Page 64 of Cruel Longing

She paused as if she was about to curtsy before she was interrupted by the phone. I’d let my mentoring commitments slide. I’d let a lot of things slide since we broke ground on the Crescent Towers.

I tapped the button on the elevator door when Enzo hurried toward me.

“You’re leaving?” He looked confused.

“Yes.” I was irritated my whereabouts were suddenly everyone’s concern.

“I’ll ride down with you,” he announced, hopping in the elevator with me. I was jostled to the side.

“What is it?” I still clutched the key in my fist. I didn’t want to let it go.

“I was wondering if we could talk about something personal.”

I was surprised.

“Is it about you and Katya?” I kept my voice quiet even though we were alone.

The elevator deposited us in the parking garage.

“Yes.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Why don’t I drive you? We could talk in the car on the way?”

I hesitated. “All right.” I didn’t know how long the impromptu meeting with Luka was going to last. Talking at the office about his affair with Katya could be problematic. “Let me text you the address. We’ll take your car.”

We climbed into Enzo’s car and he synced the address with his car’s navigation system.

“Where are we going?” he asked. He turned the air conditioning up high.

I shrugged. “It’s an address from Luka. A surprise,” I admitted.

“I see.” He pulled out of the parking garage and onto the city street.

“Okay. Tell me.” I stared at him through my designer sunglasses.

Enzo cleared his throat. “Katya called me this morning. She told me that her brother filled you in on the situation. Our situation.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

“I thought you deserved to have a conversation directly from me about it.”

“But only now because I’ve been informed?”

He shook his head, slowing at the stoplight. “One of the things you taught me early on is to keep business and personal lives in separate boxes.”

I felt a small lump when I swallowed. “That can’t apply to everything.”

“There was no good way to tell you I was sleeping with Katya.”

“She’s having your baby, Enzo. How are you going to survive this exactly? When the Petrovs see that baby’s blue eyes?—”

“That’s why we want to leave as soon as possible.”

The voice in the speaker system told Enzo to take the next two right turns.

“And leave everything here?” I checked the time on my phone. “Think about what that would mean. Don’t you have parents here?”

“My mom,” he answered.

“What would she think about you taking off?”

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