12. Elena
ELENA
“ O kay? That’s it?” Adrik smirked, looking like a smug man in his big leather chair.
I’d been in here one time, on something like a tour when Paul was getting to know me and welcoming me as a member of the in-house accounting team.
Dark-brown wood panels made up the walls.
Navy-blue furnishings accented the woodsy look, but the plush white carpet on the floor was my favorite.
It was so soft, I could imagine napping on it!
A thick ply like it was a blanket more than a rug.
But on the other hand, I had to fret and worry that it could even get dirty, so purely bright and light like fleece underfoot.
“Yes,” I replied. “I would love to investigate that topic.” Dreading how that sounded, like I could be overly zealous and too interested, I bit my lip. “I mean, if you want. I’ve noticed, just by a passing glance?—”
“Elena.” He cut me off by simply stating my name.
But, oh, how I loved to hear it in his smoky, gruff tone.
I swallowed hard. “Yes?”
“Don’t backtrack and make excuses for yourself.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why not?” I asked in a quiet voice.
He huffed. “Because you don’t need to. Not with me.”
And what does that mean? Like I can trust you? I can be confident to be myself around you? Yeah, right.
I decided to take a chance on what he said, though, owning my interest. “I’ve mentioned it before, and I didn’t think you were listening.”
“I’m always listening.” He steepled his fingers, and I had a brain fart of trying to understand how that could make him look hotter. Because it made him appear contemplative? And men who thought were… sexier?
“Elena?”
I sighed. He was still messing me up after that kiss. Hot and cold. Intrigued and distant. Receptive then closed off. Which version was he going to be today, and for how long?
“So you remember?”
He nodded. “You mentioned your suspicion about a few unknown shell companies with strange transfers linked with the errors that have been showing up on the Volkov accounts.”
“That’s right.” My confidence bloomed brighter. He had paid attention. “I’m getting a hunch that it’s a hidden enemy.” Again, my cheeks heated. “Well, your enemy. Not mine. A Volkov enemy, and I’m not a Volkov. I’m just me, but you’re you and?—”
Shut up, El.
He chuckled lightly. “You don’t need to remind me that I have many enemies. Go on.”
“It might be easier to show you,” I said, already tapping the keys to get where I needed to on this device.
“Fine.”
Accessing the banking information and financial tracking software, I slid the laptop to show him. But then it wasn’t facing me. I leaned forward to try to type backward while not hiding the screen.
“Elena.”
“Hmm?” I lifted my gaze to meet his smoldering stare.
A stare that was zeroed in on my cleavage.
This blouse was a little snugger than the other brands, but it was so soft, I couldn’t resist trying it out.
The top button hadn’t lasted more than five seconds, though, the sewn stitches fraying.
As a result, I was unintentionally giving him a very up close view I wouldn’t normally consider as a mostly modest woman.
“Oh. Sorry.” Heat flamed up my cheeks as I stood.
He let out a ragged exhale that could’ve sounded like a groan of disappointment too.
But it couldn’t be. He’d kissed me and walked away like it was nothing.
He couldn’t be attracted to me. “No need for an apology,” he stated wryly, leaning over to get the laptop and bring it closer to himself. “Pull a chair around.”
And sit next to you? I had been getting used to the buffer of his desk between us.
“Okay.” Like I’d tell him no.
I dragged a chair over and resumed opening what I wanted to. For a long time, so many minutes that I lost track of them, I pointed out the accounts of shell companies that I thought could be investigated more closely. Then I took even longer to show how certain transactions seemed connected.
He was in business mode, listening attentively and paying attention.
And while he was a receptive and engaging audience of one, a sense of appreciation filled me.
I was glad that he could do the bare minimum of respecting that I had an opinion.
That my opinion and observation weren’t stupid comments, but something worthy of a further and deeper look.
All those years I’d worked for my father, I’d been dismissed and taken for granted.
No thanks.
No nods of approval when I suggested a shortcut for a task or a new idea that would organize files better.
I’d been his tool. His slave to demand more and more from, like a robot programmed to go, no need for any affection or relationship.
But in less than a month, I could experience the new and uncharted territory of being appreciated. Respected. Being treated like a human with a brain that was worth recognizing was tripping me up.
And of all people, it was a ruthless Mafia boss to make me realize what I’d been missing out on?
Adrik was likely a murderer, a hunch I struggled to bypass when he’d come home with blood on his hands one time.
He was probably experienced with torture, harsh trends of violence to keep his power at the top.
And he was the only one who’d rewarded me with the gift of his attention. Of listening to me and actively hearing me out without a trace of dismissal.
I got sucked into looking into the shell company profiles. Like I was wont to do, I got pulled in, deep in the zone, typing faster and faster and not even doing the routine mental checks of how crappy my posture was.
Adrik came and went, letting me stay where I was.
He didn’t question my working on the laptop in here.
Having the peace and quiet in this office was even better than the office room he’d given me downstairs.
More people came in and out of that area since it had two doors, more like a passageway than a specific room.
It wasn’t until he returned with two plates of dinner that I realized I’d missed lunch.
My stomach gave a growl.
“Didn’t you see my texts?” he scolded.
I gave him a sheepish look. “Will you be mad if I say no?”
“I will be mad if you dare to lie to me.”
“No,” I replied immediately. I never wanted to be a liar. “No, I didn’t get your texts. I think my phone is still downstairs.”
He rolled his eyes. “So you didn’t get my reminder to order lunch from the chef?”
I shook my head.
He sat and closed my laptop lid with the same gesture of putting a plate on it. “Then eat.”
He cares. I bit back a smile, though. He’d see it as an insult to call him out on caring about me. Or pressuring him to own up to it. But I knew he did. He never scolded any other Volkov employees about when they ate.
In a weird silence, we ate the noodle dish with chicken, and I swore it was the best meal I’d ever had.
“Now.” He gestured for me to hand over my empty plate, likely to stack it on his right while I sat in the chair to his left. I really hadn’t moved much all day. Lev had dropped off a water bottle earlier, though. “What have you found?”
“I think I’m onto some things,” I said. I reached for the laptop at the same time he tried to take my plate. Somehow, we ended up fumbling with him brushing his hand against the side of my breast.
I tensed as the streak of desire jolted me.
He went still too, giving another one of those husky sounds that could’ve been a grunt or a moan.
I’d disappointed him again.
I fell right back into the rabbit hole of wondering how long he might try to deny that this tension between us was building into undeniable chemistry.
“Things?” he said, moving past the moment. “That’s vague.”
I licked my lips, acknowledging his restraint.
He was holding back, perhaps too aware of the boundaries between us with him being my boss. Or buyer. Whatever.
All I had to try to do was follow his lead and do the same.
Show some restraint, El.
Nothing is going to happen with him.
You know that.
So quit dreaming and start working.
“Things like where these shell companies might be located and what common denominator among them might lead me to the owner’s identity.”
“Good.” He glanced at me, smiling.
Oh, heaven help me.
I’d been trying my hardest to get over how badly I wanted him to kiss me again.
But it turned out that I could relish the warm glow of a reward from him when he praised me too.
I’d always been a people pleaser, but damn, did it thrill me to think I could be a good girl for him and no one else.