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“She’s pregnant?” she asks Maxim, who looks at me for a brief moment before giving a hard nod.
“This is good news, why do you look like you want to crush someone’s skull?” An image of Billie’s belly, swollen with my baby sleeping soundly inside, pops into my head. A baby with her sweet disposition, her beauty, and her stubborn streak mixed with the power of the Romanov family. We’d be an unbreakable family.
“Because she’s been sick for the past week. All day. Not just mornings. It’s not normal.” Maxim interrupts my daydream.
“Oh, no, that’s okay. Hanna used to wake up in the middle of the night with morning sickness. It can happen anytime of day, not just morning.” Billie puts a hand on his arm. I don’t like this, her touching him, but her words seem to bring some comfort to him. “She finally stopped puking in the second trimester.”
“That’s what Mandy said, too.” Maxim’s jaw softens. “I still don’t like it.”
“She probably doesn’t either.”
Maxim moves his gaze from her to me. “They’re all here.”
“Why don’t I go check on Mandy, and we’ll meet you inside.” Billie looks up at me for my approval. I doubt she actually needs it, but she’s working toward that reward I mentioned. I’m dangling candy in front of my baby girl, and she’s reaching for it.
“Go. But don’t take too long, all right?” I step out of the way so she can wiggle past me and head to the bathroom.
“She’s wearing your mother’s ring.” Maxim raises an eyebrow once she’s gone. “I thought the engagement was only to throw off the Kozlovs.”
“It is.” I remove my jacket and throw it over my arm. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You’ve watched that woman from the shadows for two years. I don’t believe you when you say it’s not real.”
“I didn’t ask if you believed it,” I snap. “I asked you to sit in this dinner with me to make introductions to these men.”
He runs his tongue over his top teeth. He has more to say, but he’s keeping it to himself. Smart move.
“Here come the women.” Maxim reaches for the door to the private dining room as they approach.
“That was fast,” I say to Billie as she comes to stand by me. The color has returned to Mandy’s cheeks.
“She was already on her way back.” Billie stands still while I work her jacket off her shoulders. I wave a waiter over and hand him our jackets to be taken to the coat check.
“Does everyone just do what you want when you say so?” She watches the waiter walk off to do my bidding.
“Yes.” I straighten my tie and slip my fingers through hers. “A lesson you should learn quickly,malyshka.”
“Sit next to me. This is going to be the worst two hours if I have to sit between Maxim and someone I don’t know,” Mandy says to Billie.
“Oh, yes, we’ll sit together, and the boys can flank us.” Billie nods, and slips her hand away from me, linking her arm with Mandy and heading straight into the room without Maxim or me.
Maxim shakes his head. “Trouble. I told you.”
“Did she call us boys?”
* * *
I’ve satin unnecessary meetings before, but this dinner is one of the worst. All ass kissing and little true business discussions. The wives of these real estate developers look like they should be fixed in cement and propped up on stage.
Billie and Mandy have tolerated the evening perfectly. But I’m sure it has more to do with the fact that they’re sitting together between Maxim and me. The other women haven’t tried to strike up a conversation with them, not that I can imagine they’d have anything to talk about.
“So, what do you think, Roman? Are you interested in the upper east side?” Ted, a middle-aged man with a rounded stomach and a rounder bald head, leans back in his chair with a smug grin.
“I think I need to see the plans first and the numbers.” These pricks aren’t stupid. They know exactly where most of my money comes from. They’re willing to play with my dirty money, and they’d even eat a meal with me to get it, but they don’t have any respect for the rest of my business, which doesn’t work in the shadows.
“If you were to invest in this, would the buildings be yours, or would you be part owner?” Billie asks as she brings her coffee cup to her lips. She was so good during dinner. I only had to point my fork to her broccoli once before she finished it off. The woman has a coffee addiction that needs to be addressed, but at the moment I’ll just use it to my advantage.
“I would be an investor, so not the sole owner,” I answer.
