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Mikhail

“What do you mean you couldn’t find anything on him?” I barked at the men standing in front of me. “You’re standing here, telling me you couldn’t find anything on one man for the past three days?”

“We’re sorry, Don,” Alonzo, the leader of the group, said, his head hanging low.

Enzo was able to do a clean sweep on Adam and managed to find who sent him. All these idiots had to do was to fucking bring him to me, and they couldn’t do that. They stood there, hands tucked behind them and their heads hanging down to tell me one man eluded all three of them.

“I don’t need your sorry, Alonzo! I gave you a task, now you get out and don’t come back till you’ve found that rat and bring him back to me, ublyudki !” I cursed, and they practically scrambled out of my office.

I pulled at the knot of my tie, tugging it loose as I leaned back into my chair. Frustration coursed through me like oxygen circulating around my system. I’ve not had one night of complete peace since that bastard decided it would be a good day to plant a bomb in my hotel, and incompetence was the last thing I needed on my team right now.

Enzo and I did not employ every method in the book to find Adams’ contractor for these idiots to stand before me and tell me they couldn’t find one man after three days. I heard my door open, followed by the familiar click of Cynthia’s heels. “Mr. Ivanov, you have—”

“Not now, Cynthia.”

“But your meeting—”

“Cancel it.” I gave her a pointed look, and she left without another word of protest. At the center of my frustration was a blonde with blue eyes and feline features. I finally gave up on leaving my chances to fate and had Cynthia find out which office she worked in, and they said she had not been at work in four days. I realized that in all the times I’ve spent with this woman, I’ve been so immersed in the moment I forgot to take her number.

And even if I did get it somehow, I doubt she’d be willing to talk to me. She clearly wanted to avoid me, and she wanted it bad enough to put her job in jeopardy to put ample distance between us. I could hardly fault her. I wondered what she must’ve felt when she saw me covered in blood and strangling a man to death. She already looked at me like I was a monster. That much was pretty evident in the way her eyes widened, and she took a few steps backward before bolting.

I shook my head in an attempt to dissolve the look in her eyes that’s been burned to my brain and failed woefully. Haunted blue eyes have followed me wherever I went. We were almost making progress. I invited her to the club to change her mind about my establishment, and I just had to make things much worse. The man who groped her weeks ago probably appeared like a saint with a glowing halo in comparison to me.

Growing suddenly tired of waiting around for people to bring me half-assed results, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I grabbed my jacket and texted Enzo to prepare for me. He was the only one who could help with the situation.

“Cancel everything in my schedule for today and tomorrow,” I said to Cynthia on my way out of my office. I had more pressing issues to attend, and the others could wait.

“At this rate, I should probably demand to be added to your payroll,” Enzo said as I walked into his house.

I never quite understood the use of a home that was practically glass. Sure, it worked with clubs and boutiques, but who wanted to be watched 24/7? In his defense, the walls were very high, and the glass was bulletproof and could be dimmed, but even that did not sell me. I swear, sometimes, I’m convinced the idiot had a mental disorder.

“When you’re ready, you can send your CV to Cynthia. Be sure to sneak in your position as my bitch to widen your chances,” I replied as I sank into his sofa, the only good thing about his showcase of a house.

“What was so urgent you had to leave your office?” He handed me a glass of whiskey, watching me like a hawk.

I found myself unnaturally reluctant to divulge the details of my relationship—if it could be called that— with Arielle to him. I was yet to understand what I felt for her. I just knew it was a feeling that made me want to absorb her into my veins.

“Those idiots are yet to find him,” I replied, stalling. I’ll come around it, I just needed to ease into it.

He chuckled, crossing one leg over the other, “Would you want me to look into it myself?”

“No. You have more important things to attend to.” I waved him off. “And I don’t pay them to sit on their asses. They’ll find him.”

We fell into a comfortable silence with Enzo on his phone and my head thrown over the backrest of the sofa.

“There’s someone I want you to find.” I finally broke the silence, my voice calm and steady, not lifting my head from the sofa.

I could feel Enzo’s attention on me as he let out a slow “Who is he?”

“She.” I corrected, lifting my head off the backrest.

A knowing look crossed his eyes before he stood to grab his laptop from the corner of the living room. I gave up figuring out how many laptops he had and how he managed to always materialize one immediately a long time ago. You could be in the wilderness starving and thirsty, and Enzo would still manage to pull out a laptop from the thin air if the need arose.

