Shaking her head, Arriane tried to clear her mind. Straightening out the black suit she was wearing as she looked in the full-length mirror, trying to make herself look more professional, and checked the time on her phone one more time. If she didn’t leave the hotel soon, she was going to be late for her flight to Saint Petersburg. Obviously, she didn’t wanna ruin the meeting with Roman Volkov. Somehow she’s kinda looking forward to it...or him...
Arriane looked at the door leading to the adjoined room and sighed. Jane. She should probably tell Jane that she was leaving. But then again, Arriane wasn’t sure her friend would even notice her absence. Jane was so depressed, she didn’t seem to care about anything these days.
Arriane can't help but, grimaced a little. Seeing her friend in such a state almost made her start questioning her dream of finding love. Considering that love had turned Jane from a lovely, outgoing gal into a depressed, lovesick mess. It only tell her that love fucking sucked.
Arriane's own experiences were pretty disappointing, too. All of her past boyfriends had turned from Prince Charming to royal dickheads. She had never felt the sort of love that made her giddy and breathless. And to her utter disappointment, what happened in romance novels was the complete opposite of what she always experienced in real life. But then again, maybe she just had a special talent for falling into bed with jerks.
Smiling ruefully at herself, Arriane headed for Jane’s room.
Half an hour later, after managing to get Jane out of bed and making her a promise to eat while she was gone, Arriane was finally on her way to the Sheremetyevo airport.
Leaning back against the taxi seat, she stared out the window. She felt kind of guilty for leaving her friend alone, Jane clearly wasn’t holding up well after the messy breakup with her fuck buddy, but she knew there was little she could do to help her. Knowing Jane her entire life and being one of her closest friends, Arriane and Jane always had each other's back. And Jane was the only person she'd told who she was going to meet.
Arriane frowned as her thoughts returned to the upcoming meeting with Roman Volkov. Not for the first time, a sliver of doubt crept into her mind. She was flying blind here. She had no idea what the Russian tycoon wanted from her father. The results of her research on the guy weren’t exactly reassuring, either.
Roman Volkov had the reputation of a shark; it was said he controlled his business empire with an iron fist. Arriane had searched Forbes Corporations’ database, but she didn’t have enough clearance and couldn’t find what connected her father to that man.
God, she was sick of being kept in the dark. Yes, maybe what she was doing was reckless, but it was the only way she could force her father’s hand: if she learned something she wasn’t supposed to, her father would have little choice but to trust her.
Maybe you aren’t ready to be trusted.
The thought made Arriane’s stomach flip-flop. It was something she’d been trying to avoid thinking about. What was she going to do if the rumors were true and her father really had dealings with criminals? If her father was a criminal? Would Arriane want to be trusted with that sort of information?
“My na meste,” grunted out the driver as the cab stopped. “S tebya dve tyschi rubley.”
Arriane flinched and looked out the window. She hadn’t even noticed that they were already at the airport.
“Spasibo,” she said, thanking the driver in her limited Russian and shoving fifty dollars into the man’s hand, then grabbed her suitcase and got out of the car, hoping for a hassle-free flight to Saint Petersburg. Roman Volkov's face popped into her mind again, his icy blue eyes seeming to stare at her right now, causing Arriane to suck in her breath. Nervously.