She sits back and grabs her cup of coffee again, sipping it while eyeing me carefully. “Ember, I thought that because of the way you were raised, you’d understand how important it is not to get corrupted by these guys. Good dick is not a good reason to completely abandon your morals, and I can tell you, itrarelyworks out for the best. Your man is not a good guy. He’s barely a decent one, if we’re being honest.”
I have to clench my jaw tight to keep myself from swearing at her. What the hell does she even know about Roman, really? All she knows about him or the Bratva is whatever is in one of those manila folders on her desk somewhere.
“You know, Bratva men treat their women like shit,” she goes on, taking a sip of coffee. “It’s in their culture. It’s a part of who they are. The best case scenario for you if you continue this relationship with Roman Orlov is that he’ll eventually get bored with you and end up screwing every girl in that little club of yours. The worst case is that he’ll end up beating the shit out of you on your wedding night. He’s not a good person.”
“You don’t know him,” I say. “You don’t know anything about him.”
“I know the kind of man he is. I know what he’s done. You are screwing a monster, Ember. A rogue beast. Do the right thing and help me cage him before he wreaks even more havoc on this city.”
“This conversation is over,” I say, getting up. “Don’t contact me again.”
I turn to walk away and nearly run over the woman who just walked in.
“Whoa,” she says, grabbing my arm to stop me. We meet eyes and cold recognition hits me as her dark eyes widen.
“Oh, my gosh. Ember?”
“Natasha,” I spit out through a forced smile. “Hi. Um, hi.”
She takes a step back, a big, warm smile on her face. “What are you doing all the way out here?”
My mind scrambles. “I could ask you the same thing,” I retort.
“Oh, I’m meeting my guy here.” She pauses and looks over her shoulder at Rastelli. My stomach drops. “Friend of yours?”
I’m speechless. I’m standing next to the damn table. I can’t even fake that I don’t know her.
Rastelli waves politely. “Hi, there.” She stands and walks over to Natasha, putting her hand out to shake it. “I’m Michelle, Ember’s cousin.”
“Cousin… ?” Nastasha shakes her hand, but she’s looking at me suspiciously. “I thought you didn’t have any family in town.”
“I don’t,” I say, my mind spinning. “Michelle’s just in town for the weekend.”
“Right. Big tech convention in town,” she says. “Thought I’d meet up and catch up.” She nudges me as though I’m supposed to laugh at that lame ass joke. I don’t. I just keep smiling like an idiot.
“Okay,” Natasha says, looking from me to her and back again. “That’s cool. Well, don’t let me interrupt.”
“Oh, you’re not.” Rastelli pulls out her wallet and puts a few dollars on the table to pay for the coffees. “I was just leaving. Lunch break’s over. I’ve got to get back to the hotel. Call you later, Emmy.”
Rastelli pats me on the shoulder, then walks out of the diner.
“Emmy?” Natasha laughs. “Since when are you ‘Emmy’?”
I can’t seem to speak. That whole exchange looked suspicious as fuck. I can’t even deny it. I swallow hard to get my voice to come back. “Never. What ‘guy’ are you meeting out here, anyway?”
“My plug. Weekend’s almost here and I’m out of za-za.”
My face feels like a hot flash. And now with Natasha meeting her weed dealer here just minutes after Rastelli was just sitting behind me… I feel like I’m going to faint.
“Hey,” she says, touching my shoulder. “Are you okay? Your face is really flushed.”
“Listen, I’ve got a real problem. Do you have a second?”
“Sure,” she says. “My guy’s usually late, anyway.”
I lead her outside. I can’t risk saying anything while in the diner. Who knows if those customers in there are even real customers?
“What’s going on?” she asks anxiously. “Is everything okay?”
