Chapter 24 - Jenna

Not even Lev's kiss in that enchanted, secretive place in the most beautiful garden I'd ever seen could dispel my guilt. If anything, it added to it. How could I let him spend so much money when I had no intention of staying married to him? He might not have been paying attention to the prices of all the houses we'd toured, but I was. The amount for this one he'd suddenly decided to buy was staggering. Outrageous, and almost didn't seem real.

The entire place didn't seem real, and it really was something straight out of one of my many childish daydreams after watching some British TV show about the upper classes. It was huge, but not overwhelming like the other mansions we toured. There was nothing stuffy or pretentious about it. Everything was chock full of cottage charm, with wide baseboards topping the gleaming hardwood floors, crown molding that edged whitewashed walls, or rich, brocade wallpaper. The kitchen was top-of-the-line and full of country cheerfulness with open cabinets and white marble counters.

In the master bath, a huge, clawfoot tub was set into an alcove with a picture window that streamed sunlight through the beveled glass. That alone would have sealed the deal for me, but when I saw the garden, I was hooked and couldn't find a single bad thing to say.

Like now, when I couldn't come up with a reason why Lev shouldn't buy this wonderful place for us. Not without risking him suspecting my motives.

I sank into his embrace, fighting my mixed emotions. The house was so perfect, it was easy to imagine making a life with him here, and that was something I couldn't do. I let him pull me back through the garden path and into the house where the real estate agent was already putting everything into motion.

"The house will be yours before you know it," she crowed. "And then you two can start your happily ever after."

It felt like a slap, and I had to force myself not to recoil from her well wishes. In the car on the way home, I sensed Lev looking at me funny. I had to get it together and stop acting strange, because he'd already picked up on it. His concern and how he was so attuned to my feelings only added to the guilt.

Smiling until it felt somewhat real, I let him know I really did love the house. That much was one hundred percent true. He was determined to buy the place and there was no way to stop him without raising his suspicions, so all I could do was go with the flow. As we drove back into the city, I distracted myself with the odd request from Councilman Hardy's assistant.

About halfway through the tour, she'd shiftily asked me how long I'd been working for Lev. When I answered that it had only been a few weeks, she said the councilman would like to be able to contact me privately, if that was possible. She offered no other explanation, and I didn't know what to do or why he'd want to reach out to me, not Lev.

I ended up saying he could and gave her my personal phone number. I felt strange but did not really think I was doing anything wrong. For all I knew, he was just collecting numbers for voting polls or something.

Surely he didn't want to ask me out? I suppressed a giggle at that, because it didn't seem feasible, but the whole nature of the way his secretary had asked made it seem like something was up. If that were the case, it would be an easy enough problem to solve, unlike all my other problems.

"How about lunch?" Lev asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

He named a fancy bistro, and I wrinkled my nose, not wanting the hubbub of being seated, poring over a menu of overwrought meals that Katie would have been dissecting to recreate on her own. I never got the chef gene and preferred simple fare.

"Okay, how about Burger Shack, then," he said, leaning forward to tell the driver to turn into the drive-through of my favorite fast food place. "I'll take the extra cholesterol points to make you happy."

I smirked at his teasing. "It's just nice, comforting food," I said. "And they have salad."

"I don't consider wilted iceberg lettuce a salad, but I've been craving a burger anyway," he said with a smile. "I get it about comfort food. Whenever I eat my mother's borscht, all my troubles fade away."

We ordered and headed to the closest park, getting out to sit on a bench and have an impromptu picnic with our greasy cheeseburgers, fries, and onion rings set out between us. We playfully debated which side order was superior, and shared a rich chocolate shake topped with copious amounts of whipped cream.

I asked him questions about his parents, since he'd mentioned his mother earlier. He was grateful he still had them in his life and wished he got to see them more often, even admitting that his father was having some health problems.

"I'm not holding you back from visiting, am I?" I asked.

If he didn't fully trust me, there was no way he'd leave me behind on my own. Strangely enough, my spy mission was the last thing on my mind as I made the inquiry; only concerned he was missing out because of me.

