Dominique wanted to correct her, to tell her not personal in the way she implied, but held her tongue as Lizzy worked. When she started to move around to see what her friend was doing, Lizzy shook her head.
“Uh-uh. Just sit down while I work. Plausible deniability, my friend. If you don’t see what I’m doing, you can’t admit to any wrongdoing.” She didn’t glance up once as she said it, her expression almost gleeful.
“Are you breaking the law?” It was a dumb question. Of course Lizzy was. Dominique had heard the rumors, knew that Lizzy could pretty much hack anything. It was the whole reason she’d come to see her.
Lizzy just snorted then grinned. “He’s at one of his hotels.” She rattled off the name and address, but Dominique already knew where it was.
She’d lived in Miami her whole life and knew the city well. “Thank you.”
Lizzy didn’t look up, just typed in a few more commands. “Looks as if he’s currently in the ground-floor restaurant. East side. Well, his personal cell phone is. I’m assuming it’s with him.”
Dominique blinked. “You’re terrifying.”
“Thanks,” Lizzy said, looking up. “Are you in trouble?”
“No.” She felt like a mess though. “It’s just personal. I promise.”
Lizzy slid her computer to the side and stood. “What I know about Ivanov isn’t much, but I’ve heard enough that he’s a dangerous man.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“Be careful.”
“Thanks. I will. If, uh, he leaves, will you call me? I’m headed over there right now.”
“I’ll keep an eye on his phone and let you know. Do you need an escort or anything?”
She shook her head. She didn’t need an audience for this, didn’t want anyone to know her personal business. None of her friends from work knew what had happened to her parents—or if they did they’d never brought it up—and she planned to keep it that way. She didn’t want pitying looks. “If you need to tell Porter about this, it’s okay.”
Lizzy just nodded, which wasn’t really an answer whether she was going to tell her husband or not. Dominique didn’t really care though. She needed to talk to Viktor Ivanov right now and ask him why the hell he’d sent her a contract signing over the rights to her childhood home. He supposedly just wanted to give it to her.
For free.
There had to be a catch. Even if there wasn’t, she sure as hell wasn’t taking it. She was going to get to the bottom of this and find out what the heck he was up to. Because a man like Ivanov wouldn’t give away such a valuable piece of property for nothing.
*
Dominique was a mix of nerves and anger by the time she made it to Viktor’s hotel. Or one of them, apparently. She’d known he was successful, but when Lizzy had said ‘one of his hotels’ she’d realized that he must be wealthier than she’d thought.
She had her car valeted because she couldn’t even think about dealing with parking. After a confirming text from Lizzy that Ivanov was still in his restaurant, she headed into the lobby. The decorating was minimalist but everything was high-end. A huge chandelier hung right in the middle of the foyer of the five-star boutique hotel, glittering prettily above everything. She was almost certain the place didn’t have more than a hundred rooms. The interior had an Old World feel to it and was truly beautiful. She’d read about it in one of the luxury publications she kept up to date on for Porter. She just hadn’t realized Ivanov was the owner.
Before she’d taken two steps, a man wearing black pants, a white button-down shirt and a simple black jacket with the hotel’s logo on it approached her, a warm smile on his face. “Welcome. How may I help you?”
She gave him one of her most winning smiles. She hadn’t really thought this through before coming down here. She’d just been so impatient to see him and hadn’t wanted to wait—or call. For some reason that had seemed intimidating. Now, she realized, seeing him in person after she’d told him that his family disgusted her was nerve-racking. Gah, what had she been thinking? “I’m here to see Mr. Ivanov.”
Before the man could respond another man appeared as if out of nowhere, moving silently across the marble tile as he approached. She’d seen him at the Celebration of Chefs on Saturday with Ivanov and thought they might be business partners. He was just as big and definitely as intimidating as Ivanov. The man smiled at her, sort of, and dismissed the hotel employee with a few short words.
“I take it you’re here to see my brother, Miss Castle.”