Page 45 of The Sniper
But her persistence paid off, and soon enough I was giving her my gate code so on Wednesday morning she could come through, without me needing to open the gate, for our weekly morning tea.
Alexei often walked her over, kissed her firmly and then, in broken English, said.“Have a nice day.”
That was it.
Then he’d leave us to it.
Weird that they hadn’t been over the past week.I hope Jayden hadn’t scared them off.
Perhaps Alexei was concerned he’d have to make chit-chat.I should speak to Nadia.I’m sure his English is limited.In fact,have a nice daywas the only English I’ve heard him speak.
The day Nadia introduced us, she translated.
“Nice to meet you Alexei, I’m Tiffany.”I shook his big, strong, crushing hand.
“Zdravstvuyte, priyatno poznakomit'sya, no nam pora idti, Nadia.”He replied, his voice was deep, authoritative.
Nadia clearly adored him if her smile was anything to go by.“He said hello, but we have to go.”
Oh.
It was abrupt and seemed rude, but I smiled and waved them off that day, watching them slip through the gate.
Alexei glanced back briefly and studied me for a long moment.Culturally, I knew they weren’t smiley people—like me—but his protectiveness gave me pause.
It was sort of sexy.
Mom might be right that I’d like a protective man.Then again, I was still recovering from being Steven Stallone's daughter.
Dating was hard for me when I was younger.Boys wanted to know about my father, more than getting under my sweater.Mostly.To them, he was a real-life action hero.
I could never be sure if they were interested in me, him or an acting career.
The actors, whom I dated from time to time, turned me off with theirwe could be a power couple,proposals.
No, thank you.
To this day, I can say I’ve never been in love.Not really.I thought I had been once or twice, but in hindsight, I wasn’t.
Right now, I wasn’t interested in meeting someone.I wanted to get the Diamond Luxe collection launched and repay Dad.
That...it was just important to me.
Then I could stand proudly and say I was a financially independent woman.Not a trust fund baby.Hopefully, I’d meet a man who respected that and liked me for me...not my father and all he stood for.
Standing in front of the mirror, I call my best friend Rebecca, who now lives in London.We grew up together, and I consider her my only true friend.
“Hey...oh my God you look amazing.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.Look at these things.”I touch the diamonds, which are a lot bigger than the ones that were stolen.
A lot.
“Should you be wearing them?Don’t get angry, but perhaps the cops are right.”
I pout at her.
“They aren’t.Now, when are you coming home?”
