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“Billie.” He drops my name like a warning shot.
“I had lunch.” I keep my back to him so he can’t see that I’m not telling the whole truth. I did eat; I’m just not sure he’ll agree that eating the croutons from the salad I didn’t want once it arrived can really count as lunch.
“Something happened.”
“Nothing happened,” I insist and hit the brew button. “Now what is so important that you had to come across town to tell me instead of just calling?” I lean my ass against the counter and fold my arms over my chest.
He stares at me a long moment, and I’m sure he can see right through me. He can see the anger sitting heavily on my lungs. He can tell I’m hurt and unsure and insecure of what I am, what we are, what we aren’t.
“Okay.” He tugs off his gloves and drops them on my desk. “There’s been a development with Yefim Kozlov.”
The gurgle of the coffee machine announces my coffee is ready.
“Oh? And it’s a good development?” I’m not sure I can handle anything other than good at this moment.
“He’s planning a return to Russia. Our business is almost wrapped up, and once it’s all set up, he’s going to return home. Some of his family will remain here, but he and his daughter are going back to Russia.”
“His daughter?” My ears perk. The woman they wanted him to marry?
“Yes, but before they go, they are having a party and have invited us.”
I shift from one foot to the other. “That sounds horrible.” I bring my sugar-filled coffee back to my desk.
“A party?”
“There will be a lot of people there, right? That’s a lot of people you’re going to have to lie to about us, and then you’ll have to tell them all we broke up in a few weeks. So yeah, that sounds horrible.” I slowly lower my cup to my desk. “But you accepted the invitation, didn’t you?” There’s a bite to my words that I can’t seem to stop.
“It’s a party, Billie. We’ll be there only a few hours.” He pushes his jacket aside and slides his hands into his trousers.
“This was a stupid idea.” I shake my head and stare down at my desk.
“What was?” He tilts his head to the side.
“I never should have agreed to go along with this for so long.”
“What’s going on, Billie?” His voice dips. “What happened with those men before I got here?”
“I already said nothing.” I close my eyes a second, trying to get all the emotions swirling in my chest to calm down. Brian shouldn’t be able to rattle me.
“You’re not being honest.” He walks over to me and gently grasps my shoulders, turning me to face him. “Open your eyes,malyshka, look at me.”
I really don’t want to. He’ll see through me like a pane of glass. But I do anyway.
“Tell me what that little prick said.”
I give him a half smile. “You don’t even know what happened. How do you know he’s a prick?”
“He upset you, that’s all I need to know. Now tell me, no more brushing off my question.” His tone is demanding, but his hands are running up and down my arms, soothing me. It’s so easy to melt into him when he does this.
“The one guy is the tenant, the one who broke the door. I was handling the invoices with him. The other guy, the one with the black hair, that was my ex.” I hold my breath, waiting for him to react.
He lifts his eyebrow. “That was the asshole you brought to Julianna’s christening, right?”
I nod. “Yes, that was him.”
He brings a hand up to my cheek and brushes his knuckles across it. “I thought he looked familiar. If I have him killed, will it upset you more or less?” He asks the question with such ease it takes a second for the words to register.
I wrinkle my brow. “You can’t just kill someone because they were mean to me.”
