When I Love (Vassi & Seri 3: Russian Stepbrother Romance) (2 page)

“
O
nce again
, thank you for agreeing to work with our company.” Yuki Himura bowed, and beside him, his American girlfriend Katerina, who was also the
mangaka,
bowed as well.

While Seri bowed in return, she also simultaneously inched towards the door, hoping to be the first one to leave. Even now, her mind was still reeling, unable to comprehend how it was that a project of this scale could actually take such a risk, casting---

No.

Don’t go there, Seri. Not until you’re alone. Not here. Not when he can see you reacting.

As she inched closer to the door, she felt a pair of eyes burning through her back and almost stumbled.
B’lyad.
She wanted to think she was imagining it, but she knew she wasn’t.

He
was staring at her, silently commanding her with his gaze to stop and wait for him.

No way!

She hurriedly reached for the knob and had already opened the door when she heard the young Russian-Japanese scion call out to her, “Ms. Devereaux?”

D’err mo.

The others started to leave, and for one moment Seri seriously considered bolting anyway. She could always pretend she hadn’t heard Yuki Himura call out to her. He would have no reason to think she was lying---

Seri took another step towards the door.

“Ms. Devereaux?” The redheaded mangaka suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking Seri’s only way out. At the same time, she felt a strong, dark presence coming towards her from behind, and Seri knew she was trapped.

The mangaka’s smile was shy but friendly as she peered over Seri’s shoulder. “Mr. Grachyov.”

Someone’s chest pressed alarmingly close to her back, and Seri suddenly had trouble breathing properly. She knew who it was of course, but even so, she did her best to keep his name from crossing her brain.

This
was how she had survived the past two months. If it had worked then, it should work now.

“If it is not too forward---”
A pause as Yuki came to stand beside his girlfriend. “It would be my pleasure to have you and Mr. Himura call me by my name.” A strong arm suddenly settled around Seri’s shoulders, and she almost jumped.

The arm tightened, drawing her body closer. “I’m sure Seri feels the same.” The man holding Seri peered down at her. “Right, leech?” And this time, there was no avoiding it. No avoiding seeing him, no avoiding thinking of him, no avoiding
hurting
---

Vassi.

Her knees threatened to give out as Seri stared up at the beautiful face she had tried so, so hard to make herself immune to. Night after night, she had watched endless replays of his various kissing scenes in films and commercials, hoping it would somehow kill her love for this man. But it hadn’t.

All it did was make her…
hurt.

The silver eyes staring down at hers were unreadable, and so was the rest of Vassi Grachyov’s perfectly sculpted face despite the polite smile playing on his lips.

Knowing she had to answer, she heard herself say, “Of course.” Somehow, Seri managed to tear her gaze away from Vassi without breaking down. Even so, her vision was blurry for a second, and she couldn’t quite see the couple in front of her properly. “W-we would be honored if you c-called us by our names.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded too shaky, too shrill – it sounded everything that it shouldn’t.

But the couple didn’t even blink. “We’d love to,” the redhead bubbled cheerfully, and her boyfriend seconded this with a nod and a smile. She was about to say something else when her boyfriend shook his head.

“We can talk with them more next time,” Yuki murmured gently. “We have a dinner to go to, remember?”

KC groaned. “Oh, right. I almost forgot.” She gave Vassi and Seri a regretful look. “Catch up with you guys next time?”

Seeing a chance to escape, Seri said quickly, “Actually, I have somewhere I need to be---”

“What a coincidence.” The mocking gleam in Vassi’s gaze was at odds with his smooth tone. “I’ve a pressing engagement to attend as well. Shall we all take the elevator together?”

The mangaka was staring at them in fascination. “You guys…”

To Seri’s surprise, the redhead’s green gaze seemed to be getting a little…dreamy.

Yuki’s angelically handsome face became grim, but his tone remained perfectly polite as he said, “I’m afraid we won’t be leaving right away.” He took his girlfriend’s hand.

The contact seemed to snap the mangaka out of her reverie. She blinked, saw her boyfriend’s face, and turned red. “Did I do it again?”

Yuki Himura’s smile was extremely dazzling. “Yes.”

