Essence walked into the house with a nod to the security team who accompanied her to dinner with her grandfather. She could hear quiet chatter from the living room, and wished she could avoid it completely and internally complained about needing to walk right past the room.
She noted Vadim sitting in a chair with a glass of wine in his hand, his white shirt unbuttoned one button too far and his countenance brooding. Sabrina and another man she’d never met were sitting on a sofa and they all looked up at her as she paused in the doorway.
“Where have you been?” Vadim asked curtly. “It’s after ten.”
“Grandfather took me to a social club of his for dinner. He introduced me to friends of his and they were chatty.” She admitted she’d rather enjoyed herself. As dry as many of the men and women
