Bad Russian Boss: A Billionaire Office Romance

by Bella Rose

  Courtney put her face in her hands. “I don’t know what to think.”

  “Then maybe it’s time to get some perspective,” Bella said thoughtfully.

  “And how do we do that?”

  Bella stood up, dragging Courtney with her. “We go and talk to Toby.”

  * * *

  Mikhail felt more than just a niggling doubt when he and Frank left Vasily’s home with their men. Sure, Vasily had listened and had seemed to absorb the information that Mikhail had shared with him. What worried Mikhail was that none of it had seemed like a surprise to Vasily. He had done a lot of glaring, and although he had not issued any threats, Mikhail could not shake the sensation that the Russians were not done with this deal. Not yet.

  “What am I missing?” Mikhail murmured as the SUV tooled down the road at a quick clip.

  “I don’t know.” Frank was communicating via text and e-mail with other members of their team, and the IT men who were currently digging into the Russian’s bank activities to try and glean something useful should there be some kind of standoff that required leverage.

  “I am missing something, though, right?” Mikhail muttered. “Tell me you feel it too. Because I don’t want to turn into some paranoid freak.”

  Frank shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. This particular problem has a lot of variables involved. It would be difficult to isolate exactly which one was falling apart.”

  “That does not make me feel better.” Mikhail stabbed his fingers through his hair. “Take me to see Toby. I need to find out what’s going on with Courtney.”

  “I could tell you.” Frank gestured to the screen in front of him. “We have her under surveillance most of the day as well.”

  “Yes. But you aren’t getting the juicy stuff that she tells her best friend,” Mikhail insisted.

  “Neither are you,” Frank pointed out. “Because you’re getting the thirdhand account of a conversation based on hearsay. It’s like middle school.”

  “I don’t care anymore,” Mikhail said stubbornly. “Let’s turn here and go straight to Toby and Bella’s penthouse.”

  The guy in the driver’s seat glanced up, meeting Frank’s gaze in the rearview mirror. Mikhail did not miss the way the driver waited for Frank’s okay before he took the turn and headed to Toby’s. Mikhail would address that problem later. He was boss. He made the decisions. Frank worked for him. It was imperative that the situation be clear to everyone involved in case the shit hit the fan and things got ugly.

  “Damn.” Mikhail put his face in his hands. “I’m becoming my father. I’m totally paranoid.”

  “Yep.” Frank was nodding. “But admitting it is the first part of recovery, right? You want the name of a therapist? I know a guy…”

  “No, Frank,” Mikhail said wearily. “I’ve got this.”

  * * *

  Mikhail had Frank drop him at the front door of Toby’s building. He trudged in and waved at the doorman. Mikhail had been here enough times over the years that he was on the list and was familiar with most of the building’s staff. It came in handy times like now when he just wanted to get in without having to deal with a bunch of identification crap.

  The elevator seemed to take forever. When the little indicator lights signaled that he had reached the thirtieth floor, Mikhail waited with fraying patience for the elevator to ding and let him out. He refused to grumble and be an ass. He hadn’t known his father very well or very long. The man had died before Mikhail had turned ten years old. But his mother had often described his father as paranoid and edgy. Mikhail did not want to become that person. He refused to believe that he was fated to end up like that: dead in a city gutter after accusing the wrong person of being out to get him.

  The elevator doors opened and Mikhail found himself standing in the ornate foyer that separated Toby’s beautiful penthouse apartment from the elevator. The marble floors and large table were complemented by the basket of fresh flowers that someone had carefully arranged on the tabletop. Bella no doubt had been putting feminine touches all over the place. Oddly enough, instead of feeling pity for Toby at having his abode cluttered with feminine claptrap, Mikhail was a bit jealous.

  Mikhail knocked on the door and waited. Minutes later an older man appeared in the doorway with a smile on his face. Bryant had been Toby’s concierge as long as Mikhail had known him. “Mr. Krachenko, what a pleasure. Mr. Pinckney is busy at the present moment, but if you’d like to come in I can get you settled in the den with a drink.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Mikhail said gratefully.

