Page 3 of Hear Me Roar

“I remember him saying she'd gotten engaged right when she turned eighteen, even after he'd been clear he didn't approve. I'm assuming he’s the same man, unless she’s gotten divorced andremarried.”

“No, that's him. I did a little research on Maya’s background, and she's been married to Mr. Petrova since 2011. It's no wonder Bernie didn't approve of him. There's quite a large age gap between thetwo.”

“How much?” I couldn't help but ask because all of this was news to me. Hazel hadn’t shared any of thisprior.

“Fifteenyears.”

“What the fuck? So, he's a cradlerobber?”

My sister tipped her head and puckered her lips. “Seems that way. Age is just a number to some people in society, as long as it's legal, and while that's okay, you can’t ignore the fact that Dimitri was already thirty-three when Maya turned the big one-eight.”

“How soon after did they get engaged?” Hazel askedcuriously.

“There is no after. He proposedonher eighteenthbirthday.”

“You're kidding,right?”

“Honest to God, it’s part of the information Mayavolunteered.”

Hazel blinked several times, staring at Karley with a stunned yet enlightened expression. “So, they must’ve been an item before she was evenlegal.”

“Oh, one-hundred percent, which only makes Bernie’s lack of approval all the more valid. I mean, she gets engaged before she's even blown out the last candle on her birthday cake. Coincidence much? I don't think so. Makes you wonder what a wealthy man in his thirties would want with ateenager.”

“He’swealthy?”

“Very,” my sister explained. “He owns the Diamante hotelchain.”

Woah.

He's mega-wealthy.

“Did Bernie know that?” I peered at my girl and she shook herhead.

“He never mentioned it, but then again, he didn’t mention much of anything where Maya was concerned. Either Dimitri hid his empire from her until they left California, or Maya knew and kept it from Bernie allalong.”

“Or maybe Bernie didknow.”

Two sets of eyes swung to where I sat. Hazel’s brow arched high in question while my sister’s stare was dubiouslyintrigued.

“Think about it,” I went on. “If Maya and Dimitri were some sort of an item before she was even legal, that’s grounds enough for Bernie withholding his blessing. Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t have him arrested, or worse yet, kill him with his own twohands.”

“Maybe Maya faked a break-up,” my sisteradded.

“I’m thinking something along those linestoo.”

“But then she gets engaged out of the blue,” Hazel said, realization flashing across her face. “And he does some research, leading him to find out that Petrova has money; lots of it,too.”

I nodded. “Fatherly instincts would have kicked in like never before because as you said, dear sister… What could a man in his thirties want with a teenager, especially a wealthy man likethat.”

Both women, who were essential to my life in starkly different ways, sat around me in silence as they processed what we’d just likely pieced together. Obviously, it wasn’t anything we could confirm as the solid truth, but it made so muchsense...

“That's actually a very fair observation,” Karley murmured after a minute or two. Pushing off the polished wood, she sauntered back around her desk and plopped into her chair, rolling toward us with a look I knew too well. The wheels in her head were spinning. “Hazel, did Bernie tell you why Mayaleft?”

“Not really. All he said was that she and her fiancé had come over for dinner one night, shortly after the engagement, and while they were at the table, the three of them got into a heated discussion that turned nasty within minutes. They stormed out and were gone days later, with no goodbye on Maya’send.”

“I see,” my sister said thoughtfully, tapping her pen against a pile of papers. “I think he was hidingsomething.”

“Who,Bernie?”

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