Her shoulders dropped. “Fine. Whatever you wish, sir.” She slid off, close enough that her head nearly brushed my groin. “Goodnight.”
She walked out, and I sighed, my cock throbbing. This was a disaster. And what did she mean by working as a cleaner? Was that an insult?
Chapter Eighteen
Inna Grace
Dmitri dismantled every plan Imade without breaking a sweat. He didn’t even need to try. He just existed with all that power sitting in his hands and watched my ideas run into walls. The cleaner plan was a good one. I needed savings to walk away with after all this fake marriage was over. But no. We were moving to the mansion. I would lose access to the building, and the plan died before the embarrassment of pitching it did.
He told me to enjoy the wife’s power while it lasted. But he forgot to mention that he would plan every hour of my life so well that the power would have nowhere to land.
Cole’s tutor arrived in the morning, which meant the move wasn’t happening until later. I decided to look around the DK Holdings building. Dmitri owned it, and I was his ‘wife’, meaning walking through the floors wouldn’t raise any attention.
I opened the door and nearly jerked away when I found Caitlin standing outside. “You startled me.”
She was wearing dark sunglasses. The smile on her face lookedforced. I spent one day with her, and that was enough to learn the difference.
“Hi.” She adjusted the glasses. “I wasn’t sure if I’d find you here.”
I pulled the door shut behind me. “I’m glad you came. We might leave today. I asked about you, and nobody told me anything. Are you okay?”
“That’s actually why I’m here.” Something in her voice sat more carefully and measured than the woman who laughed at our jokes yesterday. “About yesterday. I’m sorry. I should have kept a closer eye on you. We shouldn’t have gone to that boutique, and I need you to know I had nothing to do with what happened.”
She folded her hands in front of her, looking like she spent the night preparing this apology and was now afraid it wouldn’t be enough.
“Caitlin, I remember you screaming before they knocked me out. We were attacked together.”
“I put you in danger,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t put me in danger.” I shook my head. “We were in danger together. You have nothing to apologize for. I was worried about you.” I tried to find her eyes behind the dark glasses, but couldn’t. “Did you get hurt?”
She adjusted them and wiped her hands on her dress. She wasn’t herself. This one looked like she was told to be careful about something and took that instruction seriously.
“I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me. And if you could tell the boss, I’m sorry—”
“Caitlin, I’m glad you’re okay. I’m okay. Let’s leave it there.” I nodded toward the corridor. “I was about to look around. Can you come with me?”
“Yes. Of course. Anything.”
She fell into step beside me and led us toward the elevator. Iglanced at her while we were walking. She always looked put-together, like she woke up already coordinated. The purple dress sat perfectly on her, the scarf around her neck picking up the same tone as her heels, nothing accidental about any of it.
She pressed the button, and we waited.
“We had a family dinner last night,” I said, keeping my voice light, hoping to pull back some version of Caitlin who sang loudly to music in the car and didn’t care who heard it.
“You made it? Good, I’m glad.”
“Dmitri’s grandmother was there. We’re moving to the mansion.” I sighed. “Tell me more about her.”
Caitlin laughed lightly as the elevator opened. “I don’t know much. But she loves her family, and she doesn’t do anything halfway. When she decides something matters, it matters.” We stepped in. “She’s sweet, though, once you get past the part where she makes you feel like she can see straight through you. As long as you get along with her, she talks a lot.” She turned to me. “Last time I saw her, she asked me why I hadn’t gotten a child yet, so,” she lifted her shoulder, “she loves children. She’ll love Cole.”
That sat in my chest. If she loved children, believed Cole was Dmitri’s son, and then the truth unraveled, that would hurt more people than just me.
“I hope so,” I said.
The doors opened, and we stepped out. Employees moved past us in both directions, purposeful.
“What about his parents? Brothers? Do they live in Russia?”
