Page 23 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

“I don’t trust her,” I said.

“Kasimir, you don’t trust anyone,” she pointed out.“Besides, it’s not like you’re going to have to ever deal with her again after tonight.”

“I’m just telling you that you should probably step back and reassess,” I told her.“She should be trying to impress you with a flawless execution of the auction, Aurora.She shouldn’t be trying to ride my dick.”

“Honestly, I never imagined that you’d be the kind of man who would complain about a beautiful blonde hitting on him,” she drawled out.

“I’m full of surprises,” I quipped.

“So you keep saying,” she snorted.

“Look, just...keep what I said in mind.Okay?”

“Okay, I promise,” she replied, and since Aurora’s word was as good as gold, I felt better for having ratted Stephanie out.

“I’ll talk to you in the morning,” I said.

“No problem, and thank you again, Kasimir,” she replied sincerely.

“Not a problem.”

I hung up, then did another round just for something to do.I didn’t want to be around Stephanie if I didn’t have to, but only because I didn’t want to ruin this for Aurora.I could easily see Stephanie getting on my nerves enough to throw her out, and I could only imagine the chaos that would cause.

So, in the best interest of keeping Aurora happy and my brother from murdering me where I stood, I triple-checked the security and even chose Pruitt McMahon to join Dehlia in the greeting of the participants.He was very observant, and he never hesitated to put a bullet in someone’s skull if warranted, something that we all could appreciate.

I also thought that it’d be prudent if I kept myself scarce once the women began showing up.While not all of them, there was still bound to be a couple of nervous ones in the bunch, and I didn’t want to add to their anxiety by lurking around.Even if I hadn’t been born a Korolev, I understood that my left eye was a bit unnerving for some people, though it was something that I was very much used to.

An hour later, the women began showing up, and so I did one last check of the ten rooms that were to be used for services rendered tonight, and though the entire hotel was safe enough at this point, it never hurt to look for hidden cameras or whatnot.

Luckily, nothing untoward popped up, and everything was ready for the auction to start, and the sooner that it started, the sooner that I could get my ass back home.

Chapter 12

Zoya~

I was sitting in the dining room with the other girls, and even though I’d made it through the front lobby without anyone detecting that I really wasn’t Montana Hughes, I could still feel my heart beating wildly in my chest.I couldn’t help but feel like someone was going to burst through the room at any moment to accuse me of fraud or identity theft.