~ Can't Buy My Love ~
by Katia N. Ruiz
passionatetyger@aol.com
Copyright 2004
Disclaimers: see part one.
Chapter Ten
"Why did it take you so long to get back?" Oskar asked from the kitchen doorway.
"My tire blew." Oksana was eating a late lunch, having missed lunch after the unplanned visit from Millie. She felt strangely satisfied, though still a bit horny. It was something she could live with, for now. Tomorrow it would be worse, she knew. "I had to stop and get it repaired." She bit calmly into her second sandwich.
Oskar's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he decided to let it go… for now. "After you're done, I want you to come to my office. You're going to look at some things with me." He said. Did she have sex again? He wondered as he studied her. She wasn't looking at him, but that wasn't rare with Oksana, so he couldn't tell. If she did, this is not going to be pretty.
"Okay, papa." Oksana said.
Not long after he left her, Yuliya reentered the kitchen. "You should be careful, Oksana." She said. "He is serious about the will." She sat across from the younger woman.
"I know." Oksana replied, finishing her drink. "I'm trying, but it's hard." She looked up at Yuliya with pained eyes.
"He is doing this for you." Yuliya said gently, her heart melting. She had watched Oksana grow up from a quiet young girl and into an oftentimes-unlikable woman. But even when Oksana was at her worst, and brought Yuliya to the point of losing it- like when Ekaterina had first returned home- Yuliya did love her so.
Oksana nodded, looking away again. "No one appreciates how difficult this is for me."
"I know," Yuliya said. "But you have to watch your steps. He will leave everything to your cousin Gustav, if you mess this up."
"It'll never happen." Oksana said with determination in her eyes.
Yuliya stood up and walked around the table, reaching out and running her fingers through Oksana's hair and smiling gently. "Your grandfather will be very proud when you prove to everyone that you can do this. Now go, before he comes back looking for you!"
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"This is not right." Oksana said abruptly, never looking up from her lap.
Oskar's head snapped up, his eyebrows furrowed. "What? You have just begun looking at the ledger not more than five minutes ago."
"These numbers don't and up." She said, her own eyebrows furrowing.
Oskar, as with many times before, felt his heart soften at the sight of his granddaughter's familiar mannerisms. She resembled her father so much at that moment.
"There's a budget of exactly twenty thousand six hundred forty one dollars, but the individual numbers don't add up to the total given." Oksana explained, her voice even.
"And you have determined this, how?" He never noticed her picking up a calculator.
Oksana froze and her eyes rose to look at him. The puzzled look on his face made her nervous.
"How did you figure this?" Oskar asked again, leaning his elbows on his desk.
"Um-"
"How?" Oskar demanded, growing irritated.
"It's obvious." She finally said.
"Give me that, please." After she handed the book over, he pulled his calculator close and added all the numbers up. She was right, exactly right. He typed up some random numbers and asked her: "How much is eight thousand six hundred sixty three by three hundred seven?"
Almost instantly, she replied: "Two million six hundred sixty five six hundred eighty one."
Eyes wide, Oskar typed some more numbers into his calculator. "What is the square root of four hundred twenty four million, four hundred eighty three thousand, six hundred nine?" He asked.
"Twenty thousand, six hundred three." This time, the answer was instantaneous.
There was a stunned silence, during which Oksana never looked up from her lap. "You have been able to do this your whole life?" He asked, his voice small. He watched her nod. "Your mother and father knew?"
"They found out just before the accident." She answered.
"All those times your math teachers thought you were cheating on your home works and tests, you were just doing it in your head?" His eyebrows drew further down as she nodded. "Why did you never say anything?"
Oksana shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to be treated like a freak." She said after a long moment.
"You would not have-"
"School for the gifted? Maybe graduating from University earlier?" She broke in bitterly, jumping to her feet and pacing back and forth in front of the desk. "They were already treating me different when they found out. Sounds like a freak to me. I wanted a normal life."
"A normal life?" Oskar retorted loudly, disbelief in his voice. "Your life has been anything but normal, specially the past three years. All those women-"
"Not something I could help." Oksana said, hearing her voice rise above his. She clamped her mouth shut, shoving her hands harshly through her hair.
Oskar sat back on his chair, sighing softly. Not something she can help? Dear God! Of course she can help it! As far as revelations went, the math one was a winner. He had always suspected that Oksana was smarter than she let on, but a mathematical genius? Could that have brought on her promiscuous behavior? He wondered, deciding to look into it.
Oksana rubbed her face with the palms of her hands for a long moment. Swallowing hard, she asked: "Department is that book from?"
"Office Administration," Oskar said, deciding that they would talk about the math thing later. His shock didn't even let him get mad at the fact that someone in his company was slowly siphoning his money. Larry Torres is the head. Domingo Quinones is his assistant department head."
"Office Administration orders all material, right? Pencils, things like that?"
"Right." Oskar tried hard to hold back a smile of pride. He could clearly see Oksana's business sense quickly emerging.
"Well, we need to check previous years to see if there's a pattern." Oksana said, her eyes flashing. "And we need to find out which one of them does the books for Administration, and if there's more doctoring in the earlier books, he is getting fired and prosecuted."