  He couldn’t help but wonder what Toby could possibly be doing at this time of the evening. Usually he spent his time with Bella after he finished work. And lately he had been keeping his work hours more and more abbreviated to spend additional time with his bride.

  Mikhail took a seat in the den. More like he collapsed into an overstuffed leather sofa. Minutes later Bryant brought Mikhail a tray with two glasses and a bottle of Toby’s best brandy. Nobody would ever accuse Toby of not being hospitable.

  “Thank you, Bryant.” Mikhail poured himself two fingers of brandy. “Do you have any idea how long Mr. Pinckney will be?”

  Bryant cocked his head to one side, looking thoughtful. “It’s difficult to say, Mr. Krachenko. Mr. Pinckney is in the living room with his wife and her friend. The two ladies are grilling him about something. They’ve rather got the poor man over a barrel really. But you know how women are.”

  Mikhail was still reeling from the thought that Courtney was very likely right there in the apartment. He offered Bryant a nod of agreement and then settled down so he looked as if he were half-asleep with the snifter of brandy in his hand. Bryant exited and left the door ajar.

  “If you need anything, please ask,” Bryant insisted before he disappeared down the hallway.

  Mikhail quickly set his glass on the tray and stood up. He quietly exited the den and turned in the opposite way that Bryant had gone. The penthouse was very large, but he could still hear voices at the end of the hallway.

  The darkened penthouse maintained a friendly, lived-in feeling that Mikhail’s own apartment often lacked. He had wondered many times why this was. Yet anyone who spent only a few moments in Toby’s company would quickly come to understand that the man’s approachability and friendliness permeated every facet of his life, including his home.

  Mikhail pressed his back to the wall and leaned as close as he could to the doorway that led to the living room. He caught a bare glimpse of his friend sitting calmly in a chair, with Bella and Courtney looming over him like angry harpies.

  “What do you mean you can’t say?” That was Bella’s voice rising to a very shrill tone. “When I ask you something this important, you’d better believe that you can tell me what I want to know.”

  “It isn’t that I can’t tell you.” Toby was obviously placating. Then he looked apologetically at Courtney. “But telling Courtney any of the things you’ve asked would be violating the trust of a friend.”

  “So?” Bella snapped. “He’s an ass! You know what he did!”

  “He’s my friend, Bella,” Toby said quietly. “That’s not fair and you know it. Right now you think he’s an ass because you don’t like what he’s done. That doesn’t make it an ironclad truth.”

  “Ugh!” Bella stomped her foot. “You’re impossible!”

  “Please,” Courtney said softly. “Could you just tell me if all of this was part of the revenge plan Mikhail intended to take against my father?”

  “All I know is that you were never part of that plan,” Toby assured her. “He was so shocked when you suddenly reappeared on scene. I’d never even heard of him speak about you until then. And he had been talking about getting back at your father ever since I’ve known him.”

  “But why?” Courtney sank down onto the sofa.

  Mikhail felt as though he were looking into a very distorted mirror. How could the woman not know? How could she not understand? Didn’t she reali
ze what her father was?

  “Courtney,” Toby began. Mikhail saw his friend inhale deeply. “I don’t think you have any idea how badly your father messed things up for Mikhail when he was young.”

  And there was no way that Mikhail wanted Toby enlightening her either. He stepped into the light and strode right into the living room.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Courtney nearly lost what was left of her composure when Mikhail came walking into Toby and Bella’s living room as if he owned the place. The arrogant swagger and the look of supreme confidence on his face were enough to drive her insane.

  “What are you doing here?” she growled, surprised at the vehemence in her own voice. Was she truly that angry with him?

  “I came to speak with Toby and discovered that he was already engaged in a conversation where I happened to be the topic of interest.” Mikhail gave Courtney a glaring look. She felt the sting of his condemnation all the way across the room.