"My mother insists it's nothing to worry about," he said. "I think it can wait until you have a break. Would you like to see Moscow? I always stop in Paris on the way back. My family keeps an apartment there. Or we could pop down to Milan and visit Nataliye."

He spoke about visiting his brother's daughter and Katie's best friend—at least, I thought they had gone back to being friends—like I might talk about taking a bus down to LA for the weekend. I would have loved seeing those places with Lev as a tour guide, and decided to enjoy the moment for once.

"That sounds amazing," I said, chomping on the last onion ring. "I'd like that a lot."

His smile warmed my heart, brushing away any lingering thoughts of my mission as easily as if they were the frailest dust motes.

Until that evening when I got a message from Hardy's number that his secretary had given me.

I'd like to ask you something, it said simply.

Lev and I were sitting across from each other at the dining room table. He was engrossed in paperwork and answering emails, and I'd been haphazardly studying for the economics test from which I'd been given a short reprieve. I slid the phone into my lap, letting my hair fall forward to hide my burning cheeks. Was Hardy actually trying to ask me out? As awkward as it was, there was nothing to do but nip it in the bud.

I'm in a relationship, I answered. There. That was the truth. He didn't need to know who it was with.

Almost immediately, Hardy called me. Lev barely glanced up as I answered, hurrying toward the bedroom.

"I'm not trying to hit on you," Hardy said, sounding as horrified by the concept as I was. "I wanted to speak with you about your employer. Can we meet?"

I was stunned and slid open the door to the balcony, stepping out and shutting it behind me so I could speak freely. Except, I didn't know what to say, so Hardy kept talking.

"Since you've only worked for him for a short time, you probably aren't aware of this," he said. "But Lev Volkov is a dangerous man. I want you to know that you and I are on the same side."

"The same side?" I repeated, my mind reeling. How did Councilman Hardy know anything about Lev? Could he possibly know more than I did?

"Yes," he said, almost urgently. "I can tell how serious you are about getting into public service work, and working for someone like him isn't the way to go about it."

Okay, I was intrigued, especially if he knew something to help me get my revenge plan back into action. My snooping was at a dead end, and the only thing I was learning from fun afternoon picnics was that Lev was a dedicated family man who missed his parents. Or that he generously shelled out millions of dollars because his wife got starry-eyed over a gorgeous house with a wild English-style garden. Not exactly anything I could bring to the police.

"There's no way I can meet you in person without Lev," I said, wincing at not calling him Mr. Volkov. It was too late to cover it up now, so I told him to keep me informed. "I'll do the same," I promised.

It might have been an empty promise, but Hardy might also prove to be useful to keep in my back pocket. He was a fairly powerful man, at least locally, and he was on the right side of the law. He seemed sincere in wanting to warn me that I might be in over my head working for Lev, even though he had no idea how far over I was.

I should have been happy to make such an alliance, since it was the first step forward in my stalled plan. But I wasn't happy; I was torn up inside and couldn't figure out why.

"Everything okay?" Lev stuck his head out on the balcony with a concerned look.

"Yeah, just catching up with Brooke." The lie slipped out easily but left a bad taste in my mouth, especially as Lev smiled with relief as he went back inside, offering to make us some coffee.

Everything was far from okay, but the reason for this new distress wouldn't solidify in my mind. I just had an uneasy feeling that clawed at my insides, but the source seemed to be coming at me from all directions, impossible to identify. I wasn't making any firm decisions, but still felt like I was doing everything wrong.

With a long sigh, I went inside to drink some of the freshly brewed coffee I could smell as soon as I stepped foot into the apartment. Of course, I had an uneasy feeling. My life had been completely turned upside down, and I wasn't making much progress to get it right. My patience was wearing thin, but I could do nothing but stay the course.

Which included returning Lev's warm hug when I got back to the kitchen.

"You looked like you needed one," he said, pulling away to hand me a steaming mug of coffee. "And this, too."

"I did, thanks," I said, settling down to pretend to study.

There was no way I'd see any of the words on the page with my guilt freshly raging from Lev's kindness. Why couldn't I learn something about him that would be useful to get me out of this marriage? Instead, he just kept revealing things that made me want to stay.