a fair assumption.” One most people made. For the most part people weren’t wrong, at least not when it came to business. He was ruthless. He just wasn’t a gangster and he didn’t get off on hurting women. Unlike his father. “I’m sorry about your parents.”
At his words her expression shuttered but he could see pain in her eyes. She couldn’t hide that. And he wished his father was still alive so he could kill him all over again for what he’d done. “You know what he did to my mother?”
“I can guess.” Because his father had been a monster. It was the reason he’d killed Ilya. Something no one knew. Not even his brother. He’d do it again too.
“I only found out after she killed herself.” She swallowed hard and paused. He wanted to comfort her but didn’t think she would want his touch. “She wrote me a letter. He…he said he made videos of them. So even after she’d pai
d off his bullshit debt he said she had to keep ‘servicing’ him or he’d put those videos on the internet for everyone to see.” Tears tracked down her cheeks again and the sight was too much.
Fuck it. He couldn’t sit here and do nothing. He pulled her into his arms and to his surprise she leaned into his hold, burying her face against his shoulder as she laid her hands gently on his chest.
He closed his eyes for a moment, savored the feel of her leaning against him, almost as if she trusted him. “I’m so sorry.”
She sniffled and pulled back, wiped at her face. “It’s not your fault. Even if I wanted to make you out to be a monster too.” Guilt flickered across her features.
“I’m still sorry. If he was alive, I’d kill him.” The words came out savage. Instantly he wished he could take them back when her eyes widened in shock. But screw it, he was who he was. There was no need to hide it, especially since he’d never have a chance with her. Not now. Not with the history between their families.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” she said, giving him a watery half-laugh.
He wasn’t, but wasn’t going to tell her that. The only times he’d killed had been in self-defense, but not many people knew about that. They suspected, sure. Which was another reason for his reputation. “Please take the house.”
She was already shaking her head before he’d finished. “I can’t, but thank you anyway.”
Viktor reined in his frustration. He couldn’t very well order her to take it even if that was exactly what he wanted to do. He was going to make sure it ended up in her hands. After reading the file Abram had given him he’d learned that she lost her college savings fund because of her father’s gambling, as well as her trust. She’d paid her way through college working two jobs and had only acquired minimal debt—which she’d just recently paid off. She had a strong work ethic, something he admired. Before he could respond he saw Lucy headed his way.
Viktor knew his brother had likely sent her in here because of the stupid meeting he needed to get to. He wanted to wave her away, but simply couldn’t do that to Lucy—something Abram knew. She smiled politely at Dominique before focusing on him. “Abram wanted me to remind you that you’ve got that meeting to get to.”
