Russian Billionaire's Reclaimed Lover (Chekov Billionaire Series Book 2) (4 page)

Sighing, she stretched in the water, which had grown tepid, before standing up. Releasing the plug, she reached for her towel to wrap around her body. She looked at herself in the mirror as she took note of her flushed skin as she smiled. She wished that Vitaly could be there, but he had left for Russia to deal directly with the client and wasn’t expected back until next week.

Chapter 5

Sarah twirled around in the conference chair to stretch her aching muscles. Both Chloe and Mia had started taking yoga and Mia showed her a couple yoga stretches that she could do at her desk. As she twisted in the chair, she determined that if she was going to spend so much time in New York, she was going to need a more comfortable place to work other than the conference table.

Standing up, she walked around as she eased her tight muscles. Sitting back down, she noticed that she had an instant message notification. Since it was only meant to be used for business, she was curious as to who was contacting her. Clicking on it, she had a message from an unknown contact.

I have something you want. Meet me at Downtown Café in thirty minutes.

Who are you?
she typed back but there was no response.

Curious, she entered “Downtown Café” into an internet search and saw that it was just down the street. Looking at the time, she decided to break for lunch and appease her curiosity. Turning off her computer, she packed it away in her bag and stowed it under the credenza by the window before heading to the elevator. She saw Betty, their office manager sitting at her desk and she waved as she entered the car. As she exited the building, she was glad that she didn’t run into any other employees as she wouldn’t know what to say if they asked her where she was going.

Walking the four blocks, she found the café and walked inside. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone she knew, so she found an empty booth toward the back and sat down. Unsure what to expect, she ordered tea but held off on opening the menu. Within minutes, Dimitri Nardiv sat down across from her, as she looked up startled.

“Mr. Nardiv, what’s with all the subterfuge?” Sarah asked as she looked at him.

“Dmitri, please, Sarah. I think we are past those formalities,” he stated as he looked at her.

Unsure what to say, Sarah sat there looking at him. From what she had been able to find out, Vitaly and Dmitri were boyhood friends who had been apprenticed to the same man as teens. As they got older, they had decided to go into a logistics business together, but it had all gone horribly wrong when Vitaly found out that Dmitri had been smuggling contraband into the country.

Deciding to part ways, Vitaly headed out to the west coast and only recently returned to the east coast when his business began rapidly expanding. Until several weeks ago, when they saw each other at a fundraiser neither had seen each other in almost a decade.

“What can I do for you, Dmitri?” Sarah asked him.

“Oh, my dear, Sarah. It’s what I can do for you.”

“And that would be?”

“Money, of course. Lots of it. Something I’m sure a woman your age would enjoy.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, Sarah crossed her arms. “And in return, you would want…what?”

“Information on your contract negotiations with your Russian clients, of course.”

Shaking her head, Sarah grabbed her purse as she started to slide out from the booth. “I don’t know who you think I am, Mr. Nardiv, but I am not for sale.”

“Oh please. Everyone is for sale; it’s merely a matter of finding what they want most. You are set to graduate soon. You must have student loans. Credit cards. Wouldn’t it feel good to pay those off and buy a nice car for yourself instead of that ten year old model you’ve been driving?”

Sarah couldn’t prevent the surprise from showing on her face at the mention of her car. Standing up, she slammed her bag onto her shoulder.

“For the record, Mr. Nardiv, I don’t have any student loans nor do I have credit card debt. And while yes, my car may be more than ten years old, it works just fine and when I’m ready to buy another one, I will do so with the money I earned honestly. Now, good day, sir.”

“He can never love you, you know.”

Sarah stopped to look at him. “What did you say?”

“Chekov. If he is the reason for your loyalty, know that he can never love you. He doesn’t have it in him.”

Shaking her head, Sarah stormed out of the restaurant and walked for several blocks before she stopped to take a few breaths. She couldn’t believe that he tried to bribe her for information. Of all the nerve. Deciding that she was done for the day, she hailed a cab to take her back to the apartment. As she let herself inside, she realized that she had forgotten her laptop at the office, but she was too angry to go back. Tomorrow was Saturday. She planned to go to the Museum of Modern Art with Cindy and Clara, from the office. She would stop by when they were done to pick it up.

