“One moment, sir,” he said breathlessly. “We’ll get your table ready, for you and for your lovely lady, straight away.”
Two minutes later the maître d’, now fawning and polite, had left them at the best table in the restaurant. A little awed in spite of herself, Anna looked around.#p#分页标题#e#
The interior of Matryoshka had been designed in seventeenth-century Muscovite style, with intimate low ceilings made of stucco and covered with frescoes of interweaving flowers and the nesting dolls that inspired the restaurant’s name. Elaborate tiled ovens and kokoshnik-shaped arches were lit by flickering candles on the tables and torches on the walls.
As a waiter came to tell them about the specials, Nikos cut him off. “We’ll both have the salmon with caviar and champagne sauce,” he said, closing his menu. “And Scotch—neat.”
“Wait.” Anna stopped the waiter with a hand on his arm. “I would like Chicken Kiev, please. And kulich for dessert,” she added, referring to the Easter fruitcake. “And sparkling water to drink.” She closed her menu, matching Nikos glare for glare. “Not Scotch.”
Caught in the crossfire, the waiter glanced nervously at Nikos, who nodded.
After the young man was gone, Nikos bit out, “I didn’t mean the Scotch for you. I know you’re nursing.”
“Even if I weren’t nursing I wouldn’t want it. Or caviar, either. Ugh.”
He gave her a humorless smile. “A Russian who dislikes caviar? Next you’ll be telling me you have no taste for vodka.”
“I don’t appreciate you trying to order for me. I’m not a child.”
“I was treating you like a lady,” he said coolly, leaning back in his chair.
“Oh? And is that how you justify telling me who my friends can be?”
“Sinistyn’s not your friend,” Nikos bit out. “He’ll use you and toss you aside.”
She gave him an angry glare. “And you want to be the only one who does that to me?”
As the waiter placed their drinks on the table, Nikos looked affronted, furious. “You cannot even compare—”
“Save it. I’ve known Victor since I was eighteen. Our fathers were friends—although they chose to make their living in very different ways. I was Victor’s secretary for five years. I know him better than you do.”
Unfortunately she understood him well enough to know that everything Nikos said about him was true. But she wasn’t going to say that.
Nikos’s hands clenched on the table. “Just how well do you know him?”
Anna tilted her head and watched him narrowly. “He’s asked me to marry him several times.”
He glanced at the stained-glass window. The expression on his face was half hidden, but his jaw was hard. “What?”
“I’ve always said no, but that might change. I won’t be your pawn, Nikos. I won’t take your punishment forever. I won’t allow you to threaten me with losing my child. And if what it takes to match you is to marry Victor…”
She let her voice trail off.
Nikos blinked, very slowly. When he opened his eyes, for the first time since he’d dragged her back to Las Vegas, they were wary. He was looking at her not as a victim to punish but as a challenging adversary. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want. My freedom.”
“I won’t let you take Michael from me. Ever. Get that.”
“Then you can expect a very prolonged custody battle. If Victor and I take you to court, it’ll be splashed in the papers. A full media circus.”
“Is that really what you want?” he said in disbelief. “The two of us pulling at our child like a rope in a tug-of-war?”
“Of course not!” She had no intention of starting a romance with Victor, let alone making him Misha’s stepfather, but she was praying Nikos wouldn’t call her bluff. “I don’t want to ask Victor for help, but what choice have you given me?”
The torches around them flickered in silence for several seconds before Nikos tossed his napkin down on the table. “Fine. You win.”
Nikos abruptly rose from the chair. Anna watched in amazement as he strode across the restaurant and out the door.
She’d won?
He was going to give her joint custody? He was going to let her leave Las Vegas? Let her have her own life back?
She could hardly believe it. In a few days she’d be back in New York, looking for a new job. She knew she wouldn’t find anything as invigorating as working at Stavrakis, but at least she’d be able to take pride in supporting herself and her son. Nikos would insist on child support, of course, but she’d put that money into a trust fund for Misha later. That way it would be clear to everyone, including herself, that Nikos had no hold on her. She’d never give him power over her again.