Page 4 of The Dancer and the Grumpy Billionaire

Alexei spits at him. “Go run along. This is none of your business.”

“Yeah, don’t try to be a hero, bud,” Roman says, more nicely. “This isn’t what you think it is.”

“It is!” I squeal as Alexei all but throws me into the backseat, slamming the door. Roman clicks the lock button as Alexei pulls a gun on the man.

Their words are muffled, but the man keeps his hands raised as Alexei and Roman make their way back into the car. Roman shoves it into gear and peels out. I give it to the runner, though. He pulls out his phone and snaps a photo before dialing a number and holding the phone to his ear.

I assume he is calling the police. He will report an abduction. He will give them the license plate number. But I know my father’s range. I know his resources. And as much as I would love to believe that some white knight will come to save me from my dragon-infested castle, I know very well that no one will come.

This is my life.

CHAPTER 2

Vasily

“The craziest thing happened last night,” I say to my boss, Katharine, as we start walking to our first meeting of the day.

Katharine is the chief-of-staff for Senator Enzo Jennings. Enzo is finishing his first term as a U.S. Senator from California. He is innovative and somewhat divisive. Republicans hate him, mainly because they fear he could be a real contender for the Presidency at some point. Of course, Katharine herself is divisive as well. She is a red-headed, fiery menace to anyone who stands in her way and, oddly, she is married to a Republican Senator from Maine who is eighty-percent hell-bent on making his wife’s boss miserable. I had a crush on her for a short while. It obviously did not turn out in my favor, considering she married another man.

“What was that?” she asks as she practices looking at her phone while walking.

“I watched a woman get abducted.”

This garners her attention. “I’m sorry,what?”

“I was out running last night and I ran up on two armed guys shoving a younger woman into an SUV.”

“Holy fucking hell, Vasily,” she says. “What did you do?”

“I approached them but one of them drew a gun on me and told me to mind my own business. The other one said it wasn’t what it looked like. They left and I took a picture of the license plate and then called the police. I wasn’t sure what else to do.”

“Human trafficking?” she asks, her face a mask of horror. “Well, I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I hope the girl is okay.”

“Me too,” I say. “She seemed so scared.”

“Yes, I imagine one would be terrified after being shoved in a vehicle at gunpoint,” she says drily. “Any identifiers?”

“Russian accents, all of them. But the SUV was unmarked and pretty generic. The girl was maybe in her twenties, tall and skinny and wearing running clothes. I mean, she must have been from the neighborhood or close to it, since she was out running, right? Surely someone would file a missing person’s report?”

“Anything on the news today?”

I shake my head. “No, nothing. But don’t they hold those reports until they are active for forty-eight hours?”

She lifts a shoulder. “I’m not sure? If there was a witness that corroborated the report, maybe sooner?”

Sick to my stomach, I say, “I should have done more.”

Katharine stops walking, staring at me. “Vasily, you did exactly enough. What else could you have done? Taken a beating? Maybe gotten shot? You were unarmed and there were two of them.”

“Ugh,” I groan. “I feel like a coward.”

“I’d say you’re anything but,” she says, turning on her heel so we can walk again. “You had the presence of mind to approach, to take a photo of the license plate, and to call the cops. Anything else could have gotten you hurt or killed.”

“Well, I just hope my inaction doesn’t getherhurt or killed,” I say.

Katharine clucks her tongue. “Why were you out running at night anyway?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” I answer. “My neighborhood is pretty quiet and safe. I wasn’t worried, though now I wonder if I should be.”

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