Oskar was unable to hold back his smile as he said: "That'll be your first job as president of Ivanov Incorporated."
Oksana flopped down onto her chair, staring at her grandfather. "If you're talking about right now, you know I'm not ready."
"You will be when I am done with you." Oskar assured her. "If our suspicions are founded, I will be there with you. Now, I'll order the books for the past five fiscal years, and you will take a look and tell me what you see."
"Um, okay." Oksana said hesitantly, feeling like her life was going to go very fast from now on.
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Kat trudged through the rear entrance into the kitchen. Her first day at Ivanov had been full of activity that included personally meeting every single one of her new employees and getting a feel for their abilities. Right now, she just wanted to jump into bed and remain there until the next morning. Exhausted was too mild a word to describe how she felt.
She was dismayed to find Mary alone in the kitchen, and her mother not around to run interference between them. She froze in place, her eyes wide as they zeroed in on the maid's behind. Mary was bending down at the waist as she stacked dirty dishes into the washing machine, singing softly. Kat watched the perfect hips sway from side to side for a long time, unwillingly admiring. I can definitely forget that I hate her guts. She jerked when Mary suddenly straightened up, making noise to make believe she had just arrived.
Mary spun around at the sound, her eyes narrowing in suspicion when she noticed Kat standing there. She turned to the dishwasher again, not bothering to greet Kat, and turned it on.
Kat was glad to feel dislike once again. It disconcerted her to have felt an attraction, however briefly, towards the other woman. "Where's my mother?" Kat asked, attempting civility.
Mary snorted, rolling her eyes. "Do I look like her keeper?" She retorted.
Kat fought the urge to go over and slap the bitch. I can't believe I even looked at her ass. She thought indignantly. She clenched her jaw, reining her temper in.
When Kat did not respond, Mary rolled her eyes again and turned towards the sink, rinsing the food remains into the electronic garbage dispenser. When she turned around again, Kat was gone.
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Kat found her mother in her bedroom, changing Kat's bed sheets. "Mama, you don't have to do that." She protested, dropping her purse and briefcase by the door.
"How did your first day go?" Yuliya asked, ignoring her daughter's protest.
Kat sat down on her desk's chair, kicking off her high heels and sighing in relief. I should stop wearing fucking heels. "It was okay. I have a huge mess to clean up, but it's all right. I'm looking forward to the challenge." Kat said around a huge yawn. "I made a new friend."
Yuliya sat down on Kat's bed, her eyebrows perked up in interest. "How nice, darling. What is his name?" She asked hopefully.
"Domingo Quinonez," Kat said, recognizing the spark of interest in Yuliya's eyes.
"Is he single?" Yuliya asked quickly.
"Mama," Kat said in warning. When Yuliya's curious expression didn't change, she said: "He's married, mama. It was nothing like that. He's a nice guy, and he made me feel very welcome." She looked away, and then glanced back at her mother, who was gazing at her with doubtful eyes. "Trust me, mama, he's not my type."
Yuliya sighed disappointedly. "When are you going to find a nice young man?" Yuliya asked softly.
Kat grimaced, looking away. "Mama," She sighed. Do I hit her with the truth? She wondered, nearly panicking at just the thought of coming out of the closet to her mother. Kat was aware that Yuliya accepted Oksana as a lesbian, but it was probably another thing if her daughter turned out to be one too. She'd more than likely be upset when she found out that it was probable that she'd never have grandkids, unless Kat adopted. She'd seen a parent change their tune more than once when their kids came out; she didn't want that to be the case with her.
Even though gay marriage had been fully legalized eight years before in Two Thousand Twelve, there were still a few people who viewed the increasing gay and lesbian population in the country as a sort of second-class citizenry. Homophobia wasn't encountered often now, but it still existed in some people. Kat didn't know how her mother would feel, and that kept her from saying the truth.
"I don't know, mama." She finally replied. "Whenever it happens, it'll happen. I'm not desperate." I know what I'm desperate for, and it's not a man. With her mother watching, Kat changed into her bathing suit. A swim would do her good. "I'm gonna take a quick swim, mama."
Yuliya smiled as she took in her daughter's body with pride. Her daughter was a gorgeous woman, and very smart. When the time came, Yuliya hoped that she would get an equally attractive and smart man.
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Mary's eyes widened with interest when she glanced out the kitchen window. Kat is more attractive than I thought, Mary thought with a small leer, as her eyes roamed the good-looking backside exposed by the gray bikini bottom. She watched Kat throw her arms back behind her head as she stretched her back muscles; Kat's eyes closed and a sigh visibly escaped her lips. Damn! Mary watched her jump into the pool, biting her lower lip as she admired shamelessly. If only she showed those assets more often.
Yuliya, who entered the kitchen in a flurry of activity, interrupted her from her admiration, putting her immediately to work.
(NOTE: Remember, this is a first draft, and I'm posting as I go, so if something doesn't jive or it seems a little awkward, bear with me. I'm going back to fix things. Now, if you see something, point it out to me anyway.)
CONTINUED…
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