She turned to find a matronly looking woman in what appeared to be a white fox jacket and a pair of sturdy brown boots. Her English was very good and Rya wondered if she was yet another ex-pat. The woman reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope and a small, black velvet box.
“Yes?”
“I have something for you from Mr. Novikov.”
Happiness filled her soul and she wondered how the hell Dimitri knew she was out here. Hell, all Maks had to do was call security and they could probably find her with the zillion cameras they had everywhere. Rya took a step forward and accepted the envelope and box. Her hands shook with the cold and the other woman made a tsking sound.
“What are you doing here without gloves? Silly woman, you could lose your fingers. Your bodyguards need to take better care of you.”
“What?”
“Come, you need to get inside. If you want to be out into the Russian winter you must dress for it.” She made an odd clucking sound. “I need to have a talk with Dimitri about taking care of his woman.”
Rya found herself being escorted inside like an errant child as the woman switched to Russian while she continued to scold Rya.
Right before they reached the doors the woman said in a low voice, “I’m very happy to see Dimitri with someone. To know that he’s finally given himself permission to love? It does my heart good.”
Blinking at the other woman, Rya said, “Who are you?”
“My name is Gerta. I was Dimitri’s nanny.”
Rya turned to study the woman closer, but her examination was interrupted by a really, really angry male voice directed at her. “Where the fuck have you been?”
It was said in a calm, even tone but Rya’s blood froze in her veins.
It was Maks.
And he was angry.
The woman next to Rya spoke quickly in Russian while Rya looked at her cute black patent leather high heels and tried to think of a way out of this. They had a little red bow on the back that she adored, but right now she wished she was wearing sneakers because she had a feeling her day was about to go downhill. The idea of running away was becoming very appealing. She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen, but Maks sounding like he was going to kill someone was not a good sign. Even though she knew Maks would never hurt her, he sounded fucking scary, all cold and rage-filled whispers in Russian that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
While they argued she opened the letter and frowned in confusion.
Dear Ms. DeLuca,
Forgive me for contacting you like this, but I’m afraid my son refuses to have anything to do with me. My name is Jorg Novikov, and I am Dimitri’s father. I would like to extend my welcome to you and invite you to my home, along with my son. As you may know, my health is not very good and I need to see my son before I die. I’m asking you, as a father, to convince Dimitri to bring you to meet me. I mean you no harm, Rya, this I swear. As a sign of my goodwill I would like to give a gift. This ring has been in the Novikov family for generations. If you come to the manor you will see portraits of Dimitri’s ancestors wearing it. I would like for you to have it. If anyone ever bothers you, show them that ring and let them know they will answer to me.
The signature was in Cyrillic and she was aware of Maks and Dimitri’s old nanny’s gaze on her as she put the note into her pocket then opened the black ring box. Inside was a heavy gold woman’s ring with cluster of rubies set in gold. It looked old and as she took it out of the box Maks made a choked sound.
“Rya, you need to come upstairs, now.”
She started to protest, but Maks was done. He grabbed her arm and escorted her, in a most undignified manner, across the lobby. People stared and whispered, making her cheeks flame as they waited for the elevator. She shoved the ring box into her pocket then freed her arm from Maks’ grip.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
He turned his arctic stare on her and she was pretty sure she shrunk a couple inches beneath the weight of his gaze. She was wrong. He wasn’t angry. He was furious.
Instead of shouting at her, his gaze grew as fathomless as that of a shark. “That ring in your hand? It was Dimitri’s mother’s favorite ring. Only one person could have given you that, and if Dimitri’s father contacted you behind Dimitri’s back, Dimitri is going to lose his mind. And so is Alex, so if I give you advice, it is this. Shut up and take your punishment for scaring the men in your life to death with your foolish carelessness.”
Her sense of self-preservation told her to shut the hell up, and for once, she did.
By the time they reached the apartment she was really regretting her decision to sneak out, but a small part of her was also pissed at being returned to her apartment like some errant child.