“If it’s tied to the Lobanov charity front, we can follow the money, then,” Roman uttered.
“That’s right. It always stems from the money,” Mikhail agreed.
“We need to go over the financial records of the charity wing, then,” Viktor said.
“I know someone. Mila Petrov. She’s worked with me before, and she’s a genius in forensic accounting. She audited for me some years back, and I found exactly what I was looking for,” Roman said, facing me. “She’s someone you can trust.”
“How do I reach her?” I asked.
“I’ll contact her to find out if she’s currently available. I'll update you in the next few hours,” he replied.
“That’s settled, then,” Mikhail uttered, and Viktor stood.
We all did the same.
As Mikhail and Roman talked on the way out of the office, Viktor said, “Konstantin.”
“Brother?”
“Extract a full confession from Alina. About everything she knows about the smuggling ring the bastard was involved with, and the Feds.”
I nodded.
“Even though she’s your wife, we need clarity on the matter.”
“Understood, brother.”
Even as I agreed with my brother, I was no longer sure she was guilty.
Chapter Nineteen
Alina’s POV
When I woke up to an empty bed, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad. Having sex surely made things more complicated, I knew that much. His absence could mean many things. It could be as simple as him needing to get started with the day’s work and not wanting to wake me up. It could mean him waking up with utter shock and hating himself for getting involved with me at all, and then rushing out of my room, vowing to never let it happen again.
With the man in the picture being Konstantin, the latter was most likely the case.
However, it took just a single thought of the night we spent together to wonder if he was as cold as he appeared. The way his eyes took in every part of me like I was some damsel, the way he held me to himself like I was a part of himself, the gentleness of his voice when he asked if I was okay—all that couldn’t have come from a monster with a cold heart.
As I left my room later that morning, I decided within myself that I would stay out of his way. I wasn’t the kind of girl who had casual sex and just moved on. I’d rather not hear him call me out on having delusional expectations or thinking too much of something that meant nothing to him. I’d have breakfast after his departure and dinner before his arrival, or up in my room so we wouldn’t have any reason to meet.
While my plan might not be foolproof for the sole reason that we still lived in the same house, I was ready to give it my all. For the next several days, at least.
Aside from when he unexpectedly arrived earlier on the day after, my plan was working quite well. Even on that evening, I avoided staring at him despite the pull to. I had wanted to see ifhe had forgotten all about it, and he was back to passing orders as one would to a hostage, but I didn’t. I forced my voice to be firm when I responded to his greeting, despite my heart wanting to welcome him with a calm voice and smiling face.
It was two days after that night, and I descended the stairs to find Hans and some other workers whose names I didn’t know putting things together at the manor.
I moved closer to the couch, where Hans was about to lift it with another worker. “Let me help.”
“Ma’am? No,” Hans refused. “You can’t join us. We’ll be done soon, anyway.”
“Well, I want to,” I insisted. “I already came down here. So I can’t sit and watch you guys do all the work. We all live here, don’t we?”
“Yes, ma’am. But, you can’t,” he said, shaking his head slowly.
I looked around and found Greta and Anna at the far end of the sitting room. They were cleaning the windows that weren’t replaced.
“Even Greta and Anna are helping. I’m going to help, I insist,” I told him.
