“Whose house is this?” she whispered after the waiter left.
“Denis Krosovar’s.”
Her eyes widened. “The politician?”
I nodded, taking a sip of the champagne.
“I thought he was imprisoned for battery and embezzlement,” she muttered.
Denis Krosovar had been sentenced to ten years last summer for assaulting his secretary and her husband, plus embezzling 200k from one of his party colleagues. The lamefucker paid the judge double that to reduce his sentence to nothing. Now, here he was, a free man.
I smirked and leaned closer to her ear. “Baby, money buys everything. Always.”
She hummed, her gaze wandering over the room filled with Renaissance paintings of battles and portraits of who-knows-whose distant relatives. Personally, I couldn’t care less about any of it. The only art worth admiring was clinging to my arm.
“There are some things money can’t buy.”
I took another sip of champagne. “Like what?”
She stayed quiet, her eyes locking with mine, a flicker of sadness hidden beneath them. Before I could say anything, Slavoy Sadiek appeared, his mustache slightly damp from whatever alcohol he’d been guzzling, a smug grin smeared across his face.
I planted a quick kiss on Caia’s temple and whispered, “Brace yourself. The biggest pain in Moscow is coming our way.”
She chuckled softly, glancing up at me. “I thought you held that title.”
I smirked, stealing a quick kiss. “Then I guess I’m a close second.”
Her cheeks flushed a slight pink as her tongue slowly wet her lips, eyes fixed on mine. She exhaled softly. "You?—"
“Romaniev, what a pleasure!”
Fucking Sadiek.
I forced a smile, shaking his hand while resting the other on Caia’s lower back. “Sadiek, how’s it been? Caia, meet Slavoy Sadiek, head of the Moscow police department and Igor’s little lapdog. Sadiek, this is my lovely wife, Caia.”
I felt her freeze for a moment. Her face paled, and her bottom lip quivered slightly—only noticeable if you were staring,which I was. Sadiek took her hand with a slimy grin, kissing it like some gentleman, his eyes glued to hers.
“Lovely Miss Mankiev," he purred. "I believe we've met before, haven’t we?”
“I doubt it,” she said coolly, pulling her hand back. “Nice to meet you.” Then, without missing a beat, she rose onto her toes, planting a kiss on my cheek. “Excuse me,dorogoy, I need to powder my nose.”
Dorogoy?
I couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. She calledmehoney.
“Of course,moya solnyshka,” I whispered back. “I’ll wait for you by the bar.”
She flashed a polite smile at Sadiek before gliding away, her shimmering dress catching the light, making every asshole in the room stare.
To call her beautiful was almost offensive. She was fucking flawless.
Sadiek lit a cigarette, offering one to me with a smirk. “Hope I didn’t scare the girl.”
I rolled my eyes, taking the cigarette but not lighting it. “Of course you did. I have no idea how you survive looking at that ugly mug of yours every morning.”
He took a long drag, his eyes narrowing. “Ah, but this face? It’s one the whores love, my friend. Trust me.”
“Or one that makes them wish they were fucking blind.”