That was enough. Akim saying he would handle something meant he would, which was the quality that kept him in the chair he was sitting in. “Then we’re done with Ivan. Back to business.” I opened my laptop. “Now that Iker is delivering what we need, we move faster than Zachary expects.”
“About the company Iker mentioned Zachary owns, should I dig into it and find the weak points?”
“No need.” I leaned back. “We’re going to burn it.”
Akim went still. “Sorry?”
“But first, I will pay him a visit. Look into the events he is attending. I want to appear in one.”
Akim absorbed that and understood how this would go. “Alright.”
My phone screen lit up on the desk, and I glanced at the name before answering. Rodion.
I ran through every reason my brother would call me and came up with nothing that made sense. He must have just missed me. I answered and leaned back in the chair. “Brother. To what pleasure do I owe this call?”
“We have a meeting next weekend in New York.” Rodiondelivered this the way he delivered everything, without the courtesy of a greeting, without acknowledgment that anyone else’s time existed.
But Rodion calling an urgent meeting in New York meant trouble. He never called meetings unless he saw a fracture somewhere in the structure. Did he already know Roman was in Florida? If he did, he would assume Roman and I were moving in silence, building something behind him. That man ran surveillance on his own family and called it management.
“I also missed you. It’s been what, a year?” I said with a smirk.
“And check your emails. I need clear information immediately.” He ended the call.
I set the phone on the desk and looked at it for a moment. New York, it was, which meant I couldn’t miss it for anything, and it also meant being there would serve more than one purpose. It would be a good time for Inna to meet her mother.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Inna Grace
I set the breakfast trayon the bedside table while Anita arranged the glass of water beside it. I thanked her, and she bowed once before leaving the room. All I needed now was for Caitlin to wake up. But just as I finished the thought, she shifted beneath the covers and slowly pulled herself upright.
“You’re up,” I said. “Perfect timing. I prepared breakfast for you. Everything’s here, so just take whatever you feel like eating.”
I picked up the tray and sat on the edge of the bed beside her, settling it carefully across her lap. Her face looked better than yesterday. The swollen eye had opened slightly, and the cut on her lip was starting to close at the edges. I noticed it all at once, then looked away again. The last thing she needed was to catch me staring at her injuries like I was counting them.
She took the tray and started with the porridge. I watched the small wince she tried to hide each time the spoon brushed too close to the cut on her lip.
I picked up a fork, stabbed a piece of bacon, and looked out thewindow while I chewed. “The weather today is clear for a beach walk.”
The memory of what Dmitri and I did on the beach tried pushing its way into my head, but I blocked it. I was not about to sit here beside an injured Caitlin and start overheating over beach sex memories while she ate porridge. I picked up a slice of apple and took a bite instead.
Caitlin didn’t respond. She barely said anything since yesterday, and I would not force her into conversation before she was ready. I could do enough talking for both of us.
“No wonder Cole is already playing there. He has claimed the beach as personal property at this point,” I continued. “I’m expecting him to start charging an entry fee soon. Five seashells per person, negotiable if you bring snacks.”
A quick sound escaped Caitlin, almost a laugh, and she looked surprised by it herself, her fingers moving to her lip afterward.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ll try to be less funny.”
“No.” She shook her head.
It was the most she had said since yesterday.
I picked up another slice of apple. “Have you always lived in Florida?”
That was enough to open the conversation. She told me she grew up in Alabama, but at some point, everything in her life started revolving around Ivan. Her parents tried forcing her into a marriage she didn’t want, so she ran away, met Ivan, and ended up marrying him instead. She didn’t have much of a relationship with her family after that, so for a long time, it was just her and Ivan.
“Maybe this is what I get for disobeying my parents.” She gave a quiet laugh, and I shook my head.
