“We’re fine,” An assured him. “For what it’s worth, my father and I are willing to back you in whatever way that you might find useful in this matter. There is no love lost between my father and Mueller, not after that horrifying bit of business his people tangled us up in last year.”
Though he didn’t know all of the details, Alexei had heard the tale of Mr. Lu discovering too late that cargo shipments he had been hired to shepherd through customs contained cargo of a human variety. It had been a very public black eye for the old man, especially when he had been suspected of possible involvement in Vivian’s kidnapping.
Audrey knocked at the door, and he gave her permission to enter. She carried the box holding Shay’s handbags and the new hire packet to his desk. After whisking away An’s empty coffee cup, she left the office.
Setting aside the box and the packet, Alexei said, “Listen, I know some of our contracts are up for renegotiation in early January. For the trucking services my company provides for your restaurants and for the food and supplies the company I own with Nikolai ships out to your locations,” he clarified. “I’m sure we can take this favor,” he waved the envelope, “into account when we settle on new terms.”
“I’m counting on it.” She gestured to the box on his desk. “Is that a handbag I see?”
“It is.” Smiling, he rose from his seat and started unpacking the box. “I actually planned to visit your office so we could talk about these handbags and wallets.”
“It’s a few weeks too early for Christmas so I’m assuming these aren’t gifts for me.” The faint smile on her face hinted at a mischief streak he never would have guessed she possessed. “This is lovely.” She picked up the larger handbag and ran her fingers along the blush pink Saffiano leather. “Who made these?”
“My girlfriend,” he answered proudly. Only a moment later did he realize what word he had used, not mistress or lover but girlfriend. It was a word that had always struck him as so very juvenile, but it suddenly seemed clean and new and entirely more suitable for Shay. Because no matter how hard he tried to shove her into that role, she was never, ever, ever going to the perfect little mistress. After all, this morning, his ptichka had shown him her claws with that six month remark.
“She’s very talented.” An examined the wallet. “Oh, look at how slim this is! The design is wonderful. Is she self-taught or did she go to college for this?”
“Both,” he said, running his fingers over the elaborate stitching on the clutch. “She currently sells her leather goods in an online boutique, but she’s planning to open a proper store front soon. I’d like to help her find a way to increase her productivity.”
“Well, she needs a team who understands leather goods and attention to detail,” An murmured. “Let me work my contacts. I’m sure I can get you some names by the end of the week.”
Alexei had suspected An would be able to help him. There were a number of small factories under her family’s control and protection that employed seamstresses and cobblers. Surely, a few of them had experience with leather goods. “I would appreciate it.”
“It’s no problem.” She glanced at her watch. “I need to go. My daughter has figure skating practice in half an hour, and I never miss it. I’ll have my assistant call you with those names. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble getting a production line set up.”
“I hope not.”
After An left, Alexei settled into his chair and went through the usual Saturday morning routine, holding a sales meeting and talking one-on-one with his salesmen and managers before returning calls and answering internal emails. When he had a chance, he dialed Fox, Kostya’s hacker who had set up the computer systems across his dealerships.
“Henhouse Security Services,” a sunny female voice answered. “Fox here. How can I help you?”
The name of her company brought a smile to his face. “Fox, this is Alexei Sarnov.”
“Oh! Hey, how are you? I was going to call you later to talk about the attempted hacking.”
An uproar of hooting voices and clapping erupted in the background. It didn’t take him long to figure out that she was standing in a room of raucous gamers. “Is this a good time to talk?”
“Yes, it is. Just…um…hang on a sec. I need get back into my office.” A door squealed loudly and slammed into place. “Sorry about that. We’re testing a new version for Maisie. Like you cannot even believe how gore-tastic this new zombie shredding version is!”
Having seen enough violence and bloodshed firsthand, Alexei didn’t need video games to give him a vicarious thrill. “I’ll pass.”
