“If I wanted to be found, I would have been out there with the rest of my guests.”
Embarrassment flashes across her face. Then she jerks her chin out in a pout and says the only thing that could possibly get my attention. “I just… I thought you’d want to know that Don Ivanov arrived a few minutes ago.”
Fuck.
I pretend as though the news is nothing but an inconvenience. A second later, I realize I don’t actually have to pretend. His timing couldn’t be worse.
“I’ll be right out,” I say in a clipped voice.
Jhené throws Jessa a deadly glare and slinks back out of the room.
“Is he the man you’ve been waiting for all night?” Jessa asks.
“You’ve been paying attention.”
“Well, your party was so boring that listening to other people’s conversations is all I had. Who is he?”
“My father-in-law.”
She freezes for a moment. “Oh.”
That expression tells me everything I need to know about her: that I’m right about what the little kotyonok thinks of me, what she thinks of herself, what she thinks of this dangerous dance we’re locked into.
And my reaction to the crestfallen look in her eyes tells me everything I need to know about myself: that at some point in this game, I got in deeper than I realized.
Toying with her sporadically isn’t enough.
Tasting her from time to time no longer satisfies.
I want to swallow her whole.
But weakness is the last thing I need right now. And if there’s one thing that marks a don as weak, it’s losing his mind over a silly little girl. So I do the only thing I can do—straighten up and leave.
“I trust you know your way out,” I say as I go. “If not, just follow the signs for the staff staircase at the back.”
I can feel everyone’s eyes on me when I emerge. I ignore them all and glide through the room in search of the old fuck.
Yulian finds me before I can find Ivanov. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?” I ask impatiently, still scouring the crowd in search of my sullen-faced father-in-law.
“That you were in there banging Jessa?”
“Fucking hell,” I growl. “Jhené couldn’t wait to spread that rumor, could she?”
“First of all, it’s not a rumor if it’s true. And second of all, you know Jhené is as spiteful as she is hot.”
“Fuck Jhené. Where is he?” I demand, ready to put this conversation to death.
“In one of the private rooms. He wants to speak to you alone. Lev’s with him now.”
“Stay out here and hold down the fort for me,” I say, heading in the direction he’s pointed out.
“Wait!” Yulian calls, following after me. “I have to stay here?”
“I need a man watching the rest of these piranhas,” I point out. “And I trust you.”
“This is grunt work,” he complains.