Chapter 9 - Daniil
I was in a fantastic mood. Did I break through Paisley’s shell a little?
Probably not. But she was laughing along with me at least half the time.
I could handle her scowls the other half.
She might have convinced herself she hated me, but the truth shined from her eyes as plain as the snow falling off the kids when they crashed into the lodge.
I was as giddy as they were, a seemingly impossible feat after hours of trudging up a hill pulling four kids who weighed a lot more than they looked when combined together in a heap.
It had to be their nanny who had me feeling like the day was far from wasted.
I even learned to snowboard, and was surprisingly good at it, if I did say so myself.
Whether it was her teaching skills or I was just a natural, I knew she was impressed.
Katie’s narrowed gaze couldn’t douse my good mood, and not even her warning about the newly hung mistletoe could wipe the grin off my face. “I hope you didn’t have too much fun,” she said, half joking for the kids’ sake, half warning for mine.
“It was so great, Mama, I hardly fell at all, and besides, falling is kind of fun,” Alina said, sidetracking her mother’s suspicion. How could she fault me for spending time with them when that was the whole point of being there?
Pavel started reenacting how fast the sled went by zipping around the kitchen island again and again. Seasoned by her nephew’s antics, Katie only smiled benignly at him before inviting Paisley to join us for dinner again.
The little coward pretended to be too tired and hustled out of the kitchen like I was chasing her. I was disappointed, but I did have my pride, so I extricated myself from the grateful kids and got a brisk shower, trying not to act like eating with just my family was a consolation prize.
I didn’t know who was in charge of putting out those ridiculous place cards, but I didn’t get to them in time to switch them like I did in order to sit next to Paisley the night before.
Now I was seated directly across from Anatoli, which threatened the appetite that had built up from all the outdoor activity.
He returned my scowl, then rolled his eyes, glancing over at Masha who sat a few seats down. Maybe she was the one in charge of the place cards and this was her way of trying to force us to get past our differences. It wasn’t going to work, and I set about ignoring him.
Thankfully, CJ was sitting next to me and I got along great with my sister-in-law.
I didn’t think Mat could have found a better wife and he was damn lucky she still didn’t hate his guts after the way he originally treated her.
If Paisley thought my little jokes were bad, she should talk to CJ about how she and Mat got together.
“How’s the research going?” I asked her in a low tone after Aleks made a big announcement that we weren’t supposed to talk about anything serious.
CJ knew what I was talking about and leaned closer. “I think I’ve got a name for someone at the top, but we haven’t confirmed anything yet.” When I told her about my list of companies, she brightened. “Oh, that’s great, let’s get together after dinner and I’ll give you what we’ve found.”
“Perfect,” I said. “I can cross reference them and hopefully we can finally pin these suckers down.”
“And eradicate them,” Anatoli piped up, listening in the whole time.
“As we always do with our enemies,” I said.
CJ gave me a look and I stopped myself from saying more. If it weren’t for his incredible software that could track just about anything, we wouldn’t have this new information. When he and Masha showed up to the meeting that should have just been CJ and Mat later that night, I managed to stay cool.
Maybe too cool, because after we hashed out the best ways to keep tabs on all the many people associated with the huge list of businesses that were supposedly linked to the Collective, Masha looked hurt that I didn’t want to stay and have drinks with them.
CJ and Mat were off the hook, wanting to get to bed early, and they didn’t get a hangdog look, so I could only surmise she was once again trying to force some kind of friendship with Anatoli on me.
Despite our age difference, Masha and I had always been close.
Mat was her mentor and I was her buddy. A big brother when things got rough, and someone who gave her shit sometimes, too.
We always got along and I always trusted her judgment until she brought one of our worst enemies into the family and expected all of us to instantly accept him.
If I thought Anatoli was still a danger to Masha, or any of us, she’d have been a widow by now. The fact he was still alive should have been good enough for her.
Putting Masha’s hurt feelings aside, I settled down in my room to start compiling CJ’s new list with mine.
There was a soft patter at the windows and I looked out at the crisp night to see more snowflakes fluttering against the glass.
The moon was as bright as a searchlight and I walked over to take in the natural beauty surrounding the lodge, hoping to let go of the anger that gnawed at me every time I had to be nice to an asshole.
It was definitely beautiful outside, moreso when I spotted Paisley walking out of the lodge to sit on one of the rough hewn benches near the fire pit.
She tugged her coat around her, illuminated by the moon and the tiny lights in the trees that surrounded the house.
With the gentle snow falling all around her, she could have been a work of art.
Then she hopped up, anxiously pacing as she pressed her phone to her ear.
I leaned closer to the window, following the path she created in the snow.
With a sigh, I began to turn away. I really should get some work done eventually.
The entire day had been eaten up with little kid activities.
But there was something off about Paisley’s movements, the way she held her shoulders up near her ears, the look on her face.
She almost looked afraid.
Great. Was I starting to care about something more than getting her back into bed with me? It seemed like it, because once again I ignored what I should have been doing and headed out to see what was wrong.