“Right. Um. Okay. So I spent the night clearing out all the malware and virues and all that awful shit that had attempted to infect your systems. It was all quarantined so no sensitive information was compromised. The system worked the way it was supposed to and saved your virtual backside.”
“Well that’s a relief.” He rubbed his sore neck. His days of sleeping on couches were long behind him and he was paying for it this morning. “Do you have any recommendations for preventing something like this in the future?”
“Vet your cleaning staff better?” she hazarded a smart-ass guess. “No, but really, Alexei? Shit like this happens. It’s just part of the business. Your best offense is a good defense. You just need to keep your systems up to date and well-protected. This why you pay me an outrageous amount of money every month.”
He finished off the last of his lukewarm coffee. “So I assume by the cleaning staff remark you know who was behind this.”
“I figured out the identity of the hacker who wrote this program before I heard the news that he had gone missing. His signature is one I recognize easily. Edgar has been a wannabe black hat for years. He’s good, but he’s not elite.” She sighed sadly. “That’s some bad, bad business there.”
Wondering if she was just as plugged in to the underworld as Kostya, her benefactor, he asked, “Have you heard who might have been interested in buying this stolen information?”
“I haven’t heard any specifics, but it’s a good bet they come from your old stomping grounds. Identity theft is big business over there. Would you like me to poke around and see if I can find out the name of the buyer?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I don’t want you to put yourself at risk. Let’s just leave this alone.”
“All right. I’ll probably swing by your dealerships on Monday just to take a peek at the systems again and run some diagnostics.”
“Thank you, Fox.”
“No problem.”
After she hung up, he drummed his fingers on his desk. He didn’t want to think that Nikolai might be more involved in this than he had initially let on, but it was entirely possible that Nikolai might know the identity of the buyer.
His cell phone rattled across his desk. Fearing it was Shay calling with a problem, he snatched it up and glanced at the screen. It was Nikolai’s name that flashed at him. “Hello?”
“Lyosha, can you get over to Kazimir’s? I’m headed that way to pick up something for Vivian. I need to speak with you.”
He pulled back his cuff and looked at his watch. “Sure. It may take me half an hour or more to get over there.”
“Take your time.”
As Nikolai ended the call, Alexei remembered the jewelry he had tucked into his handkerchief last night. “Shit.”
He quickly scrolled through his list of recent calls, found Shay’s number and hit dial. While he waited for her to answer, he logged out of the computer system and locked away the files on his desk. When she didn’t answer in time, the call went to her voicemail.
“Hi! You’ve reached Shay Sandoval. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me a message, and I’ll get back you!”
Although her bright voice made him smile, he didn’t leave a message. Why wasn’t she answering? Fearing the worst, he started to call Stas but Shay returned his call first. “Shay? Is everything okay?”
“Hello to you, too,” she sai
d with a laugh. “Yes, everything here is okay. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. You didn’t answer, and I started to worry.”
“Alexei,” she murmured his name. “You shouldn’t worry so much. I’m safe here with Stas. We are working together in the kitchen. I left my phone in the bedroom so I had to run across the apartment. Now I’m all out of breath!”
He could think of a dozen ways he’d like to take her breath away, but right now wasn’t the time to indulge in fantasies. “Did the concierge send up someone for my suit?”
“No. Why?”
“I asked for laundry service. Will you find my suit in the closet please? I put your jewelry in a handkerchief and tucked it into my jacket pocket. I’d hate for it to get lost at the cleaner’s.”
“Oh. Okay. Hang on.” A short time later, she announced, “Found it! Thank you so much for bringing this to me.”
“I could tell it was important to you.”
“I don’t have much jewelry, but what I do have means something. The necklace and the hoops were a Christmas gift from my dad. He’s the only person who has ever given me jewelry.”
Instantly, Alexei knew exactly what he was going to do when he got to Kazimir’s. Not wanting to tip her off, he changed the subject, “So you’ve put Stas to work?”
