Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“Wouldn’t hurt,” I murmur in agreement when I shadow him out of the elevator and into the underground garage. “Is Ano short for anything?”
He opens the back door of the SUV like his baseball cap is a chauffeur’s hat before his throat works through a slow swallow. After I’m seated, he murmurs, “Anonymous.”
“Your mother called you Anonymous?” I hate myself the instant the question leaves my mouth. He clearly feels uncomfortable with the direction our conversation has taken, but I continue to push.
I’m a cow.
“No,” Ano answers. “It’s what Maksim called me when he found me naked, beaten, and with no recollection of my prior sixteen years in the back alley of one of his clubs.” He smiles to assure me my sympathies aren’t needed before he shrugs like it’s no big deal. “It kinda stuck.”
He closes my door before I can ask another violating question, and then he slips into the driver’s seat and commences our short trip home.
“Are you not coming in?” I ask Ano when he closes the door I opened for myself, but he doesn’t trace my steps to the elevator.
“No. I’ve still got a few more hours on my shift.”
“And then you’ll go…?” I can’t help but mother him. It is a natural instinct of anyone in the health profession.
He rubs his hands together like he appreciates my smothering ways before he says, “Then I’ll come up.”
“You’re staying here?” Once again, the words leave my mouth before I can stop them.
His smile is brighter than the light haloing his head. “Oh, you still think Maksim only bought the top two floors of this building?” When I nod, too shocked for a worded response, he murmurs, “That’s cute.” Before I can grill him further, he ends the possibility. “Goodnight, Mrs. Ivanov.”
I could push him, but since I know I’ll get more answers from Maksim than from him, I tell him to call me Nikita, return his farewell, and then enter the elevator once again manned by an attendant.
He doesn’t ask me what floor. He selects the penthouse suite before announcing, “Mr. Ivanov suggested you should visit your grandparents before joining him for dinner.” A hue hits both of our cheeks when he finalizes his statement. “Since you will be preoccupied for the remainder of the evening, he doesn’t want you to miss seeing them.”
“Thank you. That… works.” I grimace at my poor choice of words before watching the elevator climb the many floors from the garage to the top floor. “Have you worked here long?” Since my apartment was in the basement, I only associated with the doorman.
“For several years now.”
“So you know most of the occupants?”
He smiles as fondness glistens in his eyes. “Yes. Almost all of them.”
“What is the ratio of tenants to owners?”
The elevator attendant seems put off by my question. “Umm... I’m not entirely sure.”
“I don’t need exact numbers. Just a ballpark figure.”
Before he can speak, a deliciously raspy voice sounds out of the emergency speaker on the elevator panel. “Is there something you want to know, Doc?”
My eyes bounce around the elevator cabin before they stop at the blinking red contraption on the far front corner. Maksim could be solely listening in, but I feel his gaze on me, so I stare at the camera while asking, “Did you buy every apartment in my building?”
“Yes,” he answers without pause for thought, shocking both me and the attendant.
“Why?”
There’s no delay in this answer, either. “Because I like to know who is surrounding me. Are they good people who don’t turn their noses down at others not as well off as them? Or are they leeches who’d walk past a boy lying lifeless without a stitch of clothing and not do a damn thing to help him.” His reply exposes he isn’t solely watching my ride in the elevator. He has eyes on me everywhere. “Do you have any more questions?”
“Just a few.” I wait for his exhale to stop rustling through the speaker before asking, “Can you see my grandfather?”
Two clicks sound before he answers, “Yes.”
“Is he sleeping?”
You shouldn’t be able to hear a smirk, but I swear I hear Maksim’s before he answers, “Yes.”
“Good.” There’s no doubt you can hear someone’s grin when I lean across the attendant to select the floor below the penthouse.
“Have a pleasant evening,” the attendant murmurs when the elevator arrives at the floor of the apartment I share with Maksim.
I almost veer for the door on the right but instead take a left. My instincts have never steered me wrong, so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
My heart beats double time when I enter the area a construction crew is transforming into an office space. The floor plan has been completely reworked, and numerous walls have been removed or replaced. There are even a handful of new access points.