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Because that feeling meant he was well and truly fucked.
“We are here to find her,” he said. “But we don’t have to do it the hard way. In fact, the easy way will be quicker, and quicker is better for Olivia.”
“What’s the hard way?” Ruby asked.
“Turning the city upside down until we find them.”
“And the easy way?” Ruby asked.
Roman considered his words. He had to be careful with what he told Ruby, not because he wanted to keep things from her — he’d promised to be honest with her and he intended to keep that promise — but because there would come a day when she wasn’t a part of his life anymore.
And when that day came, the less she knew about Roman’s rivals and their businesses, the better.
“Talking to the man who owns this city.”
13
RUBY
Ruby closed the door of the bathroom and sat on the toilet lid with a sigh. She was wired in the worst way possible — both exhausted and exhilarated, ready to drop and eager to storm the city looking for Olivia.
She was glad Roman had a plan, and she felt again the lure of surrendering to something — someone — bigger than herself.
She didn’t have to make a plan to find Olivia. She didn’t have to worry alone that her daughter was out there in this strange and beautiful city. Didn’t have to wonder if she would really find Olivia, if she would be able to bring her home to New York.
Roman had a plan. Roman would get Olivia back, return her to Ruby’s arms.
She knew this because he’d promised. And while there were a lot of things about Roman she didn’t understand, a lot she still didn’t know, she knew he would keep his promises to her.
She took in the bathroom, letting her gaze roam over the glass-enclosed steam shower smack dab in the center of the room, the whorled marble sinks and counters that matched the enormous soaking tub.
It would have been garish anywhere else, but it suited the house — and the city — perfectly. Ruby hadn’t had time to explore the house, but the glimpses she’d gotten of the rooms as she’d passed had been full of ornate furniture and patterned wallpaper.
They’d passed a music room with a grand piano, a paneled library that looked straight out of a Brönte novel, and a gleaming kitchen with all the modern amenities that somehow still looked at home among all the crown moldings and antique light fixtures.
It was an extraordinary house, and she wondered again at the strange twist of fate that had landed her in this grand home in this eerie city.
She sighed and considered the tub. She should take advantage of it, soak for a good long time, but she was so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep. Roman had said he had business to attend to — New York was still in chaos now that Igor was out of the hospital — and had left her to rest.
She opted for a shower instead, turning the temperature as hot as she could stand it and standing under the punishing stream of the high-tech jets until she started to feel drowsy.
Then she dried off with one of the thick white towels stacked on an iron shelf and padded into the bedroom with it wrapped around her body.
Her gaze landed on Roman’s bag, placed next to hers by Max. She’d been surprised to see it there when Roman had showed her the room, had been surprised to find Roman leaning against the doorjamb, a million questions in his eyes that she couldn’t answer in the moment before he’d asked one she could.
“I had Max put you with me. Is that okay?”
She’d nodded because while she didn’t have answers for all those other questions — the ones neither of them was asking out loud — she knew she wanted to be with him now, wanted to be with him as much as possible in the days or weeks before the inevitable demise of their relationship.
A thrill of excitement went through her as she thought about sharing a room with him.
Sharing a bed.
But first, sleep. She should put on pajamas, comb through her wet hair, but seeing the carved bed, velvet draperies pooling at every corner, she was suddenly worried she wouldn’t even make it to her bag for her clothes and hairbrush.
She pulled off the towel and climbed between the sheets, sighing as the heavy blankets enveloped her body, feeling safe despite the fact that Adam was close again, out there with Olivia somewhere.
The thought of her daughter, close but hidden from Ruby, hit her like a sucker punch.
