Chapter 10
Daniel
Seven cannot come fast enough.
I can’t get that devil of a woman out of my head. When she looked up at me, it was almost as if I caught a small glimpse of the woman that nearly ruined Nikolai’s life. There is a temptress inside of her, and I have now made it my mission to coerce it out so I can play with it.
“Boss?” Michael’s voice comes from the other end of the phone, interrupting my train of thought. For a moment, I forgot that we were in the middle of a conversation. My mind keeps drifting back to Helena playing her piece so beautifully. Her skirt nearly pushed up to her hips, showing a fair amount of delicate thigh muscles and a hell of a lot of skin.
I can still feel her pressing herself against me.
I force myself to snap out of it and return to the present moment. I”m at a stop sign at a four-way intersection where, thankfully, no one is waiting for me to pass through. I start the car again and sigh to myself. I haven”t been distracted by a woman in years, let alone so strongly.
“Go on, what have you found?”
“The tracker that you placed on her is fully operational and mapping out all of her locations just as intended, sir.” Michael’s voice is tight, and I can tell that he’s fighting the urge to ask me, “what’s the matter?” He knows that I haven’t been acting like myself the last few months. He’s privately expressed his concerns more than once.
Between my father’s failing health, the weight of the family, the businesses that I’m supporting, stepping in as a parent… and now this? I’ve been quicker to anger than usual.
“Good. Is that all?” I ask shortly.
“No, we’ve got a couple of the boys looking into the man that Helena is staying with. It seems that they are sharing a house rented out in a man’s name. Presumably, the one she’s living with. But of course, it’s a fake one. The records attached don’t go back further than a couple of months. Even with his real name, I don’t know how much we’re going to get on him just because of his age.”
Secretly, I’m glad that the man she’s living with is older. I don’t have to worry about any possible complications, like her having another husband or a family. I don’t like having to kill if I don’t have to.
“Word is that the man is likely a friend of her father’s or somebody else that she felt that she could exploit into helping her with her new life here.”
“Makes sense. She wouldn’t have been able to come all of this way and start over again on her own, that’s for sure.”
“From everything that Volkovich gave us on her, it seems unlikely that she was even able to get out of Moscow for a while, so there’s no telling just how long they have been stateside,” Michael agrees.
“Make sure you have the boys scouring every hospital record on the east coast. I want them checking for any records of a lengthy stay as a result of her injuries,” I add.
“Oh, they’re going to love that.” Michael chuckles.
The boys in question are a pair of dark-haired, green-eyed twins, only twenty-one years old. I couldn’t find anything on them before they hit eighteen, with little history to speak of. I took them under my wing when I found them on the street, and since then they have proven their gratitude time and time again. They won’t enjoy the repetitive nature of hacking into quite that many hospital records, but I know they will do it quickly and efficiently.
“They know what will happen if they don’t do it.” I grin to myself. In many ways, they were the only practice that I had in raising children before Henry was placed into my care. “In fact, tell them that ‘every time they complain the deadline will be cut in half’.”
Michael chuckles sadistically. “You got it, boss. I’ll check in if we get any more news after that.”
The line goes dead on the other end, and I tuck my phone away as I pull onto the small, mostly unoccupied street that Helena lives on.
She took her sweet time texting me her address. For a moment, I almost thought she’d bail and force my hand. I can already tell that she’s the sort of woman who likes to walk that fine line and push any boundaries she thinks that she can.
Learning about her manipulation and deviance was one thing. Experiencing her first-hand is something wholly different. I haven’t even chipped at the iceberg yet.
I roll the windows of my car down and turn the engine to idle as I wait for Helena to come outside. It’s seven exactly. The time that I had spent lost in my own thoughts had almost made me late.
The tiny house that she’s living in cannot be more than two bedrooms. Two floors, but it’s structurally narrow. A very far cry from the life that she had led before. She’s probably going crazy in there, waiting to see if the coast is clear and biding her time playing music teacher until she feels safe enough to go in search of her next rich man to ruin.
It’s easy now to see how effortlessly she could fool a man like Nikolai.
A minute passes.
Then two.
She’s going to make me drag her out of there, isn’t she? She’s waiting on purpose.
