Free Her Russian Billionaire (A BWWM Russian Oligarch Interracial Romance) by Imani King Page A

the case generally presented by someone who was present when the situation occurred?”
    “No, not always. And, at this point, you are more familiar with the case than anyone else, other than me. It makes the most sense for you to present it to the conference.”
    “Why? So you can interrogate me again and humiliate me in front of everyone?”
    Makarov paused, looking at me questioningly for a long moment before he spoke.
    “I did no such thing.”
    “Yes you did,” I argued through clenched teeth. “And when I complained about it later to a friend at the bar, you happened to overhear me and you’ve been punishing me ever since.”
    “Punishing you?” Lex seemed genuinely confused at my assertion, but I wasn’t about to let him play dumb.
    “Yes. You’ve been punishing me with these stupid case files—giving me extra work on top of my rotations in the Emergency Room, even though there is an entire department at this hospital whose job it is to handle these cases.”
    “I had no idea you felt that way,” he said. I could see the anger building in his eyes as he considered my words. “Well, I’m sorry,” he continued, sounding anything but sorry. His voice rose as he continued. “I’ve been doing this for years and I’ve never asked an intern to be my advisor before. I actually thought asking you to help out would be seen as a compliment to your abilities. I wanted to foster your goals of being the excellent doctor you so strive to be. Sorry I was so impressed by the way that you handled yourself at the last M&M conference, that I asked for you to continue. It won’t happen again.”
    Lex stopped and ran a hand over his eyes. When he looked back up, he seemed much calmer than before. I moved to speak but he put his other hand up to silence me instead.
    “Sorry,” he said after a minute, in a hushed tone.
    His eyes locked on mine, and there was a vulnerability there that I’d never seen before. I opened my mouth to speak again but he shook his head.
    “Just let me get this out,” he said. “I know I’ve acted out of line. I’ve let my attraction to you influence the way I interact with you on a professional level. I just… I really liked you—professionally and…personally. Because of that, I crossed a line that I shouldn’t have, professionally speaking. I’m so used to women who are willing to do anything to jump into my bed. And you’re not like that, not at all. You’re not afraid of my position in the hospital. You don’t care about my money…” His voice trailed off.
    “Why would I be? I’m a doctor, and once I graduate, I’ll be more than comfortable. Not as wealthy as you, to be sure, but I’m not interested in money. Never have been.”
    “I know, I know. And I admire that. Listen, I’m sorry you felt like this was punishment. I’ll get someone else to help from now on. You should go.”
    I really didn’t know what to say. I stood there awkwardly for a moment, just staring at him. Eventually, I nodded and left his office without a backwards glance.

Chapter 13
    I continued to replay my conversation with Lex over and over in my head in the few days that followed. In fact, I began to reevaluate every interaction the two of us had ever had. I’d been angry ever since the M&M conference. Every conversation after that had felt like a showdown from my perspective. Had he seen them as something different? In light of our last conversation, I realized that he must have.
    No matter what he said or did, I still clung to the idea that the guy was an entitled prick. He may have had feelings for me, I reasoned, but that didn’t make him a good person. Hell, he could’ve even lied about those feelings in order to manipulate me and make me feel bad. I honestly didn’t know what to think.
    “You okay, Michelle?” I looked up at the sound of Dr. Grimes’s voice. She was watching me from across the break room.
    “Yeah,” I replied self-consciously.
    “You’ve just seemed rather