Page 30 of Corruption

I don’t try to talk her out of it. I’ve learned a lot about how the Russian mafia and their business, both legal and illegal, work from Isaak. Their legal business is always a front for their more lucrative and less regulated illegal business. The Vorobevs are black market weapons’ dealers primarily, though they dabble in a few other crimes.

They hide their money by laundering it through the legitimate businesses of their partners, and this happens several times until it hits the accounts of several shell companies which then invest into their legitimate businesses and donate to their privately run non-profit organizations. At least, I think that’s how Isaak explained it to me.

Regardless, they depend on the donations of actual, legitimate corporations and rich people to hide the illegitimate ones. So it’s a pretty big deal if one of them pulls out.

“We could just go another day,” I suggest.

“No, Pretty Girl,” Nadia says, and I only sigh. No matter how much I tell her not to, she calls me that. “You and Alik go ahead. Shouldn’t have to miss it on my account. You can tell me all about it later.”

“You sure?” Alik asks. “Maybe if I help we can persuade him faster.”

“That would be helpful if I needed to physically torture the man. But alas, I think words will suffice for this one,” Nadia says while kissing Alik’s cheek. “Have a good time, you two.”

With that she heads back into the house, already holding her phone to her ear by the time she gets back to the door.

“After you,” Alik says, gesturing to where one of his guards is holding the door open.

“Thanks,” I say and slide into the car, scooting all the way to the end as Alik climbs in behind me.

I look down in my lap with my phone clutched in my hand. This is the first time I’m alone in a room with Alik since he cornered me in his office last week. Since he crowded me against his desk and put his leg between my thighs and asked me if I was aroused.

The only reason I didn’t fight him was that I got the sense that he was only teasing me. That he got amusement out of seeing me squirm in a similar way that Nadia enjoys it but in a completely opposite manner.

But then I got the feeling that hewasn’tteasing. And that’s when I should have told him to back off. When I should have cursed myself for letting my guard down even for a moment. Except I couldn’t. Because I was frozen. Not out of fear, but a need of some kind. As my heart raced in time with the sudden ache between my legs. The ache that I wanted Alik to press his leg into.

I was both relieved and frustrated when he backed away of his own accord.

Since then, I’ve made sure not to be in the same room with Alik alone. Nadia flirts a lot, and she’s just as likely to take my breath away as her husband. But when she does it, I’m not as acutely aware of it. When she does it, she eases me into it. When she does it, I’m not afraid that she’ll push me beyond what I’m comfortable with.

With Alik, I am. Scared because he doesn’t talk much. Doesn’t express very much besides his annoyance with Nadia when she’s doing too much but even that is more fond than anything. Regardless, it makes it hard to profile him so he doesn’t take me by surprise. It makes me scared that he’ll catch me off guard and push me too far.

Worse than that, I’m afraid Iwon’ttell him to stop.

Nadia and Alik are like those super friendly couples who like to tease and flirt with everyone. But only flirt and tease. I’ve seen what happens when someone crosses that fine line of flirting and teasing to… something more. I won’t be the one who does something like that. I won’t try to break up someone’s relationship like my mother tried (and did) on one or two occasions in the name of the woman in the relationship being a whore because she was too friendly.

I never asked my mother what that said about the guy she was chasing—though, she always denied doing anything.

Thankfully, Alik is as quiet as he usually tends to be. But that also means I don’t know what he’s thinking. It means I don’t know what he’s going to do next. What he’s planning to do next. And I don’t know him well enough to know his tells yet.

We pull up to the museum, and, having been expecting us, we’re let right into the gallery. I forget all about my concerns with Alik as I begin to look at all the art, buzzing with so much excitement that I can hardly decide where I want to go first.

I decide to go to the paintings first, stopping at every single one, reading about the artist and what they hoped to capture in the painting. The ones that resonate with me the most I linger on longer, getting as close to the painting as I can without touching it to try to figure out what colors the artists blended together. What brushes they used. What techniques they used. Things I can’t get from reading the panels next to the painting.

It's when I realize an hour has passed that I decide I should be more selective about what I look at if I want to see the entire museum. Thus, I begin to go through my guide booklet to mark the ones that strike me the most.

“We have all day. You don’t have to rush,” Alik points out.

Somehow, I manage not to jump too obviously at his sudden interjection, reminding me that he’s been silently shadowing me the entire time.

“Don’t tell me that or I’ll stay in here all day and bore you to death.”

“I’m sure I can keep up, Kitten.”

That’s right. Nadia did say that Alik wanted to see this place and dabbled in art.

“Is there anything you want to look out for?”

“Today is for you.”

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