She blinked at his words, surprised he even knew who she was. “You’re Viktor’s brother?” She hadn’t realized that he had any siblings. Once upon a time she’d done her research on him too. But that had been years ago, when she’d been obsessed with finding out everything about the man who’d destroyed her family. She’d moved on since then, had avoided reading anything about Ivanov once his father died.
“Half-brother. He’s working but he’ll make time for you.” Without waiting for her to respond he turned on his heel and headed toward the open entrance to a restaurant. There was a sign outside that said it was closed until four o’clock.
“I can come back later,” she said as she hurried to catch up with him. Looking at the man now it seemed obvious he and Viktor were related. He was just as big, with similar blue eyes. He even had a similar haircut, buzzed close to his head. “I should have called.”
He stopped as they reached the entrance. “How did you know he was here?”
Feeling her cheeks flush, she just shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
He gave her an assessing look before turning away again and motioning for her to follow him.
She gritted her teeth at his rudeness, but whatever. She’d just shown up here without calling—after illegally tracking Ivanov down. Dominique wasn’t going to throw stones about manners.
He led her across a mostly empty restaurant with white tablecloths on all the tables except a circular booth Viktor was sitting at. There were two men about ten feet away from him, standing quietly by the bar. His bodyguards, she guessed, if the way they sized her up was any indication.
His half-brother held up a hand to them, said something in Russian she didn’t understand. Unlike Viktor, he didn’t have an accent when he spoke English.
Viktor stood, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her, his gaze sweeping her from head to toe. There was a mix of lust thrown in too, which completely screwed with her head.
He started to say something, then one of the men said something under his breath to the other one in Russian, the look the guard gave her easy to define. She might not understand the language but the way he leered at her made her skin crawl.
On instinct she took a step back but to her surprise Viktor moved into the guy’s personal space, getting right up in his face. It was amazing—he didn’t even touch the guy but it was clear he didn’t have to. The guard’s body language showed fear, if the way he tried to shrink back in an attempt to be invisible was any indication. Viktor murmured something too low for her to hear, but whatever it was, the man paled a deathly white and nodded once before practically running from the restaurant. He gave her a wide berth and avoided eye contact as he left.
The remaining man looked just as uneasy.
“Leave us,” Viktor said to his brother—whose name she still didn’t know—and the remaining man.
Once they were gone, he motioned that she could sit across the booth from where he’d been sitting.
She swallowed hard, wondering why she’d thought it was a good idea to just show up here. Viktor was huge and had a ruthless reputation. Clearly she needed to get her head on straight. She paused, unsure if she should sit or not.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he snapped.
She jumped at the harsh tone.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. Please sit.”
Pushing out a breath, she did—because she wanted answers. “Why the heck did you send over that contract to me this morning?” The question came out as a half shout, making her cringe at herself. “Sorry, I’m just… Well, why did you?”
He was sitting ramrod straight, looking uncomfortable as he watched her. As if he didn’t want her here any more than she wanted to be here. “It has come to my attention that my family owes you a debt.”
She clenched her jaw tightly. A debt? A house wouldn’t come close to making up for what she’d lost. “So you’re just offering to give me my childhood home?” A place that held a lot of good memories. It was like he was dangling the best carrot ever in front of her but there was no way she could take it.
He nodded once.
“In exchange for what?”
He blinked. “Nothing. It’s a gift.”
“You can’t offer a gift like that and think I’m going to believe you want nothing in return!”
He shifted against his seat, looking uncomfortable. Something told her he wasn’t often uncomfortable. “I don’t want anything. It’s yours. I didn’t get much from my father when he died, but your parents’ house was part of my trust. I didn’t…know what he’d done until yesterday.”