Page 21 of Ruthless Love

“Why do you think I still live at my place?”

“You ... still live at your place?” she says, and I hear the wheels spinning in her head as loud as a freight train.

I hate how well this woman knows me.

“I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to explain.” I’ve done enough of that with my family.

“No explanations necessary, and no judgment,” she says, quickly skipping past my growing discomfort.

“Ms. Banks?” a man’s voice calls from behind us.

Margot and I turn around, finding a Long Multinational security guard followed by three men. Two large, intimidating men wearing expensively tailored suits, sunglasses that look absurd being worn indoors, and matching don’t fuck with me expressions.

And then there’s Alexei. With his mouth open. I’m pretty sure he never closes the damn thing.

Margot leans into me, whispering, “Friends of yours?”

Pissed, I growl, and she raises a brow.

“I take it that’s a no. Need me to—”

“It’s fine.” I wave away her concerns, letting a therapeutic long breath out my nose as I extend my hand expectantly. Alexei presents the box with both of his, as if it were a crown. Or a noose.

I snatch the box that’s significantly oversize for its contents, hoping that will be the end of it. But Alexei doesn’t budge. He just stands there. Waiting. As no doubt he’s been instructed to.

Before the small crowd that’s formed around us gets any larger, I open the box and quickly empty it, then hand it to Margot, who’s generous enough not to grill me on the spot. Then, in front of everyone, I slip on the oh-too-familiar engagement ring with a diamond the size of a golf ball.

After a barely perceptible bow of appreciation, Alexei heads away, followed by the two men and our own security guard, whose politeness masks his interest in making sure they don’t loiter. And possibly to return any firearms they likely had to check.

Margot’s stern expression sends all the lingering employees back to their jobs. I head straight to my office to die of embarrassment, with Margot keeping pace behind me.

“Now I know why you don’t live with him,” she says, the snark rolling off her tongue with enough sisterly care that it doesn’t bother me.

Exhausted before my day has begun, I slump into my chair, kick off my shoes, and drop my head on my arms on the desk.

“Evie ...” Margot takes a second to shut the door.

I look up to find her keeping her distance, preferring to slump against the door she just closed rather than take a seat across from me.

A knot forms in my gut. With her brow creased and arms crossed, I’m losing patience by the second for whatever verdict she’s about to deliver. Quickly, I come to the only logical conclusion under the circumstances. The only alternative that makes sense.

“Are you firing me?” I toss the words out carelessly, half hoping they come out like I couldn’t give a damn, even though she and I both know a blow like that would shatter me. But now that Mrs. Fairborn is the proud mom of an adorable seven-pound, eleven-ounce bundle of pure bliss, the expiration date of my services is probably locked in stone.

Not that I should mind, but now, more than ever, I need this job. To work. To keep my mind focused. To get back to doing something I actually love. And to avoid the man I don’t.

With my father and Dimitri insisting that I set a wedding date, I’ve managed to push them off with every next big case that comes across my desk. What if there are no more cases? No more excuses? And I’m stuck wearing this ridiculous ring for the rest of my life?

Before I know it, Margot has rolled a chair next to mine, close enough to lay her hand on my arm. I’m already in a tug-of-war with a pathetic tear that’s winning.

“You’ll always be here as long as I’m here.”

I whip my head around to meet her eyes. Margot’s position as CEO is temporary, which makes her promise an empty one. “Really?”

As I give her a what the fuck glare, she huffs out a stifled laugh.

“I mean as long as any of us are here. As long as our name is on the building, you’re not going anywhere unless you want to. Period. Hell, you’re practically family anyway.”

With a sigh, I let the tension dissolve from my shoulders. “Really?” I say as she wipes my cheek.

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