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“Sure.”
*
After Tiffany headed back to the car, Ivan turned back to Debra, and any semblance of civility was gone. His eyes were bright with barely restrained hostility. Debra wrenched herself out of his grasp and backed up a few paces, actually looking frightened.
“We’ve settled all our debts to each other, Debra. I meant what I said about not contacting me or Tiffany ever again. If there’s so much as one hair that gets mussed on her head, I will know it was you, or that you had a hand in it. And if that day comes—”
“You’ll what?” she taunted. “Call the police on me for harassing your girlfriend? I’ll deny it.”
“I don’t need police,” he said coldly. “There is nowhere on this planet you can hide that I won’t find you, Debra. And I hope for your sake you’re smart enough not to ever want that day to arrive.”
Debra stood rooted to the spot. Her eyes bugged out in fear.
He leaned closer. “Do you understand me?”
She could only nod.
Without another word, Ivan strode back to the car. He got in and kissed Tiffany.
“Let’s go home,” was all he said before he put the car in gear and drove off.
*
The next night, Tiffany and Ivan were at his house watching a movie when his cell phone rang.
Tiffany glanced over. “Work?”
“Yep, I promise it won’t be long.” He stepped away to take the call.
Fifteen minutes passed, and Ivan still had not returned. Tiffany got up and went looking for him. She found him outside on the patio standing in the darkness.
“Hey, what are you doing out here?”
He didn’t turn around. “Thinking.”
Tiffany walked over. “Ivan, what’s wrong?”
He took her hand in his. “I just got offered the chance to take on a client who’ll be working out of the country for several months in Dubai. He asked for me specifically. Apparently, I came highly recommended. He said he heard I was the best, and he only wants the best. You know what the irony is? I once thought something like this was a dream job for me.”
“Why?”
“Because the money I’d make on this one client would allow me to expand my business interests internationally, which could mean a lot of follow-up work, if all went well.”
Tiffany’s heart dropped to her stomach. She stood there for a minute before she spoke.
“Are you going to take t
he job?”
“Before, I would’ve accepted on the spot, but things have changed, Tiff.”
He turned to face her. Though it was dark, his hand went right to her face. He grazed her cheek with his fingers. “You’re in my life now. What we have is important to me, Tiffany. Whatever decision I make affects you now, too.”
His words sent her heart soaring. “Is this job going to be dangerous?”
He grasped her hand, and she followed him back inside. Ivan turned off the television, and they went upstairs to his room. They sat on the bed facing each other.
“Sweetheart, there’s an element of danger in the majority of the jobs I do. It only takes a split second for something to go wrong. I won’t lie and say that this assignment won’t have a heightened level of security.”
