“I…don’t know. We’re looking at the events as if they might be connected. The cops are doing what they can, but we’ve got better resources. The guy who’s meeting me has a video of Friday night. I want to go over it. You were there too so if you wouldn’t mind looking at it, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course. Anything I can do to help. I’ll go grab those refreshments and be back in a few minutes. What time—” She stopped talking as the elevator doors whooshed open and Viktor Ivanov stepped out.
Seeing him made a sharp burst of anger pop inside her, but she shoved it back down. She was a professional and she’d worked very hard to get a job like this. She wasn’t going to ruin that because she couldn’t control her temper. Even if she did want to punch Ivanov right in his perfect, chiseled face. This must be the meeting Porter had been talking about.
Of course. Ivanov was the owner of the club Raegan had been drugged at. It made sense he would be here. But he looked more like a thug than anything else. The no doubt custom-made suit he had on didn’t hide the fact that he might as well be a street brawler. His dark hair was more or less a buzz cut, cropped close to his head, and his blue eyes were icy. She could see a few tattoos peeking out under the cuffs of his jacket and the ones on his knuckles were always visible. She’d heard the rumors that he’d once been part of his father’s criminal organization in Miami. When his father had died he’d supposedly gone legit, but she didn’t buy it.
She pasted on her best smile and hoped it didn’t look too fake. “I’ll grab the coffee,” she murmured to Porter as she nodded politely at Ivanov—who was staring intently at her—and left her office. Her heels clicked against the tile as she headed down the hallway to the community kitchen they shared with the other offices on this floor. Red Stone owned the entire building and they didn’t rent out offices to anyone else so everyone here was a vetted Red Stone Security employee.
When she stepped into the kitchen she was glad it was empty. Right now she didn’t feel like exerting any energy to make polite small talk. After starting a fresh pot of coffee, she pulled out the tray of muffins, cookies and scones they kept on hand for impromptu meetings. Everything was fresh, replaced daily. Once she had the refreshments set up on the rolling tray she headed back to her office and tried to ignore the nausea churning in her stomach.
Seeing Viktor Ivanov just reminded her of everything his family had taken from hers. From what she’d heard, he was just as bad as his dead, gangster father. She couldn’t believe Porter was meeting with the man, but to get video of the club where his cousin had been attacked…yeah, she would meet with the devil too if it would help her friend.
When she rolled the cart into Porter’s office, she found both men sitting in front of Porter’s laptop. Porter paused the video as she entered and both men stood.
It annoyed her that Ivanov was being polite and standing for her—and still watching her with those intense blue eyes. She ignored him and smiled at her boss. “If you want I can set up the projector in the conference room for the video. You’ll be able to see everything more clearly.”
He nodded once, his expression still tight. “That’d be great, thanks.”
Leaving the refreshment tray, she exited the office, able to breathe again now that she was out of Ivanov’s presence. She usually towered over most people, or was at least the same height as most men in her heels, but not him. She hated that.
It was rare that someone made her feel off her game, but he did. After what his family had done to hers, what his father had done to her mother… She swallowed hard, shoved all those thoughts aside as she focused on her job. She could get through this morning then he’d be gone and she’d never have to see him again.
Unfortunately, an hour later she found that not to be true. Porter and Ivanov walked back into her office as she was getting off a phone call.
“Dominique, if you can spare the time, would you mind walking Mr. Ivanov out? He has some questions about Red Stone and I told him you’re the best person to answer anything.” He smiled, a genuine one as he turned back to the big thug. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Ivanov half-smiled. “I have an assistant like that as well. She keeps me in line.” There was just a hint of an accent in his voice.
She knew he’d been born in the States, was an American, but his father and she was pretty sure his mother had both been born in Russia. It explained his slight accent.
Even though she wanted to say no, there was no way she ever would. No matter her feelings for this man, she would do her job. Porter had placed a lot of faith in her the last few months and she’d already gotten one raise. She wasn’t going to screw this job up. Smiling, she stood from her desk.
“Of course. Don’t forget, ten o’clock.”
Porter blinked once, letting her know he actually had forgotten, then nodded. “Right. I’ve got everything ready to go.”