Chapter 30
Chapter thirty
Alisa
I checked the angle on my red wig one last time before stepping into the bar.
It’d been over a week since I’d strangled Jayden while Dmitri finished me off. The moment my driver had arrived at Jayden's residence, I’d rushed outside trying to tear my mind and eyes away from Dmitri.
So the moment a call arrived for a solo assignment, I’d jumped at the opportunity. For just one night I needed to lose myself in something I was good at, and stop thinking back to the thoughtful expression on Dmitri’s face when I fled the house.
With one final deep breath, I shoved those lingering thoughts into the back of my mind and walked into the swanky bar. A chandelier hung from delicate piano wires. Directly underneath it lay a huge marble island.
An older gentleman in a suit turned his head to appraise me. Rather than taking the easy bait, I ignored him and sauntered to the opposite end of the bar.
Bingo. I could feel the searing heat of his attention on me, but I didn’t pry my gaze away from the bar.
Growing up in New York City, I’d never had the opportunity to fish.
But from the shuffling footsteps approaching my direction, it was the closest I’d felt to casting a line and slowly dragging it in.
“What are you drinking?” the older gentleman asked as he swept into the seat beside me.
I turned my head and pretended to notice him for the first time….
As if I hadn’t picked out my makeup, wig, and outfit based on the profile my father’s men had given me.
“Manhattan,” I said, turning my attention back to an enormous bouquet of snowdrops resting artfully on the bar.
My target’s attention deepened as I purposefully ignored him. This man wanted me to dangle the bait. I needed to let him think he was the one fishing, and I was the prize to be caught.
My target, Charles, ordered top shelf alcohol for me. I deigned the gentleman with a polite nod before picking up the offered drink.
I pressed the Manhattan to my lips, but didn’t swallow any of it.
I didn’t like the look Charles had exchanged with the bartender. A twinge in my stomach told me to follow my instincts, and take the riskier approach of slipping my poison directly into Charles' drink when the opportunity arose.
I set the drink back down, and subtly shifted my body towards Charles. His gaze immediately found my chest, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
It was the dark presence of the man leaning against the wall.
Dmitri.
Fuck.
All I’d wanted was one night with no complications, and Dmitri was the definition of complicated.
Certainly, the way I felt when I looked at him.
My toes curled against the leather high heels I’d worn tonight.
And that just reminded me of how my body had contorted as Dmitri brought me to orgasm so many glorious times. ..
A soft, moist hand brushed against my shoulder, and I instinctively flinched away.
It felt like wrenching my head away from an incoming tsunami, but I turned my attention back to my target.
“What did you say?” I said with a polite smile.
“Is this your first time here? I’ve never seen you before,” Charles said. His gaze was still stuck on my chest like it had a magnet attached. Thankfully, he didn’t try to touch me again.
I shrugged. He actually noticed since my shoulders were within eyeline of my chest.
Charles didn’t actually care what I had to say. The mystery just added to the appeal. He could fill in the blanks so that I had the outlines of his fantasy.
The longer we sat here in silence, the closer I came to my goal.
My heart thudded when Dmitri’s eyes slid from the burly man he was speaking to and landed squarely on me.
It wasn’t directed at my chest, which Charles was still infatuated with. Dmitri’s gaze dug into my face, searching in a way that felt like he was seeing straight into my soul.
I squared my mind. There was no way he could know who I was.
I’d spent an hour carefully contouring my makeup, so that my eyes appeared closer together, and my nose slightly sharpened. Minute details that changed the overall image, so that even my own family wouldn’t have recognized me.
Still, the piercing look gave me pause, and my thudding heart didn’t stop for a moment. When I’d entered this room intent on quietly killing Charles, my heart rate hadn’t even increased. But one look from Dmitri and it was sailing closer to aFib.
I tore my gaze away from Dmitri and focused back on my full drink.
I was safe, I reminded myself. I still had time to come to terms with my thoughts before I had to face Dmitri again. But when I glanced up from the marble bar, and over the shoulder of Charles’ leering expression, Dmitri wasn’t safely across the room.
No, he was purposely walking my way.
Suddenly, I felt like the one caught helplessly on a fishing line.
Maybe he just wanted a drink, I tried to reason. But that feeble hope shattered when he stepped right beside me, towering over me with a small smirk on his lips.
“Hello, kotenok.”
My heart thudded as I stared into Dmitri’s intense eyes. Eyes entirely focused on me. But it wasn’t just his eyes that had my heart ricocheting so hard that I was surprised Charles couldn't see the outlines of it with his gaze so intently focused on my chest.
No, it was what I felt when I stared back at Dmitri’s chiseled face. Or rather, what I didn’t feel.
Hate.
All the anger and hatred had fled my body. All those warring emotions were completely bereft, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. It’s why I’d fled that day after he fucked me in Jayden’s office. I’d spent the last week trying to convince myself it was just post-orgasm insanity.
But now I couldn’t deny it any longer.
“Do you know him?” Charles asked, extracting his gaze from my chest, and turning towards Dmitri.
I bit down on my lip as flashbacks of an orgasm swept my mind. His fingers roughly digging into my hips-
I swallowed, and tried to drown the flush threatening to build on my skin. Even if I could’ve formed the words, this wasn’t the time to articulate how I knew Dmitri.
So I just took another pretend sip of my drink. I stared pointedly ahead, hoping that Dmitri would realize that now was not the time.
Of course, he didn’t move away. Instead, he settled into the seat right beside me.
I took in an unsteady breath, mentally steeling myself for the rest of this night…
When in walked the one person who could make my night even more complicated.