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As if on cue, a booming roar sounds in the hallway outside of her office. “Miss Ives!”
Unperturbed, she smoothes her skirt. “Please excuse me for a moment. I’ll be right back with your paperwork.”
Curious at what the commotion is all about, I tiptoe to the door after she leaves and open it enough to peer into the hallway. The clip of her heels fades away to the double doors at the end of the corridor and she disappears inside. I catch a glimpse of an imposing masculine form before the door closes behind her. Is that Grayson Hyde’s office? Must be.
Trying to mind my own business, I sit back down and text Sophia the good news. I’m still reeling, I can’t believe I got the job. Even getting it on a trial basis is more than I truly expected. A place like this must have a deluge of applicants for any position that becomes available.
While my phone’s in hand, a new text pops up.
Connor Bane
Hello Beautiful, I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow. We have a reservation at Spades. I hope that’s agreeable to you.
A cage full of butterflies is released in my stomach, and I allow myself a moment to mentally swoon. Connor Bane is a gorgeous, intelligent, billionaire who plays in the stock market, but is most known for his modeling career. He’s one of the notorious Bane brothers and most eligible bachelors in the city. Correction, most eligible bachelors in the entire country. And he asked me on a date.
We met at a house party last week and spent the evening chatting about absolutely anything and everything. He’s the kind of man I want to eventually settle down with, and if tomorrow goes well, we might just continue dating and see where it takes us.
I message him back, saying that Spades is an excellent choice and I’ll be ready at six sharp.
Dream job today, dream date tomorrow night. Life is almost perfect. Everything I desire is moving closer and closer, almost within reach.
I tuck my phone away when Tarina comes back into her office. She sets a stack of papers in front of me, then sits in her chair and leans on the desk.
“One last word of advice,” she says, visually flustered. “If you want to make it here, steer clear of the owner, Mr. Hyde. He’s an ogre on the best of days. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The livid expression in her grey eyes gives me pause. Great, so my boss’s boss is a complete asshole. Noted. Tarina seems pretty level-headed so I can only guess at what he did to rile her up this much.
Even with that warning, I fill in the paperwork, sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement, and honestly would sign away my soul for this opportunity. Once it’s all finished, she collects up the papers and offers me a genuine smile.
“Welcome to the lion’s den.”
CHAPTER 3
Dimitri
“Sweet, kisa.” My fingers trail through her silky, deep chestnut hair as she sleeps. Her room is dark except for the faint glow of street lights through a gap in the curtains. That sliver of light illuminates her beautiful face. She looks like an angel.
My angel.
Getting past the security system, and the perimeter guard wasn’t easy, but totally worth it. I haven’t seen my gorgeous kisa in far too long. Twelve weeks, six days, and thirteen hours to be exact. I know because I’ve been counting the days, annoyed at each one that’s passed without catching a glimpse of her, without scratching the itch of my obsession.
It’s not an obsession.
It’s revenge. It’s payback for making the Kozlov Bratva look weak in the eyes of our enemies. For abandoning us when we needed the Italians the most. They broke their word and shit on us. We became the laughingstock of New York. Seemingly overnight other alliances turned their backs on us, debts owed became overdue, and people mistakenly started to think they could walk all over us.
What did all of that lead to? My uncle’s murder.
Someone had the balls to eliminate him, the Kozlov Bratva’s Pakhan, execution style, right in our backyard, on our turf. Now, more than ever, I want the Pontrelli’s to pay. If they had followed through on their promise to wed their daughter to my cousin Nikolai, none of this would have happened. No one would have dared to cross my family and my uncle would still be alive. The Bratva would still have its leader.
My fingers curl into a fist in her long hair. Now I must do what I should have done months ago—take this woman as my wife. Use her as the leverage I need to control her father and his men. Then show my enemies that no one breaks a deal with the Kozlovs without penalty.
In truth, I should have insisted on our marriage as soon as her sister wed that Italian, Roman De Luca. I could have saved my uncle’s life. If it wasn’t too little, too late by then.
But now there will be repercussions. The man who murdered my uncle is going to find that out soon. Once I find him. And I will find him. The powerful Don Pontrelli, with all of his capos and soldiers, is going to help me hunt the bastard down.
I’m going to steal from him what he holds most dear, his daughter Arianna. The fool actually let his eldest daughter, Sophia, marry for love. He broke our agreement first because of blackmail then for the love of his children.
His daughters are his weakness. A weak spot that I plan to exploit.
