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“That have now changed.” Rafael left me to drown only days ago, but I’ll take any life vest he throws out now if it gets me to Ark’s birthday party before he nosedives his career for someone unworthy of his time. “Take them wherever they need to go, Darius.”
“Thank you,” I mouth to Rafael before slipping into the back of the SUV Darius is holding open for us.
42
ARKADIY
“How long will you need?” I twist to face a full-length mirror like I didn’t ask a question before fixing my tie.
Maksim’s lead hacker, Easton, peers up at me before replying, “An hour. Two at most.”
I shift on my feet to face Maksim when he asks, “Do you think you will be able to keep her occupied that long?” He holds out his hands like my gang affiliations are as notable as his when I snarl at him. “I’m just asking. I’ve seen the way you look at her. You look like you need to shower every time she’s near.”
“Because I do,” I murmur to myself. I take a quick swallow before getting back down to business. “What will happen when you get the footage?”
“It will be corrupted before it spreads a virus through any server that has previously played it or stored it.” Easton’s southern twang gets a pinch of unease to it. “Are you sure you don’t want a copy for safekeeping?”
I swallow the brick his question lodged in my throat before jerking up my chin. “I’m sure.” I’ve seen it once. I don’t need to see it again. I need it destroyed. “Get word to me once it’s done.”
Not looking up from a bank of monitors, Easton nods.
I hold out my hand in offer to Maksim. I don’t do touch. I can’t stand it from anyone but Mara, but since his assistance will help her as much as it will me, I push aside my neurosis and man up as I should have decades ago.
Maksim accepts my offer of a handshake, his lips tugging at one side. “Still think you should take my advice. Marry her and then fess up. It worked for me.”
I laugh like I haven’t given his advice some serious consideration over the past few days. The only reason I haven’t taken it is because it is the easy way out, the cheat’s way. I’ve skirted my obligations for almost thirty years. It is time to be the man Mara deserves.
I just wish I didn’t have to give her up to achieve that.
43
MARA
Bulbs flash and reporters shout when Darius pulls our blacked-out SUV to the curb at the front of the Chrysler building.
“Go down the side. We can enter via the service entrance.”
He nods his approval of Riley’s suggestion before slowly maneuvering us through a swarm of paparazzi striving to capture the arrival of Ark’s guests.
Regretfully, over half a dozen follow us down the alleyway.
I cuss softly when Darius says, “They recognize the tags.”
“I’ll distract them.”
I try to stop Riley from exiting, panicked about the questions she could face, but she slips out before I can.
As expected, the press swarms her like bees at a hive. Mercifully, they question her about her connection to Wilfred Iwona and her prediction about her brother’s impending engagement more than her personal life.
The hard-hitting questions don’t come until after Tillie and I have slipped out the back of the SUV and snuck through the heavily guarded side entrance door.
“Stay with Riley,” I order Darius, bossing him around as if he works for me.
He follows my command without protest. “Yes, ma’am.”
With the party occurring in the ballroom in the left half of the building, our walk to the elevator is relatively quiet. We encounter only one person, and she seems to know me better than Arkadiy.
My pulse thumps in my ears when the middle-aged woman we just bypassed asks, “Miskaela, is that you?”