Page 166 of Hate to Love You
“Did you, or did you not kill Igor Ivanov?” He states again, his eyes hard as he reads my face.
Holy shit.
Why is he asking this? Does he know something?
“No, Roman, I didn’t,” I scoff, turning my body toward him, intentionally forcing my muscles to relax as I simultaneously try to imagine how an innocent person would respond to this question. “What the hell? Why would you even think something like that?”
He copies my movements, twisting his body toward mine, as his eyes burrow into my soul.
“Well, I checked the CCTV footage from The Studio for that night. You just so happen to be the last one to speak to Igor, before he died a few hours later,” he says, his face blank as he narrows his eyes at me. “So, I will ask you again…Did you kill my best enforcer?”
Wait, Enforcer? Shit. Shit. Shit.
The genuine surprise of his unforeseen interrogation causes my jaw to slack, and my wide eyes to blink profusely. Attempting to keep a lid on my reaction, I school my face, and scoff loudly.
“I can’t believe you’d think that, Roman,” I say, shaking my head and folding my arms across my body. “And what the fuck do you mean by “enforcer?” Am I supposed to know what that means?”
“Abby… I’ll ask you one more time. And do not fucking lie to me,” he growls, ignoring my question. “Did you kill Igor?”
As I stare into his eyes, I see his demons reaching forward, straining to escape and to dance with mine.
I have to touch him.
Reaching forward I gently place my hand just above his knee, locking eyes with him as I soften my face, attempting to look both hurt and honest at the same time.
“No,” I say quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. “I did not kill Igor. And for the record, I didn’t approach him that night, he approached me. We had a short conversation, then he left for a phone call. But while I waited for him, I contemplated how rude he was to Lizzie, and changed my mind. So, I left. That’s all that happened.”
He looks up at Cal in the mirror before nodding.
“Okay. I just…had to ask,” he says quietly.
My heart is pounding as Roman reaches forward, his fingers running down the side of my cheek.
But then all of a sudden, he snaps, and grips my chin firmly. Tilting my face up to his, he leans in, slowly closing the distance between us.
“But I promise you,” he whispers, his voice low and gravelly. “If I find out you’ve lied to me, Abigail, no one will ever find you.”
My nose twitches as I lean into him, his cologne wrapping round me, clutching my heart in its grips.
“You’d miss me though,” I whisper against his lips, quickly pressing our lips together before I pull away. Leaning back into the chair, I sigh, staring out the window.
We sit in silence for the next twenty minutes, as I watch the autumn trees fly past us enroute to my house. I frown, glancing back at Roman.
“Seriously though, you did have a meeting today, and you’re going to miss it.”
He shrugs, smirking at me as he rubs a finger over his bottom lip.
“Guess you’ll just have to reschedule it for me.”
“Roman, it took me three days to get you this appointment!”
“Oh well. Get me another one.”
He reaches into his suit pocket, and as my eyes can’t resist following the movement, I happen to catch sight of the same harness that Trevor was wearing.
Roman is carrying a gun as well.
He pulls out his phone, nonchalantly tossing it over to me and forcing me to catch it.