“And does this mystery woman have a name?” he locked eyes with me.

“Arielle. Arielle Hemsworth.” I rasped out. Even her name made me breathless.

“Does Arielle Hemsworth happen to be the gasping blonde bombshell at the club the other night?” He asked, his hands working the keyboard at a speed my eyes struggled to keep up with.

I nodded wordlessly, and his lips curled in amusement. “You have something to say, Moretti?”

“Not at all. I just never thought I’d see the day almighty Mikhail Ivanov would be tracking a woman down. Whatever happened to women being the dispensable and unnecessary investment?” his eyebrow raised in question.

“It’s not the same. She is—” I took a deep breath, trying to find the right words.

“Different, special, rode you into a fourth dimension, and now you don’t want her to hop off?” His amusement deepened.

“Interesting. She’s interesting.” That was the perfect word to describe her. While she did set my loins ablaze and turn my blood molten, she was the most slightly intriguing woman I’ve ever met, and that’s what stood out about her.

“Well. Here we go, your interesting Arielle.” His amusement slowly faded and was replaced with knitted brows as he took in the information on his screen.

“Everything okay?” I asked, shifting to the tip of the sofa.

“It’s weird,” he said. “She has very little media presence and an almost nonexistent digital footprint.” He said, handing me the laptop.

I carefully perused the information on the screen. It had a passport photo of Arielle with her security number, date of birth, contact, and home address displayed beneath it. What it lacked, however, was an actual presence. Save for a few photos here and there, there was almost nothing to her.

I handed the laptop back to Enzo. “See if you can find anything else.” It was an era of social media and technology. No one could maintain that little internet image. After what felt like hours but was probably thirty minutes went by, Enzo pulled together a few pictures from all her social media handles. There were not collectively up to ten.

It wasn’t a lot. Even I had more pictures, and I barely used social media. Coming to think of it, she has practically been under my nose all these years without me spotting her, and I’ve never seen her pull out a device or take a picture of anything like other women who had a compulsive need to document everything.

She only had a few vacation pictures with friends, some vacation pictures alone, college graduation pictures, and finally, the only one that brought both smile and relief to me, the artwork we argued about at the fundraiser. Admittedly, when Enzo pulled her up with very little information, I felt myself stiffen a bit, but this eased my tension some.

“She’s a really private person,” I said, handing the laptop back to him.

“I see,” was his only reply as his fingers continued tapping.

“Find anything else?” Curiosity had my fingertips tingling, and I would gladly devour anything.

“Attended NYU, graduated with honors, was a straight-A student from the start, and was her set Valedictorian.” Enzo read off the screen. “Basically, she’s a social media shy woman in an era of social media who barely made any posts about food or places she’s been. There’s no record of exes and previous relationships, just her.”

I paid attention as Enzo read, not knowing if I found her lack of in-depth information unsettling or comforting, but in retrospect, people were allowed their privacy. The lack of previous or current love interests did warm my heart a bit.

“Was there something particular you needed to find?” He asked.

“Just the contact information and home address, and we’ll be good,” I replied, and my phone pinged immediately with the information.

“You sure you don’t need me to keep digging around?” Enzo asked with raised brows.

Arielle wasn’t a suspect. She’s done nothing to be suspected of, but my compulsive need to know everything about a person won.

“Not exactly, but keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary,” I replied, getting on my feet.

“Well, if you’ll be paying Cinderella a visit, I’ll have you know she has a certain preference for art. Since she didn’t leave a shoe behind, you can start from there.” Enzo teased and I sent him a death glare.

“And Mikhail,” he called out on my way out, pausing my hand on the doorknob. “Our suspect is currently hiding out in a motel in Brooklyn. I’ll send you the information.”

I’ve known the idiot for over ten years, and he has never ceased to surprise me with his skills and efficiency.

I sent a nod of gratitude his way and made my way out of his house.

I stared at Arielle’s contact information for the duration of my drive back, and I finally made up my mind. She already saw all there was to be seen, and it honestly saved me the future stress of ever having to explain myself to her. No cops were knocking on my door, so she was either scared shitless or really smart. Either way, the cat was out of the bag, and I’ve decided I am not ready to let her go just yet. I might be after I’ve fucked her a second time or a third, but till then, I’ll see where this gnawing feeling in my loins leads me.