The front door opens just as I put my hand on the car door handle. I settle back into my seat and wait expectantly. Warm yellow light surrounds her, and the charming dress that she’s chosen for the evening clings to her body. It’s a pale pink number in a floral print that hugs her tighter as she moves. The bodice seems to be wrapped around her, leaving a deep v in the center where the swell of her cleavage is readily visible. The long skirt peplums out just below her knee, and she turns to pull the door closed. She’s wearing nude, strappy heels. She looks demure and soft. A section of her short blond bob is pinned back and away from her face while the rest is curled into soft ringlets to bring further attention to the minimal makeup on her face.
She’s the picture of small-town innocence. Exactly the look that I know she’s going for. She’s a great actress. She’s really put a lot of effort into studying her part. But I’m better. I have to focus on the plan and our ultimate goal.
I see her pause just outside of the door, expecting me to come around and open it for her, but as she was late, I will do no such thing.
Her floral perfume wafts into the car as she opens it, smelling like summer flowers mixed with something nutty. Like a freshly rained-on meadow. I could take her right now. It”s going to be nearly impossible to wait throughdinner before touching her. She has not even apologized for keeping me waiting.
“I thought I told you seven?” I ask curiously, waiting for her answer before starting the car.
She looks at me with a soft, overly innocent smile. “Good things come to those who wait, you know.”
“Is that what you are? A good thing?” I tease.
Her smile falters, wondering if I mean anything more than surface-level, flirty banter. I turn the car on and leave her to wonder. How simple it would be to end this now... I have her in my possession, and it would take me less than five minutes to end her. My contract with Nikolai would be finished, and I would be able to take Henry and return to my life as early as tomorrow morning.
I drive us to the restaurant. I’m going to take the chance and make her trust me more first. At least then when she dies, I will know that the further betrayal will break her even more. Besides, this way I get to see whether she’s under the employ of somebody new. If another organization helped her transition here, I’ll need to compensate them for her loss once she’s gone.
That will be the easy part.
There’s only one place in this small town that is suitable for a date, and it’s so far removed from anything that I would have considered suitable back home. I doubt there will be much for us to choose from on the menu, but at least they had the decency to require reservations.
There is a small valet station, manned by one high-school-aged boy waiting at a small podium up front. He practically creams himself over the opportunity to drive my car. I can’t help but smile as I hand him the keys. I place my hand on the small of Helena’s back possessively and usher her inside.
“I think that you just made that whole kid’s life,” Helena laughs.
“I think you’re right.” I grin and motion to the hostess that we have a table for two. I would introduce myself, but she seems to recognize right away that we are the two newest additions to the town. We’re likely the only people that she hasn’t grown up knowing her whole life. She happily gathers menus in her hands and gestures widely to follow her.
“Right this way!” She seems nice enough.
The restaurant is far nicer than I expected. I was thinking the interior would be something akin to a chain dining restaurant, but now I see the appeal. While most of the decor is a few years outdated, the place is well designed. The plates of food on the tables that we pass look far more elegant than I would have otherwise assumed. Serves me right for making snap judgements.
Every pair of eyes we pass turns to stare at us. We”re a novelty here, something to add to tomorrow”s coffee talk. Helena stiffens as she appears to realize the same thing. She steps into my touch for comfort, and I”m not sure she realized she was doing it.
As we approach the table, I pull a chair out for her with one hand. I don”t think it”s a coincidence that we”re in the middle of the dining room.
“Something the matter? You seem uncomfortable. Would you prefer somewhere else?” I ask when she hesitates to sit.
“I’m afraid that people are going to talk… seeing their newest teacher out with a parent.”
I nod and summon the hostess back. I lean to whisper subtly to her. “Is there somewhere more private we could sit?”
The hostess glances from me to Helena to the gawking patrons and blushes furiously. “Y-yes, of course. I’m so sorry, sir,” she stammers, and I push Helena’s empty chair back in. She quickly guides us to a private room that I’m sure is only used once or twice a year for bigger parties, but the dimmer lighting is better anyway.
The tension melts from Helena’s shoulders. “Thank you for doing that,” she says honestly before taking her seat across from me.
“Of course, I want you to be comfortable, Ms. Petrov.” I use her full name on purpose, teasing her to lighten the mood because of the way that Henry says her name.
“Sofia! Please, call me Sofia,” she answers with a tinkling laugh.
The name rolls off of her tongue so easily. How many names has she used in her lifetime, I wonder? Does she ever lose track or forget which one she’s supposed to be calling herself?