“He’s really good at punching holes in leather. I might let him try grommets next. He’s been teaching me to count in Russian which has been cool.”
A zing of jealousy snapped through him. As childish as it was, he wanted to be the one who taught her how to speak his language. “Well I’m glad to hear that you’re finding him useful.”
“Shay, do you want to order something for lunch?” Stas bellowed in the background. “I’m starving.”
“You just ate three oranges and a banana!”
“Like an hour ago,” Stas called back. “Do you like Chinese? There’s a place a few blocks from here that’s pretty good. Or how about Thai?”
“Do you realize how loud you are?” Shay scolded Stas with a laugh. “I’m just in the next room, but you’re shouting so loud they can probably hear you down in the lobby.”
“I’m starving.”
“You’re a drama queen.”
“I’m about to start chewing on this leather. That’s how hungry I am.”
“Oh my God!” Shay laughed. “We’ll order Chinese, okay? Can I finish my call now?”
“Is that your friend? We can wait to order lunch until she gets here.”
“No, it’s Alexei. Now quiet down and get back to work.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So anyway,” Shay said, returning to their call. “We’re good here. Kylee is going to come over later and spend some time with me. I thought we might take Stas and go see my car later?”
He noticed the way she phrased it as a question. “That’s not necessary. I had your car towed earlier this morning. I’m handling it.”
“Oh. Well…what am I supposed to do about the insurance claim?”
“There won’t be one. We’ll see what the car is worth and sell it. You can use the cash for your business.”
“I’ll have to use the cash for a new car. Well—not a new car. A used car that’s new to me,” she said.
He already had his eye on a sporty Jaguar coupe for her, but he sensed this wasn’t the type of conversation that would go well over the phone. “We’ll figure it out, Shay.”
“I’m sure we will. Look, I’m going to send Stas out for groceries later. Otherwise the takeout bill here is going to be sky high.”
Knowing how stubborn she could be, he warned, “Don’t even try to give him money for the groceries. I left him funds to cover your daily expenses.”
Shay started to answer him, but a loud shout of pain interrupted her. Stas began cursing angrily in Russian. “Uh-oh. Sounds like Stas just had his first on-the-job injury. I hope your workman’s comp coverage is good, Alexei.”
“You mean you hope your coverage is good,” he corrected with a teasing laugh. “He’s currently working for you.”
“What? That is so not fair!”
“Welcome to the cutthroat world of business, sweetheart.” Listening to Stas swear nastily, he added, “Tell Stas that he is forbidden from teaching you that colorful language. If I hear any of those words come out of your mouth, I’ll know who to blame.”
“When he stops crying, I’ll let tell him.”
“See that you do.” Even though he’d like nothing better than to stay on the phone with her, he had to get moving. “I’ll call you later.”
“Be careful out there, Alexei.”
“I will.”
When their call ended, he held his phone to his ear a moment longer than necessary. He was so tempted to leave the office for this meeting with Nikolai and not come back until Sunday afternoon or even Monday morning. Only the gut feeling that they were going to get slammed with customers later in the day kept him from doing it. He couldn’t leave his employees in the lurch like that, especially not when so many of his them were doing their damnedest to earn their holiday bonuses. He needed to be here to work deals and push through financing.
Down on the main sales floor, he walked the perimeter to ensure customers were being treated the way he liked and that all of the salesmen were busy. The quickest way to earn a pink slip at any of his dealerships was to be discovered standing around, shooting the breeze or laughing with coworkers. The only thing he hated more were high-pressure salesmen. He liked ambition and drive, but he didn’t want the salesmen skulking after customers, breathing down their necks and pushing financing and trades that weren’t a good deal for both sides.
Satisfied that the sales floor was operating like a well-oiled machine, he pulled aside the general manager for a chat. With his temporary absence squared away, Alexei left the dealership and headed for the luxury jewelry store operated by Kazimir and his daughter, Zoya. He hadn’t visited the jeweler in more than a year. Marissa, his last mistress, had preferred a different high-end jeweler so he had indulged her with gifts only from there.
