*Sephie*
There was a visible flash of fear across the lawyer’s face for a brief moment, but it quickly changed to anger. The politician looked like he might vomit, and the investor didn’t look much better. They were speechless. Armando looked to Adrik, surprised but thankful for his words. I placed my hand on top of his, as his arm was still protectively across my lap as he spoke to the three men across the table.
Misha cleared his throat once again behind us. I glanced back to him. He shook his head no once. I tightened my grip on Adrik’s hand. He didn’t even look at me, he just stood up, adjusting his suit jacket. He glared at the men across the table, causing them to shrink back. “I think we’re done here, gentlemen. My men will see you out,” he said motioning toward the door.
The three men stood, gathered their things, and walked out quickly. Viktor and Ivan had been listening through Misha’s earpiece the entire time. They were expecting them. Andrei and Stephen were as well. Adrik followed them to the door, keeping the intimidation factor high. He closed the door behind them, cursing under his breath, running a hand through his hair. I knew he was still angry. I stood from my chair, happy to have a moment to stretch. My hip was somewhat sore from sitting. Or from the heels. Or both. Adrik walked quickly to me. As he closed the distance, I could see his eyes searching mine, wondering if I was okay. I smiled at him. He put both hands on either side of my face, his lips crashing to mine. I knew he was trying to calm himself. I smiled against his lips. “You’ve been wanting to do that for like an hour now, haven’t you?”
“You have no idea, solnishko,” he groaned. I heard Misha laugh quietly behind us. We both turned to look at him.
“What? I wouldn’t have been able to wait until the meeting was over with that guy looking at you like that. You have more self-control than I do, Boss.”
Armando was puzzled, as he was blissfully unaware of everything that had happened during the meeting. “Somebody tell me what’s going on here.”
“The politician was terrified of the other two men. That was the first red flag. The investor was lying the entire time, just like Ghost said. And the lawyer spent most of your presentation thinking about all the dirty things he wanted to do to me. After Ghost completely destroyed his fantasies, that’s when he switched to full-on asshole. Lawyers are always working for someone else, so there’s another player behind the scenes that you don’t know about making all those unrealistic demands. The temperature of the room changed after Ghost called them out, which is why they were escorted out quickly,” I said.
Armando sat down, somewhat in shock. “I missed all of this. I was so focused on trying to make this project work that I missed everything you just said.” He put his head in his hands, thinking about what had just taken place.
Adrik spoke. “I think the investor might be an actor. If you investigate who he is, I doubt you will find someone wealthy enough to be able to afford an investment into this project. The bigger question is why the politician was afraid of them and most importantly, who the lawyer is working for behind the scenes.”
Armando stood and walked to the phone at the other end of the table. He pressed a button and his assistant answered. “Giana, could you come to the boardroom, please?”
She walked in soon after. Armando was still standing. “Ah, Giana, can you get me everything you can find on the three men that were just here? I want to know everything. Use whoever you need to, but I want to know everything. Who they’re working with now, who they’ve worked with in the past. All of it.”
“Right away, sir,” she nodded to all of us as she left the boardroom, her eyes lingering on Misha as she walked past. I caught his eye, raising my eyebrows several times, and smiling. His cheeks flushed as his broad smile stretched across his face. He just shrugged his shoulders. I thought Misha was insanely adorable, but I found myself both secretly loving it when other women found any of them attractive, but also feeling overly protective of them at the same time. *This must be what it's like to have hot older brothers...*
Armando walked to me and Adrik. He extended his hand to Adrik, who took it. “Thank you, sir. You’ve saved me quite a few headaches today.” He looked to me, opening his arms, “and you, my dear, you have a gift. I’m going to need you for all my important meetings,” he said embracing me. “Come, I must take you to lunch. It’s the least I can do.”
“I will happily take you up on that offer,” I said, stepping back from Armando, only to feel Adrik’s hand on my back pulling me to him.
He whispered in my ear so only I could hear, “tell me if you get tired or you want to go back. You won’t offend him. He understands.” He kissed my cheek.
“I’ll be okay, as long as we don’t walk too much. My hip is not agreeing with these shoes.”
He smirked at me, “Ivan has your sneakers with him.”
“Shut up.”
“He brought them just in case you had issues.”
As we walked to the front door of the building, Ivan was waiting by the door, holding my sneakers in one hand.
“Ivan, you’re not only squishy inside you’re all soft and nougaty too,” I said, holding onto his shoulder so I could take the heels off and slip on the sneakers.
“I had a feeling something like this would happen, princess. It’s best to be prepared,” he said with a wink.
“Noted, you giant lovable Russian bear you.”