Page 37 of Gone Before Goodbye

“No, we won’t see. I’m not performing surgery without examinations and consultations.”

Oleg just smiles.

“What?” she says.

“Please, Doctor McCabe, can we stop the posturing? You are here. You are being well paid. I understand that there are certain protocols. I am paying a great premium to avoid some of them. Like when you flew here on my private plane. Did you have to arrive at the airport two hours early? No. Did you have to go through a metal detector or wait for your boarding group to be called? No.”

“This isn’t the same thing,” she says.

“But it is, my dear.”

“I won’t do it then.”

He doesn’t bother replying anymore. He grabs a towel and waits for Nadia to reach the edge of the pool. When she does, he calls out her name again. This time she hears and stops. He barks something at her in Russian. She nods and makes her way to the ladder. When Nadia gets out, it almost seems like she’s moving in movie slow motion. Nadia reaches up, pulls off her swimming cap, and shakes out her long black hair as though she were appearing in a shampoo commercial. Oleg hands her a towel. She takes it and then she turns and looks at Maggie.

Nadia is, no way around it, gorgeous.

Blue-aqua eyes that sparkle off her sun-kissed skin, raven-black hair, the lithe and long body of a swimmer. She also looks, Maggie can’t help but notice, young. Very young. Oleg appears to be around sixty. Maggie pegs Nadia somewhere in her early to mid-twenties.

Does it surprise her that a billionaire oligarch has a young…

girlfriend, bae, boo—what other bizarre terms had Porkchop used?

It does not.

When Oleg puts his arm around Nadia’s back, Maggie cringes for her. Keeping his hand on her lower back, Oleg leads Nadia to where Maggie is standing. In the pool, Nadia was poetry in motion. On land, with Oleg touching her, Nadia’s movements are more tentative and awkward—gangly even in a way that reminds Maggie of her teenage nephew.

When they stop in front of Maggie, Oleg doesn’t introduce Nadia. He just says, “She’s too skinny, no?”

“No,” Maggie says.

Maggie steps toward Nadia and puts out her hand. Nadia looks toward Oleg as though seeking permission to respond. Oleg nods that it’s okay and Nadia hesitantly sticks out her hand for a quick shake.

“I’m Doctor McCabe. You can call me Maggie.”

Maggie locks her gaze onto the blue-aqua eyes, but Nadia quickly turns back to Oleg.

Oleg says, “She doesn’t speak a word of English. But she’s too skinny. I like a woman with a bountiful bosom.” He gestures this with both hands in a hopefully exaggerated way. “You understand?”

“Oh, I understand,” Maggie says. “Do you understand that I’m not performing any surgery on Nadia without her permission?”

“Permission?” Oleg repeats with a laugh. He starts waving his hand theatrically. “Of course! You must have her”—he laughs again—“‘permission.’ I wouldn’t dream of having Nadia do anything against her will.” Oleg rips off some Russian in Nadia’s direction. Nadia listensobediently. When he finishes, Nadia nods at him. Oleg says something else in Russian, a bit more animated now, and points at Maggie. Nadia turns so that her entire body faces Maggie. Their eyes meet again.

Nadia nods at Maggie and says, “Okay.”

Oleg spreads his hands. “See?”

“See what?” Maggie says. “What was that?”

“You wanted Nadia’s permission. I asked her if she wanted you to give her bigger boobs—oh, and maybe a rounder ass. It’s too flat right now. Nadia is saying okay, that’s what she wants.”

“What she wants,” Maggie says, “or whatyouwant?”

Oleg looks perplexed for a moment. “Why does there have to be a difference? She wants, I want—why can’t we all get what we want? Don’t make life a zero-sum game, Doctor McCabe. That’s how you create losers. The world is a series of negotiations—and the best negotiations are when both sides win. We’ve made a deal, Nadia and me. She gets, I get. Same as you and me, no?” Oleg grins again.

“Come, I want to show you your operating room.”

He steps toward the exit. Maggie stays where she is. He waits a moment. Nadia tightens the towel around her as though she wants to hide. For a few moments, the three of them stand there in silence. Oleg breaks it.