Page 101 of Wrapped in Perfection

Maksim spins me.

"Here." Sacha holds out my contract with his name on it and a pen for me to sign.

Maksim turns. "Use my back to sign. Then we need to go."

Adrenaline pumps through my veins. I scribble my name. "I'll make copies and send you one. Is email okay?"

Sacha hands me his card. "Yes. Please send it today. And I will send you times for us to get together and go through more details and any ideas you may have?"

"Perfect."

"Anna, time to go," Maksim says.

I shake Sacha's hand, and Maksim whisks me into the car.

When the door shuts, I gape at him.

"You did good, Anna. A little bit of training, and you'll do just fine on your own someday soon."

"How did you know all that stuff about me?"

Arrogance fills Maksim's face. It reminds me of Dmitri's expression at times. "It's my job to know about everybody."

20

Dmitri

"Everything is out?"I ask as the moving van pulls away from the building.

"All but the blue skillet and the kitchen chair," Tolik confirms. "Where should I put the laptop?"

"Go wait in the car. Nothing can happen to it."

He strokes his beard then itches his cheek. "Right." He pats me on the back, and I watch him get into the black sedan at the curb.

I walk into the building and put on my black gloves before I push the elevator button. There's no reason for them. When I finish this job, Mitch would be a bigger fool than I think he is if he attempted any legal action. But years of covering my tracks on anything remotely sketchy is ingrained in who I am.

I don't want to be here. It brings me no pleasure to do what I'm about to do. I'm only here because he hurt her. I wish he hadn't. But he did. So now it's time for him to pay the consequences.

Only a few hours to go, and I can be on my way back to Chicago. Anna and I can put this behind us and move forward with our lives.

Yesterday, forty minutes after we left, I received a phone call from the CEO. He terminated Mitch as stipulated. At four thirty, I received another call from our investment firm in Chicago. I had set an account up for Anna before I left. It's up to her what she does with it or if she wants to keep it there. But it was necessary to move the money from Mitch's firm to her control.

"Dmitri, we've received the paperwork. There's a transfer in place and should be complete in the next three business days," Vera confirmed.

"Thank you. I'll be in touch."

Boris and I had dinner then he went out. I spent the evening video chatting with Anna, missing her touch, and avoiding any topic about New York or why I was here. She avoided anything about her brother. But neither of us pushed the other one, and I was happy to hear she was at his place.

Family is everything to me. I understand Chase's concern. I'm grateful he showed up in New York when he did to take her out of the situation she was in. And Vivian and I have known each other for years, working on community issues together. We've not been close, but she's someone I would drop anything to help. She's a good person, and I wouldn't want anything to come between her and Anna, especially me.

Maksim and Anna should be in their lunch meeting right now. I have faith Maksim will help Anna close the deal, but I'm also on pins and needles. I want her to get it so she can keep building her business and confidence. I know she'll bring life to Sacha's project, and it'll help build her reputation in the Chicago market.

The elevator opens, and I take a deep breath, calming my nerves. I've never had to do something like this before for my woman. There have been other reasons. They all revolved around people I cared about but not like Anna, nor someone I was even merely dating.

You can't kill him.

My biggest fear is I won't be able to control myself, and once I get started and look into his eyes, I'll forget my boundary I promised Anna I wouldn't cross. I'm sure if she knew the extent of what I was going to do today, she wouldn't approve of it, either, but it's more forgivable than death.

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