Page 25 of The Handyman

But Riley waskillingit.

Sitting by my desk, I held my cheek in my hand and tapped my temple absently. I couldn’t take my eyes off Riley; having curled her hair, her shoulders seemed more slender. She had decided to wear a peach colored turtleneck woolen dress, with three-quarter length sleeves and no stockings. Her nude heels were sexy but practical, and I knew when she’d flounced around in front of me that Vanessa would like her style.

Their conversation traveled around me, though, as I stuck in my own head. Gradually, my mind wandered from Riley’s gushing sexy appeal, and I crossed my knees as I slumped in my chair a little. My gaze trailed to a particularly long carpet fiber sticking out of the floor to lose focus, and I inhaled deeply through my nose.

On the phone, Vanessa had sounded hesitant, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the fuck was going on. I knew for a fact that Brandon wasn’t part of this request on Riley, but that was the only sure thing I had. From what I understood, no one else in her life was capable of holding such a serious grudge.

Now, I didn’t feel so bad about having Vanessa dig into Riley because I couldn’t exactly ask her.Hey, this is a dumb question, but does anyone hate you enough to kill you?

No. Not after all the shit, I’d said this morning. Not after last night.

My lips twisted in a sour frown as that dreaded question bubbled up from the deepest crevices of my brain. What if Riley left me,again? I didn’t blame her at all for her extremely valid reasons for contracting someone else at Black Cat.But we’re past that.

She and I were far beyond those walls, and I wasn’t going to let her get away without a fight. If she wanted to leave me over my job, I could understand. I didn’t take her as the kind of person to step out, but she had plenty of reasons to be uncertain that didn’t involve cheating. I would be okay with pretty much any reason but ‘I found someone else’.

Fuck that shit.I worked too damn hard to let anyone wriggle between us. I’ve invested far too much to stop now, and I didn’t want to just let her slip through my fingers. I’d never use this job as leverage against Riley, but the ugly truth was I used it for points.

And why was that bad, anyway? Riley and I wouldn’t even be working in the same building, let alone directly together. I’d commandeered a desk here because there was too much paperwork with the Makovich meetings to handle organizing it at home. Even if we broke up, Riley wouldn’t find herself in jeopardy if she performed well.

“Reece.”

Blinking, I glanced over at Vanessa and sat up.

The two women stood up before she continued, “I need to talk to you about some stuff.”

“Yeah—” Hauling myself to my feet, I nodded as Riley practically bounced past me, flashing me ahugegrin. Returning her smile, my chest warmed at the confident glimmer in her eyes before she stepped out of the room and closed the door. Leaning against the desk, a sigh of achievement escaped me, and I shook my head a little before turning to Vanessa. “What’d you find?”

The temperature in the room dropped dramatically, and my beard prickled as Vanessa sat on the edge of her desk. Whatever she had to say was disturbing, and it showed on her slender face. Thin eyebrows drew in troubled concern, and I held my breath as my heart strained.

“It’s more like what I didnotfind that’s interesting. I’m still looking into it, but I wanted to warn you. I’m pretty sure her birth certificate was forged.”

My breath caught in surprise, and a scoff burst from my mouth.

Vanessa clasped her palms together gravely. “It’s real, but the information on it is not matching records. Either Riley’s mom is not her mom, or she pulled some shady stuff. I’m still not sure on the details, though.”

“That would explain why her mom’s a bitch to her, but not who’s trying to kill her.” Covering my mouth to hide my grimace, I squeezed my jaw as Vanessa shrugged. This kind of investigation took a while, but what a fucking bomb to drop. Again, I simply lacked information, and I couldn’t speculate on something so important. I neededfacts, not fuzzy details, and there was no way to rush it. Exhaling stale air through my nose, I ran both my hands up my face before speaking up, “Okay—what about Darren’s girlfriend? You said she needed protection? What’s going on with that?”

“Darren’s worried Aleksander might try to kill him, I guess. It’s a precaution. He’s payinga lot, so he may have reason to be nervous. He asked for you, specifically.”

Fucking Russians again. Pursing my lips to stop myself from groaning in frustration, Ialmostsaid ‘no.’

Vanessa shot me a pointed look. “He’s paying you tenmilliondollars to protect her until he gets here in the Summer. And she’s not even in trouble. If…ifsomeone came after her, Carlyle would blow his top, and everyone knows it. You won’t even have to do any real protecting.”

“Is this a fucking joke? He’s paying all that for less than four months of basically being forced to roommate with his girlfriend?” My throat tightened. “He’s really that concerned for himself?”

Vanessa shrugged a slender shoulder halfheartedly. “I think it’d be more a healthy fear of a monkey with a gun, to be honest.”

No one seemed to have a good impression of Aleksander Makovich, but I didn’t fucking care about that anymore. Darren Willians couldn’t pay me enough to get involved with him, but if all I had to do was protect his girl ? who wasn’t even his girl ? for a few months…I could deal with it. From what Malda said, Delilah was a peach. “Okay. Where do I pick her up?” Ten million dollars was alotof fucking cheddar. I could take time off. I could bring Riley on a trip, just the two of us and a bear skin rug and a fire while the snow wafts gently from outside the window.Yeah, I like that image.

“She’s at Malda’s place right now, finishing up a lesson. I’ll text you the address.”

Nodding curtly, I reached to pinch the bridge of my nose as my brain threatened to melt out of my ears.Fucking Malda again.

“Do you not like her or something?” Vanessa asked.

“Okay…no offense to her or anything, but I’m so done with those Russian cunts and their stupid accents and…You know she called me a few minutes before you did and asked me how to celebrate Valentine’s Day? As if I’m the fucking person to ask? I know she’s not as stupid as the cultural shift makes her seem, but fuck off. There’snoreason to call me, of all fucking people. I’ve said more to her since Makovich left than I had when I was detailing them.” Frustration roughened my tone, and I shook my head roughly. “I seriously don’t like her, but it’s not even about her. That visit caused me so many headaches.”

Vanessa arched a brow quizzically. “Okay, well…Try not to take out your hatred for Makovich on Malda, or, I don’t know— talk exclusively with her boyfriend or something. You’ll find a way, I’m sure. As for Delilah, you shouldn’t just throw away ten million dollars because you don’t like her friend. She seems super laid back, and I’m sure you won’t have many problems.”