*                                  *                                  *                                  *                                  *

The girls ended up spending the entire day at MOMA and were enjoying dinner and cocktails when Sarah remembered her laptop. Cindy waved her off assuring her that it would be fine where it was until Monday. If anything emergent came up, she could handle it on her smart phone or then go to the office. Agreeing with her, the girls toasted to a long hard week, as they made plans to go to a day spa the next day.

While Sarah missed her best friends back home, she was glad for the friendship Cindy and Clara readily offered, which made her days spent in New York that much easier.

When Sarah arrived at the office on Monday, she immediately went to retrieve her laptop. Several members of the procurement team were meeting in the conference room, so she slipped quietly in the back and found her bag on the floor against the wall. Grabbing it, she waved before leaving to find another place to set up.

As she unzipped her bag, she noticed that the contents appeared to have been moved around. Assuming that it was shifted when they moved her bag, she shrugged her shoulders and got to work. Because this office was so small, it wasn’t uncommon for computers and bags to be moved to make room for impromptu meetings. The day progressed quickly as she worked on the project plans for the new clients.

Before she knew it, it was after two and her stomach was grumbling. Stretching, she grabbed her wallet and went downstairs to get some lunch. Deciding to eat out, she munched on a burrito as she wandered around looking in windows. California department stores simply didn’t have the magnificent window displays that Manhattan stores did. Realizing that she’d been out for more than thirty minutes, she hurried back to the office.

As she exited the elevator, she heard loud voices coming from down the hall. Unsure if she should check it out, she headed to her improvised work area. She stopped short when she saw that her laptop was missing. Following the voices, she found Vitaly, Marcus and Simon in a heated discussion while her laptop sat open on the desk.

She was surprised to see Vitaly, as he wasn’t due back from Russia for another two days. Wondering what could have brought him back early, she paused in the doorway, unsure what to do as she waited for one of them to notice her. As Vitaly looked up, the other two turned to look at her. She could tell by the looks on their faces that both Vitaly and Marcus were angry while Simon looked concerned.

“Sarah, come in. We need to talk,” Vitaly said flatly. Walking in, Sarah looked at the men, before sitting down in the vacant chair. Turning her laptop toward her, “Is this yours?”

Looking at him, “You know it is. What’s going on?”

“Vital information regarding our negotiations with the Russian prospects has been leaked to a competitor and we have lost two of the contracts. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“What do you mean, what do I have to say for myself? What does that have to do with me?” Sarah questioned.

Reaching for her laptop, Marcus clicked on a folder. “You had access to all the information and the leaked files appear to have been sent from your computer.”

Staring at the computer, Sarah kicked herself for not taking it with her on Friday. She shook her head in disbelief.

“There must be some mistake. I left my laptop here when I left on Friday and only just retrieved it today.”

“Ah yes, that’s another point. Would you care to explain why you met with Dmitri Nardiv?” Marcus asked.

“How?” Closing her eyes, Sarah took a deep breath. “As I’m sure you know, since you’ve been on my laptop, I received a cryptic instant message on Friday about someone having something I would want. Curious, I went to the designated meeting place. I was surprised that it was Mr. Nardiv.”

“And what did he offer you in exchange for selling me out?” Vitaly demanded.

“An undisclosed amount of money. I can’t tell you anymore because I turned him down and didn’t bother to stick around to find out exactly how much he was offering,” Sarah replied hotly.

She was shocked at the angry look on Vitaly’s face. He couldn’t possibly believe that after everything that’s happened that she would betray him? Looking at Marcus, he too seemed to believe that it was true while Simon looked as if he didn’t want to be in the room.

“And I’m supposed to believe you?”

Sarah willed herself not to cry. Not now. Not yet. “Of course you are. After everything that has gone on between us? Do you honestly believe that I would betray you?”