  “Do you want to deny any of this?” Courtney shot back. “Are you saying that you didn’t take my father’s business as an act of revenge?”

  “I purchased your father’s failing business and gave him a more than fair price for it,” Mikhail said snidely. “He was the one who ran it into the ground. Perhaps you should blame him for incompetence and not me for taking an opportunity when it presented itself.”

  “Oh, and what was I?” She felt the tears and refused to let them fall. This jerk was not going to make her cry. She wouldn’t allow it.

  “You were an accident.”

  The scorn in his voice made both Courtney and Bella curse. Then Bella took a deep breath to give Mikhail a piece of her mind. The tirade never happened. Toby grabbed his wife, picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder. “I think we’ll give you two some privacy.”

  “Thank you,” Mikhail murmured.

  “We don’t need it!” Courtney told him darkly. “I already know what I need to know. You used me when I was just a girl. Then you left without a word because you got a better deal. My father told me that you were dead to protect me.”

  “Is that what he told you?” Mikhail raised an eyebrow.

  Courtney felt some of the wind go out of her sails. “Well, no, but it makes sense.”

  “How about you try this one on for size?” Mikhail’s undertone was nasty. “A young girl tries to do something nice for a boy she likes. Unfortunately, it brings the boy to her father’s attention. Because the man cannot accept the possibility that his daughter might eventually become enamored of this young man who has no family or fortune to speak of, the man concocts a story to tell his daughter to explain the young man’s abrupt disappearance from her life. The daughter buys it without even checking the facts. In the meantime, the boy is fired from his job amidst false allegations of wrongdoing that land him in jail. The legal situation leaves the young man no choice but to contact some distant relatives that have both money and power. Unfortunately this leaves the boy in debt to these men, which requires him to commit a string of acts that he never would have done otherwise.”

  “What are you talking about?” Courtney couldn’t wrap her mind around what he was saying. “My father had you arrested? That is what you’re trying to tell me?” She couldn’t imagine her father doing such a thing. Or was it that she just didn’t want to imagine it? Could he have tried to ruin Mikhail’s life like that just to keep him away from Courtney?

  She thought about her current predicament and how her father hadn’t exactly turned out to be the man she wished he was. How long was she going to believe the best about a man who always lived up to her worst expectations? That was the definition of futility. Wasn’t it? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

  “Courtney, your father is not the man you think he is.” Mikhail actually seemed to be remorseful about this. Why?

  She shook her head. “I know that. I don’t put him on a pedestal. I’m just trying to decide how far this goes. The business stuff—” She tried to reconcile that in her head. “—I suppose what happens in business is just what happens if it’s legit and you didn’t intentionally bring him down in order to buy him out.”

  “I didn’t have to help him fail,” Mikhail said drily. “Your father is a man that doesn’t deal well with change. He can’t manage to update his business practices or embrace new philosophies that cut costs. He just keeps plugging along, waiting for something different to happen even thought everything is the same.”

  “Futility,” she whispered.

  Mikhail gave a hard nod. “Exactly.”

  The cold wave of disappointment and dread that washed over her was disheartening. Courtney wrapped her arms around her body and stared around the room at the warm and friendly atmosphere in Bella’s living room. Her friend had everything. Truly. She had a man who loved her, a family that was a little crazy but still supportive, and a wonderfully safe home. If Bella and Toby decided to have children, they would grow up in a warm, loving environment with parents that would love their child to distraction.

  What would Courtney’s baby have?

  “I’m pregnant,” she whispered.

  He actually took a physical step backward. “What?”

  “I said I’m pregnant.” She gazed up at him and wondered why he looked like he wanted to bolt. Was the news so very bad in his mind? Had the night they spent together been nothing more than an itch he needed to scratch?

  “How?”

  His question almost made her laugh out loud. “Well, the two of us had sex that night after Bella and Toby’s reception. I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory.”

