In Bad Faith

Chapter 53

It was only a three-hour flight from New York to the Bahamas, but Misha made sure we'd spend these hours just right. With a glass of champagne balancing between my fingers, I looked around the space we were sitting in. I had experienced a lot of luxurious lifestyles in my years as an undercover agent, but I'd never been on a private jet before. The spacious cabin that looked like a small living room contained a sofa, a flat-screen, and a table that just got covered with all sorts of different drinks and foods. There were a few staff members walking around, constantly making sure our needs were fulfilled, and our safety was secured. I wondered how much Misha paid for this.

Misha never really acted out on being really rich, but I knew for a fact his net worth was a lot more than that of me and all my colleagues combined. And that wasn't just because of his blossoming company, MZ Global. And still he rarely really acted upon it. He was quite down-to-earth and didn't seem to waste his money all the time, even though he could easily do just that.

"So, what are we toasting today," Misha asked me, looking at his champagne glass. I did the same, humming softly as I let my thoughts run freely. There were many things I wanted to toast to, but which I definitely couldn't toast to. I wanted to toast Misha and me together, but I knew for a fact that there was no us in the future. A thought that I just had to push away to a dark place in my brain, forgetting that for the coming days. I just wanted to enjoy my time with Misha, even if it was just for a short period of time.

And that was exactly what I was going to toast to. "To a nice small vacation together, with lots of sun, good food, and nice cocktails," I said, grinning because I was copying his earlier words. I quickly looked around, seeing no staff actually looking at us. ".. and lots of kisses, of course," I then said softly, before clinking my glass against his. Misha chuckled, and toasted his glass to mine.

After we both had a sip of the tastiest champagne I'd ever had, Misha took both glasses and set them on the small table in front of us. We were sitting next to each other on a large leather love seat, that looked nothing like airplane chairs. We were already in the air, without any turbulence, so we were allowed to not have our seatbelts fastened. And that made this all truly feel like we were sitting in a comfortable living room. It was crazy.

He then placed two fingers under my chin, bringing our faces closer to each other. I wasn't far from melting under this subtle touch. "Since time is limited.." he said softly, placing a soft and short kiss on my lips. ".. why not start already?" he added, giving me a small smile. My gaze dropped to his lips, and only a second later I pressed mine onto his. I wanted to kiss him so badly. And I really wasn't big on public display of affection, but it seemed like all my morals seemed to vanish when I was around Misha. We almost had sex on his desk. I knew the crew was still around, but just a kiss wouldn't be too bad. And I didn't even think about it as he cupped the side of my face with his hand, deepening the kiss. I missed kissing him. I missed touching him and making love to him. Being in love with Misha meant having to be patient. And I hated being patient.

I had no idea how long we'd been kissing, but it couldn't have been longer than twenty seconds before he let go of me. I had been ready to take the kiss to a next level, to sit closer to him and ruffle my hands through his hair. But him pulling back knocked some sense into my brain, because we were still on a plane. "I don't want to make the staff uncomfortable, Miss Fisher," he grinned a little too confident, as if I were the one who initiated this kiss.

"You're right," I said calmly, ignoring my heartbeat that was going crazy. It was just a kiss, Nadezeya. I took the glasses of champagne again, which made the distance between us automatically a little bigger. After I handed his over, I sat back in the seat. Misha was still grinning, of course. I pretended I didn't see this expression and just looked at him amused. We both wanted the same thing, but we also both knew that this was the one thing we couldn't be doing right now.

"I have never been on a private jet before," I told him, as if that wasn't very obvious. He thought I'd been working in daycare before coming here, and that didn't earn quite the private jet type of salary. Almost no job did. Because even though I had a great function at my job, as an undercover agent, I would never be able to pay this much money for something like this. I had a nice home, I could afford beautiful clothing, and I was able to buy the things I needed. This was just different. But then again, I wasn't a criminal, either.

"Most people haven't," he simply said, with his gaze still focused on me. "I do not always travel like this either," he then told me, which was something I was aware of. When we went to Berlin, we traveled by regular plane too. We had business-class seats, but that was nothing compared to this luxury. I understood the reason he wanted to travel privately right now. Misha wasn't world-famous, but people in New York that were interested in the market he was active in, would surely recognize him. They would see he was traveling with an unknown woman other than his fiancé, which then would be headlining in the tabloids not even twenty-four hours later. 

"What did you tell Maddison about this weekend?" I then decided to ask him. I hated bringing up this subject, but I needed to know. I needed to know what lies he told his fiancé. Not only because I had to know what answer to give her if she called again, but also because we needed to talk about these things now. Leaving everything unspoken was going to turn against us someday. I still couldn't believe I was falling in love with an engaged man. I never imagined something like that could happen to me. But then again, Misha Zaveri made everything seem possible.

He seemed to think about my question for a split second. "I told her I'm going to visit Sergio," he told me, sighing softly after he admitted this. Of course he did. Sergio would lie for him if Maddison was going to check if Misha was telling the truth. And I knew now, that was something she did. The fact that he used Sergio as an excuse, also told me what I'd been guessing already. The man knew about our affair. "He knows about us, doesn't he?" I asked Misha, whose gaze darted away from me, seemingly feeling a little awkward about it.

"That guy can read me like a book. It's impossible for me to keep secrets from him," Misha admitted, finally opening up to me about things he hadn't opened up about ever before. I was glad he did, but I didn't want to ask him more about any of it. I knew this was my chance to receive more information that could be very useful for the investigation, but I didn't want to. I felt sick even thinking about giving my team information that could harm Misha, but I knew I had to. They would get impatient if I wouldn't tell them more than I did now, but I hated every part of it.

Misha was studying me, probably afraid I was growing angry about him telling Sergio about our affair. But I wasn't angry. I was worried. Sergio didn't seem to trust me at all. "I get it," I told Misha. I looked at him, smiling, before I took a sip of my champagne. "I can't believe I'm important enough for you to tell your friends about me," I then said, slightly grinning. And even though I was joking around, I was starting to understand now that I wasn't just another one. He had a past with Ruby, but he told me they were just friends now, which I believed. I believed this wasn't something he just did. He didn't take ever take random girls to the Bahamas, and he didn't usually cheat on his fiancé. This made everything only more difficult for me, but I couldn't help but be glad.

Misha chuckled, taking my free hand that wasn't holding the champagne. He was very affectionate today. I loved it. "How many times do I have to tell you before you start believing that I don't ever do this," he told me, faking being annoyed with me but grinning right after. I intertwined our fingers, not ever breaking the eye contact we had going on.

"You're doing this with me. Why is that?" I provoked him a little. I wanted to get a reaction from him. I wanted to really make sure he wasn't lying to me. Misha was a good liar, and I was often unable to read him. Besides, my feelings for him were completely drowning out every possible red flag about him.

"Because I'm in love with you," Misha then blatantly said. And I just stared at him, feeling my heartbeat pick up in speed. All my nerves were tingling, realizing what he just said. He was in love with me. And I was very much in love with him, too. How could I ever betray a man that had stolen my heart so quickly? This mission was going to be impossible to finish the right way.

I was speechless, literally out of words I could say to him right now. So instead of saying anything at all, I just kissed him. I ignored the fact that we weren't the only ones in this aircraft. I pressed my lips to his lips to drown out all my thoughts and worries, and to let my mind be taken over by Misha Zaveri, and how he just told me he was in love with me. I wanted to think about nothing else anymore.