“Umm…” Seri was surprised as KC started backing away from her boyfriend. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Yuki murmured soothingly even as he began to stalk his girlfriend.

KC suddenly turned away and ran. Yuki caught after her easily, and curving an arm around his girlfriend’s waist, he made KC turn to face Vassi and Seri. “Excuse us please,” he said with a bow just before leading his girlfriend towards what seemed like the CEO’s office.

The door slammed shut behind the couple.

A second later, they heard Yuki half-growling, “You were
fantasizing
again,
senpai
!”

“I’m sorry,” they heard KC wail. “I didn’t mean to. I just saw her, and then I saw him and---” The words ended with the kind of whimper that could only mean one thing.

Another whimper followed, and this time there couldn’t be any doubt as to what was happening.

Seri tried to pick her jaw off the floor. “S-should we be concerned?” She wasn’t exactly sure about what she had seen. KC had looked anxious, and Yuki had looked grimly furious. And now those two were alone in a locked room---

Unable to help it, she glanced at Vassi. Old habits died hard, and for so long she had depended on Vassi and the boys to clear things up whenever she was worried or confused.

But while Seri appeared unconscious of the way her gaze spoke of mute appeal, Vassi wasn’t.

Everything inside of him clenched at the way Seri looked at him.

Two months,
he thought tautly.

He had not seen her for two months, and in those sixty fucking days that she had not been beside him, he had been unable to keep himself from missing her, from thinking about her, from hating and loving her at the same time.

But even so---

He could not make himself ignore the way Seri was looking at him.

No matter if he now knew her for the heartlessly calculating girl that she was.

He said quietly, “They were like that as well when we first met.” He nodded towards the door. “It’s just Yuki Himura being extremely possessive over his girlfriend. There is nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?” Seri asked uneasily. “Look at Yuki’s secretary.”

Vassi spared the older woman a glance and his lip curled, thinking that wasn’t worry on the woman’s face but jealousy. “Don’t mind her,” he dismissed.

She was about to protest when she suddenly felt Vassi’s fingers curl around her wrist. “Vassi---”

But he was already pulling her towards the elevator, and she found herself following him, the scorching-hot feel of his touch draining Seri of her will to resist.

When the elevator doors closed, Vassi asked abruptly, “When did you come back?”

“Just yesterday,” she answered stiltedly.

“Have you spoken to Sergei or Misha?”

“No.” Her voice was tight. “And I would rather you don’t talk about either of them.” Because if he did, she would be forced to learn the truth, and she didn’t think she was ready for that yet.

In the two months she had stayed in Tokyo, Seri had deliberately isolated herself from all news back home. She hadn’t gone online a single time and even changed her number. This way, she wouldn’t be able to know if her older brothers had tried to contact her. This way, she could pretend that those two boys didn’t believe that she had betrayed them.

What you don’t know won’t hurt you.

Seri didn’t use to believe in this, but she did so now.

When the elevator doors opened to the lobby, Seri didn’t even pause to think. She wrenched her hand out of his hold and half-ran.

A familiar figure came through the revolving doors, and Seri almost sagged with relief.

Thank God.

“We need to talk, Seri.” Vassi had caught up with her, and once again his fingers encircled her wrist.

“There’s nothing to talk about---”

As if he didn’t hear her at all, Vassi said, “Let me drive you to your place.” His hold tightened on her, and then he was forcing her to turn around to look at him. “Where are you staying now?”

Before she could answer, someone came to stand beside her, and Seri saw Vassi’s face whiten.

I’m sorry,
she cried inside of her.

So, so sorry.

But I’m doing this for you.

And she clung to this thought as she once again pulled her hand away from Vassi. Forcing herself to meet his gaze, she said, “I’m staying with Max.”

M
aximilian Rockford’s
arm went around Seri’s stiff shoulders before drawing her closer to him. Dressed in a lab coat over his black suit, he looked more like a model posing as a doctor, when in truth he was a scientist-in-training who happened to be exceedingly attractive.

Plan Fucking B,
Vassi thought tautly. Seri’s Plan Fucking B was standing right in front of him, and if he had any ounce of pride left, he would have simply turned away and they could go to hell for all he cared.