Finding parking at Kamizir’s was a nightmare as usual. Why the man hadn’t moved to a better location Alexei would never understand. He spotted Nikolai’s Land Rover and pulled into a space a few cars down. Ilya, one of the boss’s handlers, leaned against the hood and smoked while keeping an eye out for trouble.
It wasn’t so long ago that Ilya had been the young kid on Alexei’s street crew. Now he had advanced to the inner circle and was poised for a promotion to street captain. He stopped to shake Ilya’s hand and couldn’t help but read the new ink on his hands and neck. Apparently, he had been busy.
When he stepped inside the store, he was instantly greeted by Kazimir who directed him to the cozy room where clients with expensive taste could inspect jewels and designs in privacy. He found Zoya and Nikolai there.
“Lyosha.” Nikolai pointed to an empty seat. “We’re almost done.”
“How are you, Alexei?” Zoya drew sunbursts on her sketchpad. “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen you.”
“You should go ahead and unlock the diamond safe,” Nikolai joked. “I have a feeling you’re going to be seeing a lot more of him.”
“Oh?” Zoya’s bright blue eyes lit up excitedly.
“We’ll talk after you’ve finished with the boss.” Alexei waved toward their work.
Taking the hint, Nikolai said, “Zoya, this gift needs to be something beautiful but simple. The bracelet has to be something Vee can wear every day. I want her to see it on her wrist and think of our son and me and the life we’re building together.”
Zoya smiled warmly as she sketched out some ideas on her notepad. “That’s so lovely and sweet.”
“And the other gift? It needs to be regal.” Nikolai emphasized the description with a flourish of his hands. “We need to stay away from anything too gaudy, but I want her to have something incredible to mark the birth of our first child.”
“I’ve gotten to kno
w Vivian’s tastes very well this year. I have an idea of what she likes and what you like and how to make it work.” Zoya jotted down her notes. “Do you have any preference for gemstones for the necklace and earrings?”
“Sapphires,” he answered. “I want them to be as blue as her eyes.”
“Platinum? Gold? White gold?” When Nikolai gave her a look, she let loose a twitter of laughter. “Right. Platinum. Always.” She jotted down more notes. “I should have some preliminary designs in a week. Does that work for your timeline?”
“Yes, that’s fine. Would you mind stepping out for a few minutes? I promise I’ll let you have your room back as soon as we’re done.”
“Of course,” she graciously replied.
When the door closed behind Zoya, Nikolai reached over and smacked him on the back of his head. It wasn’t a hard hit, but it was enough to get his attention.
“Hey!” Alexei winced and smoothed down his hair. “What the fuck was that for?”
“Did you really think I wasn’t going to find out you went behind my back and asked Besian for help? Huh? How the fuck do you think that makes me look?”
“Shit. That’s not—I didn’t go to Besian for backup. I went there for information. I didn’t know what was happening with Shay’s sister, but I knew that he would. I never asked him to publicly stand for me.”
“Well he fucking did,” Nikolai shot back. “I had John Mueller on my doorstep this morning complaining that Besian’s Merkurie Motors boys towed his truck from the restaurant he was at last night. This morning, they picked up his wife’s SUV while she was at the gym. Needless to say, he got the message.”
“I didn’t ask Besian to get involved. He promised he would have my back if things went sideways but he didn’t tell me he was going to harass Mueller and his wife.”
“Apparently, Mueller went by that marble monstrosity of yours this morning, but there was no answer so he decided to walk over another street to bother me. Do you know how I like to spend my Saturday mornings?”
Alexei had an idea of what Nikolai enjoyed doing on Saturday mornings, but it was too graphic and dirty to say to Nikolai’s face, especially where Vivian was concerned. “Probably not having coffee with the Mr. White Is Right.”