Giselle looked at me expectantly, yanking me back into the conversation.
“I met Axel in Russia. We got married there.”
That put a small smile on her lips, like she knew a secret I didn’t. “That’s nice.”
Her look made hot anger flash through my body, like an electric current. In my heart of hearts, I think I had my answer. I felt tears prick the back of my eyes.
“I should get up there. I know he’s waiting for me,” I murmured before turning away.
“It was nice to see you again, Mila.” Her lyrical voice followed me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A few moments earlier
AXEL
My phone rangwith Anton’s number, which meant the call was about Mila.
“What is it?”
“Look out your window, boss.” Anton sounded stressed.
I stood up and looked out the second floor window that overlooked the warehouse floor.
Giselle and Mila were talking below.
“Fuck,” I breathed. “What is Mila doing here?”
“She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Anton sounded mournful. “She made me drive her here.”
“You could have warned me,” I hissed while my eyes drank in the sight of her. She looked adorable with her tight jeans and her thick ponytail.
“She ordered me not to call you.”
My lips twitched. Anton was one of the most ruthless men on my crew. “You sound scared of her.”
“I am,” he shot back.
I’d seen Anton take down two men with nothing more than a ballpoint pen. “You can’t let her boss you around.”
“Speak for yourself. I caught Oleg, on his night off, brushing up on his high school math last week. Not because she asked him to, but because that’s how it happens. It’s just who she is,” he confessed. “She never expects anything, and we just do stuff for her.”
I couldn’t even blame him. My only line of defense against Mila’s innate charm was forced distance. And even that wasn’t working for me.
Giselle was talking, and Mila was rocking back on her heels with her hands in her back pockets. I couldn’t tell if Mila was upset. I watched as she turned away from Giselle and started walking toward the offices.
“Bring my wife to me,” I told Anton.
She strodeinto the office and yet completely avoided my gaze.
I armed myself by staying seated at my large desk. “Mila.”
“Sorry for barging in on you like this.” She glanced around my office.
I motioned for Anton to leave and shut the door.
Instead of sitting down across from me, she wandered over to the wall to check out the fishing photos that Demetrius had hung on the wall of himself.