Tapping the laptop, he sighed. “The evidence says otherwise, Sarah. If it was simply about money, you could have come to me.”

“Stop.” Sarah stood up and faced all three men, but directed her reply to Vitaly.

“If you genuinely think that I would put money before someone I care…cared about let alone commit espionage, then you don’t know me at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Sarah turned to leave.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Vitaly demanded.

“Away from here,” she answered hotly.

“We aren’t done yet.”

“Oh. Yes. We. Are.”

“We are still investigating,” Marcus interjected.

Turning to look at him, “Well, if that were the case, then don’t you think that these accusations were premature? Looks to me as if you’ve already made your decision. So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to be reasonable or continue to jump to conclusions, because if it’s the latter, I quit.”

“You can’t quit, because you’re fired,” Vitaly shot back.

“As you wish,” she replied. As Sarah headed to the door, she turned to look back at Vitaly. “Oh, and when you discover that you’re wrong. Don’t bother to come looking for me.”

Sarah retrieved her personal belongings and headed to the elevator, as Simon caught up with her. “Sarah, wait. You have to understand how important this is.”

“Of course, I understand. Someone who works for Vitaly is stealing secrets. But it isn’t me. It wouldn’t even occur to me to do so and he should know better. He was too quick to judge and if it wasn’t this, it might be something else. I’m just glad I found out the measure of the man before I made the mistake of telling him that I-” Sarah stopped herself from saying too much. “Before I invested more time in…him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to leave. Now.”

As Simon stepped back, he squeezed Sarah’s arm. “He’s a fool.” No longer able to talk, Sarah nodded her head as she stepped onto the elevator. Crossing her arms tightly over her chest, she willed herself not to cry. Not yet. Rushing out of the building, she hailed a cab and went straight back to the apartment. Throwing her clothes into her bag, she looked around the room one last time to make sure that she didn’t forget anything.

As she walked out, she left her keys on the table by the door.

*                                  *                                  *                                  *                                  *

Sarah asked the cab driver to take her to the nearest hotel. When he dropped her off, she waited until she could no longer see him and then crossed the street and headed down the block. If anyone was going to be looking for her, she wasn’t going to make it easy. Finding a smaller hotel a couple blocks down, she checked in.

When she walked into her room, she dropped her bags on the floor as she followed them down. Unable to keep them at bay any longer, Sarah began to sob. After everything that happened between them, for him to assume the worst so quickly…Sarah was shocked that he thought so little of her. She felt as if her heart had broken as she grieved for the loss of Vitaly, their relationship and a job she loved.

It was stupid of her to get involved with her boss. If she were smart, she would have maintained the relationship with him but not returned to work. Or returned to work, but kept it platonic. Not that she could have kept up that façade for long.

She didn’t know how long she lay there crying before she realized that her phone was ringing. Sitting up, she reached for it to see that it was her friend, Lisa, calling.

As soon as Lisa heard her voice, “Oh no, what did he do this time?” she asked her friend. As Sarah filled her in on what happened, she could hear noises in the background. Both Chloe and Mia had come in to hear the story.

“Oh, hun, I’m so sorry,” Lisa told her.

“When are you coming home?” Mia asked her.

“Just as soon as I can get a flight out.”

“But you can’t go just yet,” Lisa replied.

“Why not?”

“Aren’t you even a little curious as to who set you up?”

“Well, of course, but I’m no detective.”

“No, you aren’t,” Chloe replied. “Just come home.”

As Sarah continued to talk to her friends, she felt better. While they may be more than two thousand miles away, she always knew that she could count on them for moral support. After she got off the phone, she called the airlines to make a reservation. There was a redeye out that night. Swearing to herself, she realized that she still had clothes at the dry cleaners.

Walking into the bathroom, she looked in the mirror. Her face was red and puffy from crying. After scrubbing her face, she didn’t look much better so she jumped in the shower. Donning a pair of jeans, sweater and a coat, she went downstairs to hail a cab.