Page 39 of The Fixer
Ophelia turned at the deep voice. “I like it.” We were downscaling by a good half the size of the current place. Ophelia had goneall outon this project, hiring the best construction firm and throwing money around to get it all expedited. Of course, it helped that everything was going through Makovich Industries. “I’m already excited to come back and see it.”
“Good. I’m excited that you’re excited. We’re going to come in and tear everything out about a week before you leave. You can set the date with the receptionist on your way out. So, is this your first home together?”
Wrapping my arm around her, Ophelia practically beamed, and my heart stuttered. She was so beautiful, so happy, so upbeat, and I blinked to capture her expression. Around us, the light streaming through the floor to ceiling windows dimmed from her sheer force of personality. And I felt more than content to bathe in it, to just sit back, let her warmth touch my face and sear my eyes out of their sockets.
“I have faith that you’ll exceed our expectations, Mr. Ruben,” Ophelia replied. “You came highly recommended.”
Hard hands from years of harder work opened the door to the firm, and I stepped out of Ruben’s office as I spoke up, “You’ve done two of Makovich’s branch offices, right?”
“I also did Aleksander’s home. Not the décor, though. I vehemently disapprove of frescos on the ceiling.” He shook his head in disgust. “I still hate that woman that suggested it.”
I chuckled knowingly.
“Yeah— we’ll be able to handle painting and stuff… and none of it is going on the ceiling.” Nodding firmly to herself, Ophelia pulled her hair over her shoulder to sigh in content.
Ruben walked us down the aisle towards the elevators.
The moment of quiet didn’t last long as Ophelia added, “I’m grateful that you guys are working with my schedule. I know a month isn’t a long time.”
“It’ll take two days to tear it down and haul everything away, and then a week for the new foundation to set. I have my whole office on this. All the extremities are available as soon as we need them, too. The only thing you’ll need to do is paint, like you said.”
This appointment had been just to approve the plans for the house. Ophelia let these men do their jobs, and things were progressing smoothly. These people were professionals, but one month to build an entire house… Clenching and releasing my jaw, I gazed around the office space through narrowed eyes. This firm had around 50 people; it was small enough that I’d been surprised when Ophelia contacted them.
“So, we’ll see you in two weeks.” Ruben shook my hand, his calloused palm scraping against mine.
His declaration rang in my ears; in three weeks, we’d be heading to America with Aleksander Makovich.
That prospect was worrying.
“Sascha?”
The call snapped me from my troubling thoughts
Ophelia touched my arm. “Ready to go?”
“Oh—yeah. Did you talk to the receptionist already?”
She ducked her head in a nod, her expression morphing in worry.
Reaching to scratch my beard, I squeezed her to my side with a frown of my own. “Things are just going good, Oppie. I mean, not even a month ago, Aleksander was threatening to kill you.”
“… Do you think I’m not suspicious?” she asked. “I just want to enjoy it until I can’t.” Punching the elevator button, Ophelia rested her cheek on my shoulder. “If I fix Makovich’s relationship with Carlyle Santino… they won’t need me anymore. I may not be afraid of Aleksander as I was, but I’m still wary of him. He’s frightening. Even knowing what I know won’t be enough. Once I do what he wants, what’s to stop him from—?”
“Oppie… I’m sorry for bringing it up. Jesus Christ. What happened to Aleksander being a fumbling idiot that you can hang information over?”
Shooting me a wild look, Ophelia’s frown deepened.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, dread gnawing at my gut.
She sucked in a sharp breath then let it out. “I have no information he doesn’t already know. Inviting me there, asking me to find something. It was all a pretext to get me to stop being a little bitch. And it worked. It’s been bothering me since Vyachaslav showed up at your hall. Aleksander played me.” The elevator doors slid open, and Ophelia stepped on before me. Inside the metal box, we could speak a little freer, “I doubt my parentage is the real reason Vyachaslav came to see you. He was probably scoping you out, or if you really were a sidekick, or if you had some ulterior motive. Even that’s a flimsy idea, though.”
“… I shouldn’t have brought it up.” The words I dared not say balanced on the tip of my tongue. Killing Ophelia was very much still an option for Aleksander. He’d gotten the better of her so completely. What’s worse— I couldn’t even begin to think of a way to deal with it. Helping Ophelia with this kind of problem had never been difficult, but the stakes had never been so high. Giving her advice on how to sound smart in front of Ukraine’s Prime Minister was not the same as trying to prove her usefulness to a man who knew her better than she knew herself.
“Sascha, it’s okay. I can’t get ahead of Aleksander. If by my own logic, even me making him look dumb is a lie. Everything’s a lie, everything’s wrong. So, that means that Aleksander has spent all this time, years maybe, even. Tying me into his plans. And they’re bigger than I can fathom. I mean—America?I don’t fucking want to go there for a whole month. I don’t like feeling like I’m not going to come back.”
Clenching my jaw hard, I squeezed her to my side as the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. Dread curled in my gut, but just as she realized, so did I. There was no fighting this.
She sighed hard. “If I do come home, I want to behome. Russia is my home. Moscow is my home.You’remy home, Sascha and if Aleksander screws me all up again, I want to have something to come back to.”