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“As long as I don’t get shot for finding out,” I said, trying to make a joke.
His smile disappeared, his voice turning serious. “Really, you have nothing to worry about here.”
“I know. Bad joke.”
He laughed then, seeming relieved I was no longer fearing for my life. He gulped down another glass, offering me a refill of my juice, but I told him I had to get to work. He stopped me, asking if I wouldn’t mind taking the dog for a quick walk when I arrived every day.
“I’ll make sure it gets added onto your paycheck,” he said. “And only if you have time. Is twenty bucks a day fair?”
I kept my mouth from dropping open at the unexpected windfall, wishing I had any clue what it felt like to think twenty extra dollars a day wasn’t a big deal. A hundred extra dollars a week was a good chunk of our grocery bill. Plus, I loved that weird little dog.
I eagerly agreed to the new arrangement and took Burya out before I started cleaning. I checked my bank account on my phone on the way down the elevator. Leo bringing up my paycheck made me remember that it hadn’t hit my account yet, putting it overdue by two days, which had never happened before. My surrogate payment wasn’t due for another few days, and if something didn’t get deposited soon, there’d be an overdraft fee.
“I hate thinking about money all the time,” I told the dog desolately when I saw nothing had changed with my account.
He made a snuffling noise that I chose to take as commiseration. Since I didn’t have a shift at the coffee shop that evening, I dawdled around outside with him, pretending I belonged in Leo’s swanky neighborhood. Back in the apartment, Burya kept me company while I cleaned, snuffling some more every time I sighed when there was still no sign of my paycheck in my account.
Once I finished, I checked one last time, wishing Leo’s assistant wasn’t sick so I could ask what was the matter with my payment. I balked at asking Leo, embarrassed and not wanting to disrupt his work. However, thinking about thirty dollars getting wasted on the overdraft fee made me head to his office.
“I’m really sorry to bother you,” I said when he looked up as soon as I stood in his doorway.
“You’re never a bother, Sunshine,” he said, making my cheeks burn at the nickname I’d come to like way too much.
I got it out in a rush, apologizing again. “I’d normally talk to Mr. Kuschnev about it, but…”
“But he’s out sick,” Leo finished, turning to his computer. “How come you’re not on some sort of autopay?” He muttered under his breath about his tightwad assistant, making me bite back a smile. “I will fix this right now,” he promised. “You’ll get your payment before the day is over.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked him, relieved he only seemed irritated at his assistant and not me. He dazzled me with another smile, and I left for the day, grateful to have such an understanding boss.
Chapter 8 - Leo
I was embarrassed that my employee had to practically grovel for her pay since Gregory had never set up an automated plan for her. I left him a message, and when he didn’t call me back right away, I went into his files to take care of it myself since the payment was already late, and I’d promised to have it to her by the end of the day.
As I clicked around on the ancient laptop only he ever used, I realized I still didn’t know her name. That caused me even more chagrin. I would have rather gone before a firing squad than run after her to ask what it was at that point since I had started considering her somewhat of a friend and not just a housekeeper.
I kept clicking around, stumped at what I should do to keep my promise. I had gone from being a somewhat carefree member of my dad’s organization in Moscow, also helping out Evelina with her private investigation firm, but never being the boss of anyone, to now being everyone’s boss. I was about to call Gregory again and leave a long, curse-filled message when I found a folder labeled Housekeeping with her information.
“Samantha Williams,” I said aloud, making Burya let out a short yip before he curled back up at my feet.
I mulled over the name, feeling like I’d seen it somewhere recently because it seemed oddly familiar to me. Maybe I’d heard Gregory say it and not put it together with Sunshine, or maybe it was some American celebrity’s name. Maybe it was just a common name here like Sergei was back home.
I sent the money to the bank account in her file and then set up an automatic payment to start the next week, adding on the extra dog walking fee that was well worth not having to take Burya down in the middle of the day. I closed the file and tried to get back to work, almost at a breakthrough with a tough line of code. I couldn’t get to do what I wanted.
Even after a few minutes passed, I couldn’t shake that I’d seen Sunshine—Samantha’s—name somewhere recently, and not in regards to her employee file. Somewhere important.
It hit me like a sock full of nickels that Ihadseen that name somewhere recently. And it was important. With a hiss of disbelief, I pulled up the file the surrogacy agency had sent me. I had barely glanced through it, trusting them to do their best by me. Opening the file, I scanned it to find the name, and it was just as I recalled. I stood up so fast that I knocked my chair over and scared the dog.
“No fucking way,” I said. Burya barked anxiously, but he couldn’t have been more distressed than I was.
Samantha Williams had to be a common name. There was no possible way my damned baby mama was also my housekeeper. No way in hell. The entire file was about fourteen pages long, and I scrolled all the way down, leaning over my desk and holding my breath until I got to the bottom. There was a small picture that I clicked on, making it larger. Sure enough, there was my Sunshine smiling at me from the screen.
I remembered her appointment in the same building as the surrogacy office and the fact she had puked all over the floor the day before. Morning sickness? I still couldn’t make myself believe it, even as I stared at her picture. I could have dismissed the same name, but there was no mistaking that pretty face. Nobody had a smile like Sunshine.
Something else jumped into my memory, chilling me to the bone. The breach on my server, the same one that held this very file. What if it hadn’t just been a bored hacker testing his limits? What if the Giannis had orchestrated it, with the attacks on my bars meant to be a distraction? I had moved fast to lock everything down, but there was still a chance some of the information had been compromised. This meant my enemy knew I was using a surrogate to carry my child and who she was.
And where she lived, thanks to her also being my damned housekeeper. Sweating, I got that information again from her employee file, then pulled up a map, taking the best guess of which way she’d go home from my apartment. I knew she took the bus since she complained about it once, so I had a pretty good idea of her route.
Was I being overly paranoid, panicking for nothing? My guys had been tailing members of the Gianni family for days, keeping track of their movements. Evelina had constant surveillance on most of their businesses. I was probably getting worked up for no good reason, thrown for a loop that my anonymous surrogate was now someone I knew. Someone my enemies might also know.
