CHAPTER 183: THEATRICS

"Oh look who’s here," a voice spoke up the moment Irina stepped into stepped into the grand foyer.

The voice sounded neither warm nor welcoming, it sounded pretty condescending and aimed at putting her presence in the spotlight.

Irina didn’t turn, nor acknowledge the person that just spoke up, causing a frown to grace his face.

Annoyed at the lack of acknowledgement, he stepped into her path, causing her to pause.

Irina was already annoyed as is, yet this idiot was determined to make the day even more unpleasant.

Standing directly in her path, with a drink in hand and that insufferable smirk on his face was,

"Mikhail." Irina said flatly.

Her dear cousin.

Of all the Romanovas, Mikhail was the most obsessed with hierarchy, appearances, and making sure everyone else knew when they’d failed to meet his standard.

"Late, as always," he added, swirling the dark liquor in his glass. "Father isn’t pleased."

"My father is never pleased," Irina said, brushing past him without breaking stride, "nothing new."

The stress on ’My’ caused him to frown as he read between the lines, still, he wasn’t going to give up just yet, after all, he had a task to fulfill.

Mikhail stepped in front of her again, blocking her way for the second time causing her frown to turn darker.

"Really?" she sighed. "Is this how you spend your time now? Waiting in hallways to annoy me?"

Mikhail chuckled at her question, a sound which came out pretty hollow.

"Don’t blame me for your lateness, some of us actually value family obligations," he leaned forward slightly, "unlike you."

Irina’s eyes narrowed, her irritation doubling. She’d very much like to get this over with and return to Atlanta, to continue pursuing Ethan.

Plus she knew Mikhail wasn’t just provoking her out of pettiness, he wanted a reaction.

A pretty bad one.

Why?

Because he wasn’t a simple nuisance, he was an aligned one, one that had been deliberately put up to this, to make her look bad.

And all the people looking at her right now? They were all audiences for whatever theatrics was being set up.

A small smile appeared on her face as she turned back to Mikhail, since they wanted drama, why not indulge them a bit.

"Oh dear cousin," she said sweetly, maybe a bit too sweetly, "tell me... did you really block my path just to embarrass me? Or is this another one of your... special hobbies?"

Mikhail’s confident smirk faltered ever so slightly.

Irina slowly walked towards him, her smile getting wider, "I mean, I would find it hard to understand if you’re simply bored. After all, not everyone enjoys spending their nights watching, "

She lowered her voice, just enough for only him to hear, "their wife get railed by other men."

Mikhail’s face immediately went white.

"Oh, don’t look so shocked. Secrets travel fast in this family... especially the interesting ones." She said, her grin suddenly appearing as an evil one to him.

He sputtered, gripping his glass tighter.

"Y-you, you don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Mm?" Irina raised a brow, "so you didn’t attend those charming little... gatherings? One which your special guests included a couple of exquisite black men? Must’ve been my mistake."

At this point Mikhail was white as paper and he stood completely frozen in place as a single question repeated itself in his mind,

’How had this witch found out?’

"Honestly, cousin," Irina continued, placing a hand on his shoulder, her face still holding an innocent smile, "everyone has their interests, but perhaps you should focus on your marriage instead of my punctuality."

With that, she walked past him and through the spectating crowd which soon parted for her, after all, Irina Romanova was in a good mood, and that is never a good thing.

Irina continued forward with a small smile on her face. Humiliating Mikhail wasn’t her plan for today, but since the chance presented itself, she wasn’t going to let it go to wast.

She was soon past the crowd and was approaching two men who stood out from the rest.

They were both tall, incredibly so, and their presence alone screamed power. All others, related to Romanovas or not were gathered around them, trying to curry a favor from them.

Irina rolled her eyes at the spectacle,the idiots thought they’d impress her brothers by showing who had the whitest teeth?

They were only interested in people that they could either use as pawns or were important enough.... nothing in-between.

Their violet purple eyes locked on her and a small smile appeared on their faces, though she was not one to be fooled.

Care was the last thing those two would ever show, so their current expressions was just for show.

They had already welcomed her with their guard dog which she had made sure to chain properly since they couldn’t do it themselves.

"Sestra," the older one greeted, spreading his arms as if seeing a beloved sister.

Irina smiled back just as warmly.

They weren’t close, they were never close.

And she wasn’t foolish enough to believe these smiles were anything but masks.

After all... she knew exactly how furious they truly were.

She could feel the tension in their shoulders.

They had every reason to be.

It wasn’t every day that two Romanova heirs woke up to find their businesses in complete shambles.

Their accounts had been completely frozen and all their connections had got into one trouble or the other.

All within the same week.

And all without a single trace pointing back to her.

’Thank you Ethan,’ she muttered internally with a smile.

"You both look... lively," she said sweetly, "I’m pleasantly surprised, considering the week you’ve had."

Their smiles twitched.

They had their suspicions but they were too sure, but now they completely were, their setbacks was thanks to their darling sister.

"Oh, that?" her younger brother replied smoothly, "Minor setbacks, You know how business is."

"Of course, it is terribly unpredictable, things just... collapse sometimes, out of nowhere... right" she said with a small grin on her face.