Page 59 of The Beauty Who Loved Him

“Did you actually do that? Water the plants?”

“I will,” he muttered, defensively. “When I go back later.”

Vera chose not to push it. All the while, she secretly hoped none of their villa neighbors ever noticed Kiril’s odd propensity for breaking and entering. It wasn’t like he stole anything, but that didn’t change what his behavior was at the end of the day. Dangerous and criminal.

Like someone else she knew ...

By the time Kiril found the correct key, he wouldn’t let her help, and got the front door open, Igor had already produced the bags from the back of the SUV and deposited them on the bottom of the stoop. He pointed at them, looking only at Kiril.

“I assume you’ve got these, yes?”

“Of course,” Kiril replied as Vera stepped beyond him to enter the villa. “And I’ve got something for you, too.”

“Da?”

“Yeah. Found it taped to the door.”

Despite not spending any time in her villa in weeks, and desperately wanting to reacquaint herself with the familiar floors and walls of her home, Vera spun right back around to watch Kiril pull a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and hand it over to Igor. The older man flicked the paper open and squinted one eye as he held it a bit closer to his face to read what was written on the paper.

A grunt passed his lips.

Half amused.

Mostly annoyed.

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought, too,” Kiril said like he could read Igor’s mind.

“What did I miss?” Vera asked. “Was that on my door? What does it say?”

Igor lowered the paper and arched a brow her way. “You’re still nosy, I see.”

“This is where I live.”

“It’s not serious. Just a message.”

That didn’t explain shit to Vera.

“A message from who?”

Kiril swung his head in Igor's direction, already on pins and needles for the man’s response. “Yes, Igor, from who?”

“Shut up.”

“You’re not fun at all,” Kiril replied, bored.

Igor eyed the paper again. “Feliks, Vera. He wrote to let Vas know that he would like his payment now. Whatever side of the arrangement he made with Vaslav is fulfilled. He expects Vaslav to do the same on his side of things. I have to say, if nothing else, Feliks deserves credit for his tenacity. He always knows what buttons to push with Vaslav. Never fails.”

“Vas doesn’t even know he left anything at all for him.”

“But he will,” Kiril put in, grinning, “and that the prick left it with you.”

Igor crumpled the note into his pocket. Despite the fact it had been left on her door, Vera didn’t see what was written on it, and needed to trust that Igor told her the truth. She didn’t think he had a reason to lie.

“Which just means he wanted the message to get through faster,” Igor said. “Nothing more, likely.”

It didn’t help the way Vera suddenly felt. Or the way Vaslav might perceive the message. Those butterflies came back with a vengeance in her throat, and deep in her belly, too. She couldn’t shake the nerves or the anxiety that came with it.

“He won’t overreact, will he?” she asked. “Because this isn’t exactly a good week for it.”