Page 12 of Ruthless Love

“I know you can. He’s hunting for one for his private residence. And don’t even bother denying you want in. I can see your hard-on through the phone.”

No doubt. “When’s my flight?”

“No flight. He’s in your neck of the woods, the outskirts of Dallas. Private heavily guarded estate. No assist, so take a burner phone. It’s the closest we’ll get. He’ll probably want you to start right away, but turn him down.”

“Too busy?”

“Whatever works in the moment. We want you in and out. Besides, he’ll probably want you all the more if we ever needed to send you back in. Guys like that hate taking no for an answer.”

“What am I looking for?”

“Weaknesses in his armor,” she says before disconnecting the call.

Three minutes later, my phone buzzes again with no caller ID. Part of me is an instant from giving Maverick some shit, but my instincts take over. Something inside me tells me this isn’t Mav, and I can’t breathe.

Pushing aside my excitement, I calm my tone to kind and approachable, because the latest book I’m reading on relationships says that’s what I’m supposed to do. So I suck in a breath, coaching myself. Be kind. Approachable.

“This is Austin.”

“Austin. Good.” A deep male voice is already giving away his Russian roots with just the two words. The accent is all too familiar, but the voice itself isn’t. “My name is Dimitri Antonov, and I’d like to hire you. I’m a fan of your work.”

Getting into character, I drive home the pretense I wasn’t expecting his call. “Sorry, I’m on a job site, and I can barely hear you. Can you repeat that?”

“Yes,” he says, talking slowly and enunciating every syllable through his thick accent. “I need your skills. The building in downtown Dallas you’re working on. You designed it, right?” He doesn’t wait for me to reply. “You’re the architect I need. And money’s no object.”

Not bothering to hear me out, he says, “I’m in town today. Why don’t you drop by. We can meet. Talk.”

“Sure.” I’m about to tell him to shoot me the place and time, but a ping alerts me that he’s a step ahead of me.

“In one hour?” he says.

Glancing at the text he sent, I realize that he’s far enough out of the city that it’ll take me that long, but I’ll make it work. “One hour.”

I don’t even need to think about my ride. The day is perfect, and I need to be able to maneuver if something comes up. So minutes later, I’m on my Harley, taking off to a part of Dallas I’ve never seen.

I could be stepping into anything. Between my heart pounding out of my chest and every sense heightened, I should be filled with caution and apprehension. But I’m not.

I’m exhilarated. For the first time in months, I have some purpose to my day over the sum of seconds, minutes, and hours that add up to an abyss of emptiness.

Because as much as I’m surrounded by people, my mind drifts to Gaby. And the little baker girl. And a million things that have me facing an alternative that would give me purpose.

Chapter Seven

EVIE

“I’ve got it,” I say casually as if I could take it or leave it, but I want this case. And I want it bad.

Most of the corporate law cases Long Multinational has are truly nickel and dime. Nothing to lose sleep over. Easily settled or readily dismissed. And reading through a thousand pages of depositions just makes the snore fest that much less appealing. But it keeps me on my toes, and in the heart of the ever-changing universe of corporate law.

But this one is precedent setting. Okay, maybe the man known as Don Silvers isn’t exactly going to change a law, but he’s sure as hell going to rock the local scene. Well, him and his dong.

Jean Anderson, vice president of strategic relations, gives me a knowing smile. “You want to represent Long Multinational on this? Your name will be all over the papers. And aren’t you worried about your fiancé? Not saying he has to approve, but—”

“But nothing. This case was made for me.”

“It certainly was,” Margot says with a mischievous smirk and a lift of her brow. “Like, so much so, it makes me think you wished really hard.”

“I certainly wished for something really hard,” I say, but I don’t elaborate. “And fate delivered. I’m so ready to dive into this case, I can taste it.” I rub my hands together, ready to get them dirty with the salacious lawsuit of a lifetime.

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