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My blood boils, but I smooth down my suit and smile at the hostess. “My friends are already here.”
I stride past her despite her protests and head straight for their table. I stop to the side of them and smile. “Well, isn’t this a small world?”
Mikhail looks at me with irritation, while Shirley looks livid. “What are you doing here, Evgenii?”
“I was just looking for a bite to eat,” I say innocently. “Imagine my surprise when I find you here. Why don’t we make this a party?” I grab a free chair and sit down on the open side of the table. “This way, we can all have some fun.”
Mikhail smiles at Shirley and then turns to me. “I’m afraid we’ll have to party some other time. This is a private dinner.”
I widen my eyes and act surprised again. “Oh! Oh! Shirley,” I turn to her, “do Ivan and Alessandro know about this? Because I’d doubt either of them would be happy about this development.”
“You certainly aren’t,” Mikhail comments, wiping his mouth on his napkin.
I smirk. “Now, now, Mikhail, you came to us for a truce so we wouldn’t wipe you out, not the other way around.”
“Perhaps Ivan should reel in his dog and train it better,” Mikhail snipes at me.
“Jesus!” Shirley exclaims. We look at her as she picks up her handbag and jacket. “You are both acting like damn toddlers.” With that, she walks away without another word.
Mikhail stands and fixes his jacket, intending to go after her, but I stand, a head taller than him. “Don’t even think about it. You stay away from her.”
He snorts and flags a waitress. “The bill, please.” He turns to me with a smirk. “You have no authority over me, Evgenii. You can’t tell me what I can and can’t, will or won’t do.”
I want to punch him, I do, but instead, I decide to go after Shirley. I glance back twice as I walk out and realize Mikhail isn’t following me.
Chapter 13 - Shirley
I stand at the edge of the curb, waiting for the cab that I ordered. I am so angry that I feel like the next person who speaks to me will severely regret it.
I’m not surprised when that person is Evgenii.
“Hey, come on, it’s cold outside. Let me take you home,” he says gently, not too far from me but not invading my personal space. I want to lash out at him. I have long nails. I can scratch that handsome mug so he never makes another girl feel how I felt when he used me.
My fault.
That’s what everyone has constantly reminded me of over the years. It was my fault that I was naive and let myself be vulnerable to anyone, let alone someone from a rival family.
I don’t respond to him. I keep my arms crossed over my midsection and stare across the road, trying my best to keep my anger contained inside. Personal feelings aside, our families are aligned, and if I go too far, I could cause a war.
“Hey, don’t ignore me.” He gently takes my arm. “Come with me.”
I wrench my arm away from him. He’s gone too far by touching me.
My voice is like ice. “I don’t have to do anything, anything at all, that I don’t want to.”
I can see the recognition dawn on his face as he remembers telling me, when he broke it off with me, that he didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to. There's a hurt in his eyes as I glare at him, a softness, almost a regret.
A cab turns the corner, and I raise my arm, not taking my eyes off him. I want him to feel my anger and my hate.
I think he knows better than to try to open the door for me. I climb into the cab, but before I shut the door, I lean out, looking down rather than up because I won’t look up at him. “Unless it’s business related, I don’t want any communication from you.”
With that, I shut the door and settle back. “The Rosa Orchard Estate.”
The cab driver thankfully doesn’t try to talk on the way home. If he senses I’m upset, he doesn’t show it, so I shuffle through my wallet and pull out a fifty-dollar tip plus what the fair should be.
When he pulls up to the gate, I roll down my window and signal to Leo, one of the guards, that it’s me who has arrived.
They open the gates, and the cab driver takes me to the front door. I hand over the cash. “Keep the change.”