  “We had sex,” Mikhail murmured. “Yes. But you’ve had sex with other people.”

  “What?” Courtney was dumbfounded. “Are you talking about Creighton?”

  “Of course.”

  Courtney shook her head. “No.”

  “That’s the only possible solution. I can’t father children. I’m sterile.”

  “Says who?” Courtney demanded.

  “The doctor?” Mikhail shot back sarcastically. “So nice try, but I’m not the fool you thought I was.”

  Courtney watched in shock as Mikhail turned on his heel and left the room.

  * * *

  “Okay, Mikhail, you have to calm down.” Toby handed Mikhail a snifter of brandy and gestured to the couch. “Bella has Courtney on the other side of the apartment in the kitchen. You stay here and relax, before I call Frank and have him come get you.”

  “You’re acting like a woman,” Mikhail snarled. But he threw back the brandy and swallowed the whole glass. It burned like the devil, but he slammed the glass down on the tray and gestured for his friend to pour another.

  Toby poured a whole lot more liquor in the glass than Mikhail probably had any business ingesting, but Mikhail threw that back as well. The burning gave way to a pleasant floating sort of feeling.

  Then Toby sat down with his own glass and gave Mikhail a million-dollar stare. “So you don’t believe that Courtney’s baby is yours.”

  “You knew she was pregnant,” Mikhail guessed.

  Toby nodded. “The two of them told me tonight. I believe that was to be their intended catalyst to get me to spill whatever I knew about you and your motives.”

  “Motives,” Mikhail snorted. “I didn’t have any motives. At least nothing more than simple revenge. Why the woman is trying to rope me into her pregnancy fiasco is beyond me.”

  Toby frowned. His face was set in a thoughtful expression. “I know that you obviously believe you cannot father children. How long ago did you receive this diagnosis, and why would you even pursue such a thing?”

  “I didn’t want to have children,” Mikhail said flatly, “after my atrocious childhood and the baggage of all that shit.” Mikhail let the sentence hang. “I didn’t want to perpetuate that situation any farther. So I went to a specialist to have a vasectomy and take care of the problem. The doctor did one test and told me that I was sterile
anyway and the procedure wouldn’t be necessary.”

  “How long ago?” Toby asked again.

  “I don’t know. When I was in my early twenties and just starting my business?” Mikhail frowned. “Why does it matter?”

  “There are a lot of reasons for infertility in men,” Toby mused. “I didn’t realize how many until Bella and I started trying to have a family.”

  “You’re having issues?” Mikhail couldn’t quite hide his surprise.

  “Apparently stress can be a factor in infertility in men.” Toby sounded so thoughtful. Then a slow smile spread across his face. “When this doctor told you that you couldn’t have children, what did they say exactly? Did they use the word sterile? Or is that just what you heard.”

  Mikhail had to think about that one. It had been long ago, and he had sort of filed that away in his memory as an incontrovertible fact. “I suppose what they actually said was something about low sperm count. So low that there was zero chance of me impregnating anyone.”

  “That’s not sterile,” Toby informed Mikhail with a laugh. “Especially not ten years down the road.”

  “What?” Mikhail was having a tough time wrapping his mind around that notion. “Are you trying to say that Courtney is right and I’m wrong?”

  “I think so.”

  Mikhail didn’t want to believe it. There were so many reasons he didn’t want to. It was horrible to think that he’d been playing with fire all these years. It was worse to imagine that he had just impugned the character of a woman he never intended to hurt and yet always managed to emotionally wound. Surely Toby was wrong.

  “This can’t be,” Mikhail whispered.

  Toby shrugged. “I’m going to tell you that when Bella and Courtney were in here talking about this topic, there was not one bit of uncertainty in either one of them about the identity of Courtney’s baby daddy.”

  “Ugh!” Mikhail snarled. “Do not use that phrase!”

  “When a woman lies about something like that, especially when she’s telling someone else, there’s generally something in her manner that gives her away. Don’t you think?” Toby pressed.