Page 246 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

Sergei:It comes in various currencies.

Fredericka:Oh my God, can everyone be bought now?

Sergei:Da, pchelka. Shouldn’t you have accepted that by now?

Fredericka:CYNIC.

Fredericka: There’s still hope for humanity, you heartless billionaire.

Sergei:How can you say that when right this minute I am actually spending my precious time humoring this woman who has no friends?

Fredericka:I have friends!

Sergei:Your cousin and former therapy-session-partner do not count.

Fredericka:They’re still my friends, and what do you mean you’re humoring me?

Sergei:You only text me out of the blue when you don’t want to look like a loser.

Fredericka:Well, sorry if we can’t all be the life of the party like His Ego-ness.

Sergei:Ya znayu ob etom.

I am aware of this,Fredericka translated. Her Russian had improved by leaps and bounds, mostly thanks to the times when the billionaire was acting all mysteriously brooding. In those instances, he would insist on talking to heronlyin Russian, and conversely he’d only pay attention to what she was saying if she answered back in Russian.

He was a perverse jerk, in other words, but because he was also one of the few persons she couldn’t live without, she had just let it go.

Well, that and fact that it was also sort of cute that the normally mature Sergei Grachyov had a secret childish side to him.

Smiling, she typed her answer to the billionaire.You could have just typed IKR.

Her phone vibrated a moment later, with Sergei’s concise answer making her accidentally laugh out loud. He had simply typed,IKR.

She suddenly pictured the powerful-looking billionaire saying IKR in that wonderful accent of his and bit her lip hard. It would be like a Russian James Bond saying...BRB.

Fredericka bit her lip harder at the thought.Damn you, Sergei Grachyov.The man had to know that his answer would have her in stitches, just as he knew how much she hated it every time he could make her laugh silly like all those foolishly infatuated girls that followed him everywhere.

A shadow fell over Fredericka, jerking her out of her reverie, and she thought,Shit.It was probably the host, about to ask her why she wasn’t dancing. Sheglowered down at her drink, knowing that politeness forbade her to say the truth, which was that it was entirely his fault she was the 101stwheel.

Odd numbers, you idiot, Fredericka wanted to yell.One-oh-damn-one!

The man in front of her started to crouch down.

Shit, shit, shit.

Fredericka started racking her brains for a plausible excuse. She couldn’t dance because she had...sprained her ankle from sitting? She had her period? She—-

Oh.

Familiar dark eyes collided with her, and she gasped, “Sergei?”

An arrogant, wicked grin curved on his lips as the Russian billionaire murmured, “In the flesh.” As always, his thick accent made his voice sound seductive and dangerous at the same time, and behind her she dazedly took in the way the commanding aura of his presence had everyone freezing and gaping at him.

It was like the entire world had stopped in motion, and all because His Ego-ness was here.

“W-what are you doing here?” Fredericka stammered even as she struggled to get past her befuddled state. The billionaire was still gorgeous than ever, with his neatly cut black hair and dark eyes making his features seem more chiseled. His white V-neck shirt and lightweight cotton pants, which screamed designer-brand elegance despite its casual style, served to accentuate the exquisitely sculpted muscles of his lethally ripped body.

HOT, in other words.

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