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I’ve never really thought about it before. But now I am.
CHAPTER 35
River
The only thing keeping me tied to New York is Anya. And I fucking refuse to give up on her.
She’s avoiding me—I know she is—but she can’t avoid me forever. I know all her little ins and outs now. I know the night she works, the days she goes out to shop. And the days she doesn’t leave the house.
It might’ve only been a day since I saw her last, but I’m done with this back-and-forth runaway shit. I’m certainly not going to wait a week like I did last time. Little by little, I’ll wear her down. Not because I want to see her fire dim but because I want her to admit that she’s made for me. I just need to make her realize I don’t want to take her power or empire away. I just want to be in her world.
Some may call it stalking, but I call it being efficient.
I want to maximize every opportunity I have with her, which is exactly why I’m walking into Cartier, her favorite jeweler, again.
When I step inside, Clay and Vance are standing stoically near the back of the store. She’s definitely here.
The sales assistant eyes me, evidently recognizing me from the last time I was here.
“Do you have an appointment, sir?” she asks, and makes a pointed look at Michael, who looms over my shoulder.
“Yes, my soon-to-be wife is seeing someone in here,” I say.
Her eyes light up. “Who is your fiancée?”
“Anya Ivanov.”
“Oh, Miss Anya never told us she was engaged. Would you like to join her?” she asks, a lot less frightened of our intrusion, which says wonders if she thinks so highly of my she-devil. Then again, she’s probably one of the most frequent patrons here.
“Sit. Stay. Drink champagne, and don’t scare anyone,” I instruct Michael. Anya might think business between us is done, but it’s not.
And she still has my fucking car.
The saleswoman walks me to a back room, Anya’s pair of guard dogs not overly impressed to see me. The feeling is mutual. Anya twists in her chair, and her eyes narrow as the jeweler showing her some diamonds looks up, surprised.
“Anya, sweetheart, you didn’t wait for me.” I step inside and lean down to kiss her cheek. She doesn’t pull away when I do, and I linger a second longer than necessary.
“Please, have a seat,” The jeweler says, seeming surprised that Anya has any friends, let alone a male one. I take the chair next to Anya. I eye her hand, thinking of grabbing it, but she pulls it away, as if reading my thoughts. I hold in a chuckle.
“More diamonds?” I ask her, leaning over to look at the tennis bracelet she’s currently eyeing, only to see she’s wearing the last gift I sent her.
“Yes, more diamonds,” she says through gritted teeth, clearly not happy I’m here.
“Miss Ivanov is deciding which she likes from our new collection, so I’m laying out the options.”
I lean forward to have a better look. Next to the tennis bracelet is a ring, which has a flower on it made from diamonds.
“We’ll take both,” I say, smiling as the woman from the front comes in and offers me a glass of champagne. A glass of water is positioned in front of Anya, untouched. Raising the glass to my lips, I take a sip as her beautiful eyes narrow at me. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“That’s great. I’ll get these two wrapped for you. If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” the jeweler says, then gets up to leave. As soon as she’s out the door, Anya turns to me fully.
“You,” she spits. “Why are you here? Was I not clear enough last night? We’re done.”
“You still have my car,” I point out. “And I was hoping we could finish our discussion regarding your brother and Meredith. Also, blackmail aside, I was hoping for a repeat.” I wink at her before I down the rest of the champagne.
“A repeat? So you think by buying me jewelry, you’ll get laid outside of our already completed agreement?” I can hear the laugh in her voice.
“A man can hope, right?” I say. I turn her chair so she’s facing me. “Anya, what do I have to do so you let me in? You can say it’s all just sex. If you had friends, I wouldn’t mind if you told them that’s all it is. But you and I both know this runs deeper than that.”
