Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

“I know.” Maya sighed and sipped her drink. “Plus you wouldn’t want to date a boy when you can have a man.”

Jenny grunted. She crossed her legs and grinned.

“And as we get older we can’t afford to be picky about our partners. Especially you.”

“Jenny, you’re only a year younger than me.” Maya laughed. “And we’re not old.”

“But you’re thirty next birthday. Soon you won’t be able to have children.”

Here it came. Another talk about babies. Jenny wanted children as well but hers wasn’t as deep-seated a need as Maya’s. Maya sighed.

“Leave off. I’ve got another ten years at least. I don’t have to worry just yet.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Why did that not sound as convincing as Maya wanted it to be?

*****

Ivan Mikhailov stood at the window and looked down into the main gallery, watching the people milling around and admiring the pieces. The place was packed, almost so they could barely move. But the champagne was flowing and people were laughing.

“It’s looking great out there, Alexei.” He turned away from the window to face the man behind the desk, tapping away at his laptop. “You did a good job rounding everyone up.”

Alexei Petrov chuckled and looked up at his friend.

“I hardly rounded them up, Ivan. I just put my name on the invitations and sent them out to people who would make the place look good. Since they’re here they obviously know about me.”

That was, they loved art. The New York City elite certainly loved their art. Alexei had made the right choice in choosing the art and fashion world as the way to make money. With the two modeling agencies he had started up, one in America and one in Russia, and the art galleries he had sprung up all over the world, Alexei knew what he needed and what was wanted for the people he was trying to impress.

So far, after nearly a month in the city, it was working. And being a billionaire with the money to burn had those who wanted some of it coming out of the woodwork.

“I should think everyone knows about you.” Ivan chuckled. He eased his large frame onto the couch and stretched his legs. “It was a good idea moving to America. Once you get a foot in the door here, you’re in.”

“You could say that.” Alexei sighed and sat back, rubbing at his eyes. He was exhausted but he needed to see this through. “But we mustn’t slip. If we want to be successful here we’re going to need to work hard to stay here.”

That and mingle as much as he could. As his friend and co-partner, Ivan was better at that. With his six-four height, muscular build from his martial arts training, and his bright white smile, people flocked around him, the women draping off his arms. Alexei had women coming his way but he didn’t like big extravagant parties. It was the one thing about his job that he hated. But he needed to get his name out there and keep it there so it had to be done. Even then he had slipped off after twenty minutes to hide in his office.

“I’m not that stupid.” Ivan chuckled. “I know that.” Then his laughter died away and he surveyed Alexei thoughtfully. “But there’s something else, isn’t there?”

They had been best friends for years. Ivan knew when something was nagging Alexei. Alexei pressed save on his work and closed his laptop lid. If he didn’t he was going to be gravitating back to the email he had just received from his lawyer. And it didn’t help his mood at all.

“Hans has just emailed me. Katya’s lawyers have contacted him again.”

“Again? What does she want now?”

“What do you think? Money.”

Ivan frowned.

“I thought that was all sorted. You guys divorced four years ago.”

That meant nothing. Katya Serova was money-hungry, something Alexei hadn’t seen when they were married. But now he was seeing it. She kept trying to get money off him even though the pre-nuptial agreement said she would only get a certain amount if they divorced. Alexei had a feeling Katya was trying to find a loophole in the pre-nuptial but she hadn’t found it yet.

However this had been dragging on for four years, even after the settlement and the divorce. And Alexei was getting fed up with it.

“She’s claiming I made more money she didn’t know about when we were married and wants her cut.”

“But the pre-nup would prevent that, surely?”

“I thought so.”

“But it’s been four years. Can’t she let go?”

“Of my money? No.” Alexei shook his head and rested his head against the headrest of his chair. “I think she’s just doing this because I caught her having s*x with my brother. She’s trying to make me out to be the bad guy when I never cheated on her.”

His family still hadn’t forgiven him for divorcing Katya, who had fooled all of them and they were still fooled. Once Katya realized she wasn’t going to get Alexei back she had started to draw out legal proceedings to get as much money as she could. That was another reason Alexei had wanted to move to America; Katya and his family weren’t there.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Ivan assured him. “Hans is good. He’ll have her walking away with nothing again.” He sat forward and shook his head. “She should’ve got nothing the first time around.”

“If I hadn’t put the pre-nuptial in with something, she would’ve made it worse.”

“What’s worse than this?”

Good point. Alexei didn’t want to dwell more on his ex-wife. He stood and stretched.

“I’ll be glad she’ll be out of my life for good soon.”

“Hopefully.” Ivan paused. “So, what are you going to do with that exhibition you were unsure about near the back of the gallery? That’s what you originally came up here for, right?”

“Right.” Alexei sighed. “I’m still unsure of it so let’s just get rid of it. Not many people were paying attention to it while we were down there. It’s not going to bring the money in.”

“No problem.” Ivan stood. “I’ll get right on it.”

He always did.

*****

Maya kept her camera to her eye as she moved around the blonde model leaning against the tree, the wind threatening to knock her over. It went down the collar of her windbreaker but she ignored it. Mostly.

“Try another pose, Sasha.” She shouted over the wind. “Good. That’s it.” She snapped a few frames. “Look another way now. Fantastic.”

She snapped a few more and lowered the camera and checked the amount of frames. Not as many as the other models but Sasha Lucie was one of the best and Maya didn’t need to shoot as many frames with her as with the others. Sasha was a delight to work with.