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Who was the real Aslanov? The doting father he was with me, or the ice-cold bastard who dismissed his son because of the perceived sins of his mother? In my gut I feared I knew the answer.
***
It was my second week at the Aslanov royal palace—because really, the place resembled one—and I was bored out of my mind. Aside from Yuri, I didn’t know anybody. The one time I had wanted to explore the city, I’d been surrounded by so many bodyguards that it had felt like all eyes in Moscow had been on me. Suffice it to say, I hadn’t bothered again.
Also, I felt like Aslanov was avoiding being alone with me. Except for that first day, and the evening of the dinner, I hadn’t seen much of him. The same went for Ilya. The man clearly wasn’t a fan of mine. From the conversations I managed to catch, his relationship with his father was tenuous at best. Clearly, my being here as a so-called honored guest, rubbed him the wrong way.
Speaking of bad feelings, I looked at my phone for the tenth time that afternoon. I hadn’t heard a peep from Kristoff, not a single word, or even an emoticon. I had expected more from him. I knew this made me a hypocrite; scolding him for his highhanded ways, then feeling sorry for myself when he let me go.
Luckily, Evie was a whole different matter. She was basically my one connection to San Fran, with her hilarious string of messages. Though I wasn’t sure if she meant for them to be funny. She sounded more like she was summing up what happened around the house, and every now and then, she found things shocking.
I looked at my phone when another one of her messages came through.
There’s a flaming red monster truck in the backyard. Why is there a monster truck in the backyard?
I smiled and typed back.I’m guessing one of the guys has won it in a game.
I didn’t voice my concern that they had probably extracted the car from someone who hadn’t paid his debt on time. Then I suggested that she should take it for a spin.
She sent back three question marks. I shook my head as I dropped onto my bed. If I’d been there, I wouldn’t let her stay inside her room all day. I would take her on a monster truck ride. The keys would probably be somewhere in Damon’s auto shop, the place where he worked on his cars whenever he had someanger management issues. He would never give any keys to me willingly though, so I would have to find a way to sneak in and steal them.
A sudden pang of homesickness nearly overwhelmed me. It was at that moment when Yuri knocked on my door.
He had a huge smile on his face. “You have a visitor.”
He stepped aside, and Mia was there.
I jumped off my bed. We both squealed like little girls and then fell into an embrace.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” My day was suddenly looking up.
Mia grinned. “I can’t believe it either, but your husband insisted.”
“He what?” I sputtered.
She pulled a red satin bow from her bag and placed it on top of her head. Then she hummed, “Let me see, what was I supposed to say? Right, Katya Romanov, here is your first present: your bestie.”
My mouth dropped open.
22.
KRISTOFF
Damon brought in the lawyer, who was shaking and whimpering. He pushed the man into the nice leather chair across from my desk.
The pinstripe-suited attorney gulped as the blindfold was removed from his face. His eyes grew to the size of saucers when he very clearly recognized me.
I cut him a look. “Mr. O’Leary. How nice of you to join me.”
“I…I…” The man swallowed and started again. “Mr. Romanov.”
I didn’t bother pointing out that I didn’t like to be called by that name. “I heard you’ve been talking to my wife. Even thinking of serving me divorce papers.”
The man turned ashen. “If…Um…If this is about the lack of a prenup, you don’t need to worry.”
Was he for real? “Worry? Are you implying that you have the power to make me worry?”
“No! No, no, no. I was just trying to point out that despite there being no prenup, Miss—”
