Page 116 of Scarred Redemption

She moved toward the bookshelves in the room, absently scanning them while I stared at the plans that had been digitized. There’d been very little augmentation done with them in my absence other than with the engineers working on and finalizing the basic infrastructure with the mechanics.

Everything had been ready since last week. While I wouldn’t say the building rep was actively stalling, I didn’t see any issues that would keep him from putting a rubber stamp on it.

Although I still had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I opened the desk drawer, ensuring the weapon was where I’d left it.

“You seem very happy,” she said as she looked over her shoulder.

“As crazy as it sounds even to me, I am.” I laughed and closed the laptop lid. I was exhausted, drained from the day and from hearing the good news about Mina. I could still do a little dance. However, I was more passionate about the facility than ever.

“It sounds crazy, but since I still have a crush on Sergei, another brooding Russian, I guess we can both be tossed into a room in straitjackets.”

I snorted as I headed to the box from my office.

“Julie said they wanted to keep the project plans and your sketches.”

“That’s okay. Thank you for being my family. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

“I was devastated. I had no clue what to do with your things. Now I don’t need to worry and you have a real one.”

Very slowly I gave her one of my chastising looks. “Very funny. You are family and will always be. Do you want to hear something crazy? Maxsim made me Mina’s guardian if anything happened to him.”

She turned to face me, searching my eyes. “That’s wonderful.”

“That’s terrifying. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mother.”

“You will do fine. As long as I’m godmother. Wink. Wink.”

It was so good to have a part of my old life back. “You’re incorrigible, but wait. Since Sergei is Maxsim’s best friend, my guess is he’ll ask Sergei to be the godfather. See? A match made in heaven.”

“Sure. Tell him that.”

While still smiling, I pulled a few things from the box. Maybe I needed a little nostalgia even if every item was going back to my office with me. Something flittered to the floor and I groaned. When I picked up the envelope, I realized I’d forgotten all about it.

“What is that?”

“A bonus I forgot I’d gotten at Christmas.” I opened the card, reading the attorney’s name once again.

“Wow. Found money.”

“Which could be a bribe.”

“Why?”

I glanced at the check, struggling with remembering the day it was given to me. “My boss told me it was a bonus from the trust, but I’ve never heard Maxsim mention the guy’s name. And it sounds familiar. I didn’t deposit it, but what if the original plan was to have it appear as if I was working for whoever is playing this game with Maxsim?”

“Why?”

“While we were close, not everyone knew how close our relationship was. Maybe it’s nothing, but Maxsim is going to want to know.” I moved toward my phone. I’d text him and he could tell me whether it was that important or not.

She shook her head. “I can’t wait for this to be over with for you.”

“Me neither.” Suddenly, it dawned on me. “This has nothing to do with the trust.”

“How do you know?”

“I need to check, but I think the man who wrote the note is the attorney for my trust for my inheritance.”

“That’s why your boss thought it was from the medical trust.”