But he could not.

Conscious of the way almost everyone in the lobby was looking at them, Vassi forced himself to maintain his tight-lipped smile even as his teeth clenched behind it. Seri might no longer care about their family –

No, it was
his
family now, and Vassi would be damned if he would allow for any rumors that could make Fyodor sink further into the black hole he was already drowning in.

The hazel-eyed graduate student looked down at Seri with visible concern. “I’m sorry for just coming now. Did I make you wait too long?”

Vassi watched Seri shake her head with an adoring smile. “You’re just in time.”

Classic gold-digger look,
Vassi thought sickly.

Was this truly the girl he had loved almost his entire life?

Wanting this to be over with, he offered his right hand to the other guy, forcing Maximilian to release Seri to shake Vassi’s.

“Rockford.” Gripping the man’s hand tightly, Vassi said with practiced charm, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Grachyov.” Maximilian squeezed the other man’s hand back just as hard. “Good to see you, too.” Releasing Vassi’s hand, he wasted no time drawing Seri back to his side, his arm going around her waist as he murmured, “I hope you haven’t given your little sister a hard time about dating me.”

“Why should I?” His voice was curious, even perplexed. “While I do want to talk to Seri about her ongoing misunderstanding with our father, other than that---” His broad shoulders moved in an elegantly dismissive shrug. “She’s eighteen now. She can do whatever she wants, and I won’t stop her.”

Seri was having a hard time hanging on to her fake smile.
God, she was such a fool
. He had only wanted to speak to her about Fyodor. Only Fyodor, she thought painfully, and not the way he had loved her---

Or thought he loved her.

“I’m so lucky,” she managed to say softly, “that I have a brother as understanding as you.” Looking up at Max, she asked, “Aren’t we going to be late for your reservation?” Her eyes pleaded with him to ride along.

Not missing a beat, Max turned to Vassi, saying, “I’m afraid your beautiful sister’s right. We need to go now. Let’s catch up next time.”

Seri fluttered her fingers at Vassi. “See you.”

Vassi watched the two leave.

Plan Fucking B was clearly sailing smoothly. One only had to observe the way Rockford looked and talked to Seri---

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the other man placed a ring on Seri’s finger soon, and his jaw tightened at the thought.

Damn it.

Why the fuck did he still care?

Turning away so he would be spared the sight of the two holding hands as they walked out of the building, Vassi headed back to the elevator to get to the basement parking. The doors slid open almost right away, and their co-actress Daniela almost barreled into him as she came flying out of the elevator.

“Oops, sorry, oh, it’s you!”

The rush of words was typical of Daniela, who he had been working with for years, and despite his mood, Vassi found himself smiling briefly as he helped her regain her balance. Older than him by a year, the half-Italian girl had a pixie-like beauty with her boyishly cut hair, large dark eyes, and small, triangular face.

“What were you in a hurry for?” he asked.

“Well, I was hoping to catch you.” She grimaced. “I thought you were about to leave, and I had a favor to ask.” She showed him the rolled-up script in her hand. “It’s actually your sister I need a favor of, but since I don’t really know her well, but umm, then---” She paused, and in an almost embarrassed voice, she whispered, “I saw you from the third floor, you know.”

He gazed at her quizzically. “And?”

“I’m used the glass lift?”

She actually looked pained…
for him.
Marveling at that, he asked, “And?”

She cringed. “Come on, dude. Do I really have to spell it out?”

He said honestly, “I have no idea what you’re getting at.”
But then
, he thought in amusement,
Daniela had always been like this.
Even though she was now considered one of the industry’s fastest-rising models and predicted to follow in Cara Delevingne’s footsteps, he had found her unchanged in all the years they had found themselves working on the same campaigns.

She was still tactless, clumsy, amusing. In fact, she was like the little sister he had always wanted---

“I saw the way you looked at her.” Daniela looked up at him unblinkingly. “At your stepsister Seri.”

His smile disappeared, and this time his voice was noticeably cooler as he said, “I’m afraid I still don’t see what you’re getting at.”

And if she knew what was good for her
, Vassi thought, she would drop it then and there.