“We’ll have two of whatever your bartender recommends. And keep them coming,” I say to the hostess, who nods. I called ahead to arrange a sampling of their dishes to be brought to us. It took a little convincing, given the scale of things they normally do, but after I told them how much I was willing to pay for it, they quickly came around to the idea.
A few moments later, a waiter enters with a bottle of red wine and a bucket of ice. Probably so that we can have our privacy uninterrupted, which I appreciate.
We finish the first bottle before the dinner courses even started being brought out.
Rather, Helena finishes most of the bottle, and I appear to be matching her.
“Is it arrogant of me to say that the food is better than I was expecting?” I say with a small sip of my wine.
Helena grins. “No, because I was just thinking the same thing. You must be used to far nicer things wherever you call home.”
“You’re not wrong. I employ a private chef for myself and Henry back in New York.”
“And what do you do in New York?” she asks easily.
“I’m an investor. I used to dabble in the stock markets, but I found that acquisitions are far easier to make a profit from quickly,” I say casually as I lean back into my chair.
“So, then the rumors are true?” she asks leadingly. Her questions flow so easily that it would be hard to notice that I’m being probed for personal information like she’s crossing items off of a list in her mind.
I laugh and lean forward again. “Rumors? There are rumors about me? I’ve only been here a week.”
“Well, you know what they say about small towns and rumors.” she grins and leans forward, seemingly hanging on to my every word. Her finger trails the rim of her wine glass.
“Ah, well, then you must tell me what these rumors are, and I might tell you whether they are true or not.”
“Apparently, there is talk that you are in the process of buying up half the town.”
“Only half?”
“You don’t even deny it?” Her eyes widen as if that amount of money is hard for her to grasp. She’d likely spent the same amount on shoes—more than once in her lifetime.
“I haven’t confirmed nor denied anything.” I grin and top off her wine for her. “How about we trade information. I’ll answer your burning rumors if you answer questions of my own.”
“Deal,” she said and laced her fingers together beneath her chin. She didn’t touch any more of her wine. She must know her limits well.
“Very well, I’ll start then. What brought you to this quaint little town, Sofia?”
“Nothing special. Certainly nothing as thrilling as buying the place for whatever you have planned.”
“That is not an answer,” I chastise.
She sighs. “Really, it’s the same old tired story. I needed a new start after a failed engagement. My dad moved here some time ago when he retired, and after things with my fiancé went south… he invited me to come stay with him until I got back on my feet.”
It’s a perfectly believable story, but I know better.
“Ah, because you have already hinted that you aren’t close with your mother.” I nod in understanding.
“Yeah, I didn’t get along with her. She died some time ago though, so it’s just me and my dad now.”
I know damned well that man in the house isn’t her father, but I file the information away anyway.
“I would say that I’m sorry for your loss, but it doesn’t seem like the two of you got along. No siblings or anything?”
Helena shrugs, “I have a brother out there somewhere, but he and my father don’t get along much. Also, that’s two questions.”
Brother? I wonder if that’s a true statement or just another part of the lie that she’s built for herself. I will have to report it to Michael so that he can look into it one way or the other. If she really does have a brother floating around out there, then that’s something I might be able to use to my own advantage.
According to the file that Nikolai gave me, she was known to be an only child.
“Very well. What are your two questions?”
“What is somebody like you going to do with a town like this?”
“You mean, am I planning on leveling it to the ground or filling it with high-rise condos?” I answer with a sigh.
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Never you fear. I have no intention of turning these people out or uprooting them, people like your father who call this place home. I want to have a place away from the city that I can escape to if need be, and it seems that this town can benefit from a private benefactor anyway. It’s a win-win for me. If it puts a little more cash into my pocket as a result, then so be it,” I say with a shrug. Spoken like a true Wallstreet douchebag, but she seems to buy it. “Second question?”
She laughs, but that mischievous glint is back in her eyes. “What happened to Henry’s mother?”
“Oh, we’re done with the pleasantries then?”
She nods once.
She’s clearly fact-checking me about the rumors that she has heard. I’m sure by now she’s located and read Henry’s file. I suppose it’s only fair because I am doing the exact same thing. I had hoped that she would be a little easier to manipulate, but I like the challenge.
Out of the two of us, I am not the one with something to hide.