“Huh.” My mouth threatened to smile. I walked toward the bed, staring at the woman who had opened my heart to showing more emotions. Still, I couldn’t abandon my scary-pakhan-of-the-bratva persona, but I was on board with having a soft spot for the women in my family. “Keep it between us, okay?”
Aralina crossed her heart and doubled down, miming a zipper across her mouth.
I lifted Lucy off the bed. She barely stirred. I was taking my wife home.
Chapter
Forty-One
One week later
Lucy
“Why areyou such a bleeding heart for the King men?” I asked Aralina as we crossed the threshold of King Tower. In her arms, she was hugging Theo’s freshly dry-cleaned wool coat. She’d even wrapped it in a fancy black-and-brown tweed paper.
“He sent me flowers,” she signed.
“They were apology flowers.” I remembered the time Kirill brought home a bouquet. A few days ago, an arrangement of pink tulips arrived for Aralina. She was beside herself with excitement. Honestly, I wondered if Aralina fell in and out of love on a dime. Or maybe she was in love with the idea of romance and nothing else. There was no sweet note, just a letterpress card from Theodore King.
But I didn’t want to be the one to burst Aralina’s bubble. The poor girl didn’t have any friends and was surrounded by more bodyguards. Her only links to the outside world were her classes at NYU, her tablet, and books.
“He might not even have time to see us,” I told her. The news had broken that Jeremiah King was incapacitated after a skiing accident, and unfit to discharge his fiduciary responsibilities, and the board was at a stalemate on whether to approve the formation of the King trust giving Theo the power to vote his shares. Under siege was an understatement. Kirill was reluctant for us to even make a stop at the King Tower since reporters surrounded it all the time, but Ivan said that there was no harm in Aralina showing up. It presented good optics if the partnership between King Industries and Zahkarov Holdings would push through.
Aralina shrugged.
I laughed. I still couldn’t make up my mind about Kirill’s sister. She was timid at times, but I wondered if it was because it would take too much effort for her to express what she wanted to say, so she resorted to saying nothing at all.
The executive offices of King Industries encompassed three floors, but Theo’s was at the very top and, as expected, a corner office. There was a curved desk in front of it with three seats. Two were empty, while one perfectly polished woman with a tight French twist, who appeared to be in her forties, looked up at us with a narrowed gaze through her cat-eye spectacles.
“May I help you?”
There was no question she recognized us. I had no doubt that anyone who worked closely on the deal between the Kings and the Zahkarovs would have a file on all of us.
“I’m Lucy and this is Aralina Zahkarova,” I introduced us anyway. “She wants to return something to Theo.” I purposely didn’t address Theo as Mr. King to signify that this was personal.
The lady squinted and extended her hand. “You can leave it with me.”
But Aralina wouldn’t relinquish the package.
“I think she wants to thank Theo personally.”
“That’s not possible. Mr. King is in back-to-back meetings.” She nodded to a conference room where people in suits were milling around or sitting. “As you can see, he’s behind on his appointments.”
Shit, I glanced at Aralina, but her chin jutted out mulishly.
“Aralina, Lucy?” a deep baritone said behind us.
I spun around to see Theo flanked by other men and women in suits. There was no question he was the top dog, and they were his assistants. In fact, his eyes briefly left us to scribble something on an assistant’s tablet.
He came forward guardedly, but his eyes were on Aralina. She lifted her arms to give Theo the package.
He accepted it, and the corner of his mouth kicked up. “What’s this?”
She typed up her reply and showed it to him.
“Come in for a minute.” Theo put an arm behind Aralina, hovering but not touching her.
The woman at reception said, “Sir, your next board meeting is in forty-five minutes and the lawyers are here for?—”
