Page 12 of The Fixer
I thought it was cute, and I liked how she didn’t expect an answer, especially when I was teaching.
“Professor Matheson?”
Pausing unlocking my screen, I glanced up under furrowed brows at that familiarbut not too familiarvoice.
Malda stood, waiting, watching me expectantly. “Can I have a moment?”
I turned my phone against my leg. “You’re not one of my students, Malda.”
She rolled her eyes at me, gesturing to my office door behind me with a wave of her hand.
I only arched a brow, trying fruitlessly to hide my scowl. “What can I help you with? I already had a one sided conversation this week.”
“With Kiri, yes I know. It won’t be happening again. I’m not here as your student. We need to talk and I thought you’d want to do that privately.”
I almost groaned aloud at this little tidbit of infuriating information. Malda was so grumpy that it rubbed off on me immediately. I stood up to slide my phone into my pocket.
“Have you talked to Ophelia this morning?” she asked.
“I was about to text her, why? Is this going to be an everyday thing?” Walking into my office, I ground my teeth as my phone continued to vibrate in my pocket. “To what do I owe the nuisance?”
Malda nodded her business-slash-professional attire seemingly out of place at university. “Yesterday, you said you’d go after Vyachaslav’s daughters if you did have a slimy motive, and one happens to text you the moment I leave. Why did you agree to that?”
My heart nearly stopped at that casual admittance, and my eyes narrowed on Malda. “I assume that whatever you did to my phone lets you record conversations… So you know that she talkedatme.”She must’ve cloned my phone yesterday while we were talking.Reaching to scratch my beard, I sat on the edge of my desk to cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not in a position to deny anything creepy, uncertain, or vague. Oppie’s more than capable of handling herself, but any help I can give her is more than she’s got.”
“You expect me to believe your phone has been going on with variations of ‘oh my god’ with every different kind of shock emoji for the past hour as a sign she can handle herself?” Malda glared at me. “The only thing it proves is she’s smart enough not to disclose details via text. I’m not saying you’re not just the good guy into chicks half your age that you claim to be, Sascha…. It’s just that I don’t believe you.”
Rolling my jaw, I only bopped my head at this, since I’d have to figure out this phone situation now. “Four years… it’ll take you about that long to figure out I’m not lying.”
She frowned at the idea of spending that long tailing me, but it served her right.
I shook my head. “Do you know why I put up with knowing all the things I shouldn’t know about, Malda? Why I put up with you, and Aleksander, and Vyachaslav…all of it? Because Ophelia is a wonderful, beautiful woman, and I was born 15 years too early. Everything goes on around her, she’s the calm eye in a raging hurricane.”
“Very philosophical way to put it.” Malda sounded very unimpressed.
It was what I truly thought. If only my brother and I had been born opposite, the age difference between Ophelia and I wouldn’t matter.
“Sascha. You haven’t given me anything to doubt how much you carepurelyfor Ophelia, and that’s the problem. You have a perfect relationship and thatistroubling.”
“We’re too good for each other, is what you’re saying?” Covering my mouth to hide my smirk, I couldn’t hide the scoff escaping from my nose. “There’s got to be something wrong with us, and you’ve been sent because Vyachaslav can’t find it otherwise. I’m not going to air our dirty laundry to you.”
“But youdohave any dirty laundry?” She leaned on her forearms on the back of her chair.
The silence stretched as my phone buzzed in my pocket to reverberate through the room.
“I guess that’ll have to be good enough for now. So, does Ophelia know about Kiri offering you sex?”
“She did?” My confusion almost choked me. I stood up as the hairs on the back of my neck bristled. In a flash, my mind raced through my 20 minute conversation with Kiri Makovich. “At no point did she bring that up.”
“Dude…she asked you if you know the nearest hotel to Red Square.”
I held my hands palm up in question, shaking my head slightly. My confusion only doubled at the look Malda sent me… like I was stupid and cute at the same time.
“Oh, my God. Sascha…you poor bastard.”
“What?”
Maldalaughedat me, throwing her head back.