But Daniela being Daniela, she didn’t.

“All I’m saying,” she said in an unusually serious voice, “is that I caught you looking at her the way I used to look---” Her lips curled in an unusually self-mocking smile. “Who am I kidding? It’s the way I
still
look at my stepbrother. But because I held myself back, he’s married another girl, and now every stupid holiday I have to play the doting aunt when what I really wanted to do is to play house with him.”

When he didn’t speak, she made a face, saying wryly, “Why am I not even surprised you’re not saying anything?”

“Because there’s nothing to say,” he said simply. “You’ve misread---”

“Yeah right.”

He said mildly, “You’re bordering on slander.”

She pretended to shudder. “So scary.” Daniela shook her head. “But hey, it’s your life.”

“It is.”

“But if I can only say one last thing---”

Vassi let out an exasperated sound.

“I’m serious. Just one last thing, and it’s…” She was blinking furiously all of a sudden, and her voice had a scratchy note to it as she muttered under her breath, “If I could do it all over again---” Her voice turned fierce. “I wouldn’t have held back.”

Daniela’s head lowered, and he watched her take a deep breath.

When she looked up, it was the old Daniela again, with the same carefree smile. “Now, about that favor.” Her tone turned wheedling. “It’s my first time to do something like this, so I’m nervous as hell.”

“It’s my first time to do voice acting as well,” he reminded her.

“You’re too beautiful for people to ever hate, Grachyov,” she dismissed. “Your voice acting can be absolutely shitty, but the fangirls will still love you.”

His lips twitched. Daniela had been the only girl he had worked with who had insisted on calling him by his last name, and in return he had taken to calling her---

“Your jealousy is showing, D.”

She stuck her tongue out. “Shut up. I’m simply telling the truth, however unfair it is.”

He shook his head at her in feigned disappointment. “It’s not my fault I will always turn more heads than you ever can.”

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “You’re so full of it.”

“I’m simply telling the truth,” he said piously, “however unfair it is.”

Red-faced with irritation, she slapped his shoulder with the script. “It’s guys like you I hate the most.”

“You’ve been telling me that for six years now.” Snatching the script from her hands, he unrolled it, asking, “What’s the favor, then?”

Squirming, she said, “I think I’m just going to ask her myself---” Her voice trailed off as Vassi glanced up.

“Are you implying anything?” he asked pleasantly.

“Nope, and will you stop looking at me like that? It’s seriously terrifying.” Taking a deep breath, she admitted reluctantly, “I was hoping you could ask your sister to give me pointers.”

He nodded. “That won’t be a problem.”

She brightened. “Really?”

He pressed the
up
button for the elevator. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” The doors slid open and he stepped inside. “Are you heading back up?”

Daniela shook her head. “I’m done for today. Thanks again.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“Tomorrow.” Daniela’s fingers curled into a fist.

Grinning, he bumped his fist with her. “You really haven’t changed at all.”

The doors slid close, and now that he was alone, Vassi’s face turned grim.

He took his phone out and sent a message to the guy heading the family corporation’s security department.

Full report: Daniela Martin.

While he didn’t think Daniela was the type to tattle on him and Seri, it didn’t mean he was willing to take any chances.

The security officer replied immediately.

Understood, sir.

O
utside the lobby
, a limousine remained temporarily parked by the front doors. Inside of it, Seri only managed to tear her gaze away from the scene when Vassi stepped inside the elevator and their co-actress headed to the bar.

Seeing that it was all over, Max told his driver, “We can go now.”

When Max faced her again, she said guiltily, “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“Isn’t there?”

He said calmly, “If you feel guilty because you’re still thinking about him while you’re with me---” He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. Forcing yourself to forget him will only make you think of him more and---” His lips formed a crooked smile. “That’s
definitely
something I don’t want.”

Max slowly reached for her hand across the wide space that separated them, giving her all the time in the world to move away.

But she didn’t.

His fingers found hers.

“You can cry if you want, Seri.”

Silence.

And then she looked at him, whispering brokenly, “That’s the thing, Max. I want to. But I can’t. I want to cry so it can be over, but I just
can’t
.”