‘Yes.’
‘So.’ He shrugged. ‘Someone blocked you. Don’t take it so personally, I block people all the time. And,’ he warned as Alina went to sit at her desk, ‘don’t snoop on my computer again. You could have just asked,’ Demyan said. ‘We could have had a play...’ He hesitated, reminded himself she was off limits, but when he sat down, curious, he clicked on the page and all joking stopped for another reason entirely.
Poor baby! The thought came to him again as he stared at a man who, not just by his surname, was surely related to Alina, and definitely old enough to be her father.
A curious bastard, Demyan sent him a friend request and then looked over to where Alina was frantically trying to pretend she was working.
‘Did Marianna have anything for me?’
‘She did,’ Alina said, her voice still shaken, and he merely yawned as she told him about the casino invitation.
‘Maybe...’ Demyan said. He was still cross with them for not being open last week!
‘No way,’ he said, when she told him about the mental health awareness function tonight.
Alina told him who’d be attending.
‘No way,’ Demyan said, but this time with a Russian swear word between the other two words. ‘They’ll be looking through my home at the weekend, the last thing I want is a close-up of my prospective buyers.’ He paused, not pleased with himself for revealing that the sale was hurting him.
A small bleep alerted him and he glanced at his computer. It would appear he had a new friend.
Alina’s father!
Bastard, Demyan thought, not quite sure why he was meddling, or even interested. He had no idea how he’d use this, just a certain knowledge that he would.
Demyan loved mind games.
‘Reply and say...’ He looked at Alina and then back at her father and hesitated. Maybe she deserved some fun. A small smile spread on his lips, a smile Alina had never seen—it could perhaps be labelled mischievous.
‘Tell them that I would be thrilled to support such a worthy cause...’
‘Really?’ Alina couldn’t make out his smile. ‘I never thought of you as getting behind mental health awareness.’
‘You should try co-parenting with Nadia.’
Now she got the smile.
‘Tell them that we’ll be delighted to attend.’
‘We.’ Alina frowned. ‘You and...’
‘You.’
‘But I’m working...’
‘For me,’ Demyan said. ‘Sort it.’
‘Demyan, I—’
‘Don’t bore me with details, Alina. And if you wave that contract at me, I tear it up; if you choose to be working at the restaurant this evening, I fire you. Tonight, no doubt, they will want a speech as well as a donation and there will be invitations too. My PA attends functions such as this one so that I don’t have to remember all that’s said.’ He glanced over. ‘You can meet me back here at six or I will pick you up.’