"This won't be quiet." Tatyana wouldn't take his decision well.
Grandfather chuckled.
Tatyana didn't take his decision well. At all. "You spineless ass." A shoe flew across the room, the heel sticking into the drywall. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone." That baby powder-scented deodorant she wore followed. At this rate, she wouldn't have anything left to move. "You would never choose me over your grandfather, over your precious position in the family, never."
Damn, she was glorious when she was pissed off. "This is temporary, Brat."
"That's right, isn't it? I'm temporary." Were those tears in her eyes? Nik's stomach twisted.
"Your temporary fiancee and now that this big..." Her head wobbled. "... guest is coming, you're hiding me."
"Hiding you?" As if that was possible. "You're moving into our biggest suite, how is that hiding you?" He thought of the room she had and grinned at the possibilities. "We'll have a Jacuzzi tub, Brat."
"I'll have a Jacuzzi tub." She threw his electric razor at him. He caught it. "Me. Alone.
Though, maybe I'll share it with Boris. Since you don't care. I'm taking him with me, by the way. He's mine."
She would and he'd assign one more bodyguard to her. "I'm yours, Brat. I'm still your fiance." Nik watched her stuff clothes into the suitcase he'd provided her with. "We're just sleeping apart."
"We're sleeping far apart," she mumbled.
He frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I told you, Nikky." She glared at him. "I told you the only reason I'm staying. If you think I'm going to hang around while you fuck some other 'Sergei approved...'" She made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "... woman, then you have another damn thing coming."
Make that two more bodyguards. "I'm not fucking any other women." She was more woman than a man could handle.
"Oh, yeah. You think so now, but what about next week? Why do you think this Igroek person is coming? A family friend. Like hell." Tatyana snorted. "He probably has a gorgeous daughter or something he wants you to marry."
She was too perceptive. Except it wasn't a daughter Nik wanted to marry, it was an overly emotional granddaughter. "Language, Brat, and Igroek's Grandfather's age."
"Granddaughter, then. And you'll say yes because you always say yes and then you'll marry and aaagggghhhh...!" She hurled her hairbrush at him.
He caught the brush, considered handing it back to her, but judging from her hair, she never used it anyway, so he kept it. "I'm not fucking anyone else. I'm not marrying anyone else."
"You think that, Nikky." She tried to lift her suitcase. It was too heavy. She swirled her index finger in the air. "But I remember how all this started. Your grandfather said I was your fiancee and the next day I was your fiancee. If it happened once..."
Even she thought he was a damn dog, blindly following Grandfather's commands. He stepped closer to her. "It happened once because I allowed it to happen, because the moment I saw you, those bloodstained pajamas clinging to your perky breasts I knew I had to have you."
"Don't try to sweet talk me, ass." She jerked her body out of reach.
He drew her back against him. "Why? Is it working?" He stroked.
Her glare could cut through walls but she didn't move away again. "I don't want to leave you, Nikky."
Leave? No, she meant move into another room. "I know, Brat." He kissed her. "But it is only for a short time."
Ten
"Gather the facts. Make a decision. Take Action."ȄSergei Kaerta Short time, long time, it made no difference. Tatyana wasn't staying. She stomped around her suite. Her breathtakingly gorgeous suite. She slammed the door, rattling the light fixture. Gorgeous rooms with no Nikky in them held no appeal.
Still, she flicked the lighter, wavering over the pile of paper and clothing in the bathtub. It was a shame to burn the place down. She had to. Because she wasn't sticking around while Nikky replaced her with some sophisticated New York floozy. She lit the pile, ensured it was properly started, then closed the bathroom door behind her. She pulled on the knob, confirming that it had locked from the inside.
Tatyana hid in the front closet and waited. Her feet went numb from her unnatural pose, curled up in the cramped space. Finally, she smelled smoke. The fire alarms went off, shrill and annoying. The hallway door was forced open, the lock busted. She peeked between the crack in the closet doors. Boris was first, followed by the two bodyguards.
"She's in the bathroom," Boris called, his voice frantic with worry. Tatyana ignored her misgivings. This had to be done. The two other men rushed away from the entrance. The sprinklers activated, the water impeding visibility.
Tatyana slipped out the door, hurrying down the crowded hallway, weaving between dazed and confused guests. A young man held the stairwell door open. She smiled a thank you as she passed, following the train of people down the steps.
It was quite easy, she reflected sadly while exiting the casino, to disappear forever. Would he miss her? She inhaled the crisp desert air. Would he turn to the new woman his grandfather arranged for him looking for comfort? She opened the taxi door and...
Damn it. She flailed as she was grabbed. Not again. She kicked back. A cloth was placed over her mouth. She smelled fumes. Everything went dark.
"What do you mean, she's gone?" Nik roared, uncaring of the heads turning around the poker table.
"There was a fire, Boss." Boris shifted his feet.
Nik had heard about the fire. Everyone had heard about the fire. In a suite. "Her suite?"
Three dark heads bobbed. Boris swallowed "In the bathroom. It was intentionally set. We didn't know that at the time. We thought she was in there, but she wasn't. She was gone."
Shit. He got up, striding toward the restaurant where Grandfather was. Shit. Shit. Shit.
