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“Perhaps we’re not ready for that discussion yet,” the man demurs.
My father would instruct me to keep my cards close to my vest here. Even though I want to chuck my cards out the window and wring both these men by the throat.
Fuck Konstantin Sokolov.And fuck his creepy son, too.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I give it a second’s thought,” I snarl. I give each of the Sokolov men a withering glare. “Keep your fucking hands away from my family.”
Without another word, I turn to leave. Yasha follows.
“We didn’t learn anything,” he warns as we march down the hall.
“We learned enough.”
The Sokolovs approached Cora last night at the club. Their names have popped up too many times for it to be a coincidence. If they plan to make another move on Cora, I’m going to beat them to the punch.
“Okay. So what’s our move now?”
“We exterminate these fucking cockroaches.”
69
CORA
“I cannot believe you live here.” Jorden kicks back in the deck chair and surveys the sprawling grounds.
We’ve been sitting outside since she arrived. Niles brought out a tray of fruit and cheese, and you would have thought it was a lobster dinner the way Jorden oohed and ahhed over it.
“Like, a couple weeks ago, we were just two randos milling around with all of Ivan’s other guests on this same patio. Now, I’m here asyourguest. Isn’t that wild?”
“Too wild to comprehend,” I tell her truthfully.
When Jorden first showed up, I was relieved. I wasn’t sure when, if ever, I’d get to have her or anyone else in my life here to visit me. But after the chaos of The Coop, Ivan decided his house should be the site of all future social engagements. At least until I’m not actively being targeted anymore.
Now that Jorden has been here for an hour, though… I’m exhausted.
Exhausted with all the pretenses and the lies. I thought it would be easy enough to avoid talking about the wedding or my relationship with Ivan, but there’s almost nothing else to talk about.
“Did Ivan ever tell you why you stuck out to him?” she asks. “Aside from your obvious beauty and charm and wit and voluptuous ass.”
I laugh and shrug. “I don’t know. Being naked in his office probably made me stand out from the crowd.”
“Right. Probably. But how much would thatreallystand out to him, you know? He has to have seen more naked women than the average Joe.”
I’ve honestly never thought about it. And as it turns out, I never want to. The last thing I need to do is think about how I stack up with every other sexual encounter Ivan has ever had.
“I wouldn’t know. We haven’t exchanged that data yet.”
Jorden gives me a knowing look. “Every woman at that party wanted to jump his bones. You can’t tell me some of them haven’t whipped out their birthday suits to get his attention.”
My stomach twists. I know Ivan has been with other women; I’m not an idiot. But it’s the thought of him goingbackto that meat market that is more upsetting than anything.
“I’m just saying,” Jorden continues, “that there must have been something about you that stuck out. Something special.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. He hasn’t said.”
“You should ask. You’re living the fairytale, girl. You might as well get the full experience, romantic insights and all.”
“We don’t really do that.”
