pendulum in our favor with the other two companies, but that might require a bit more time and a second trip back to Paris. By the time we’re comfortably seated on Bryce’s private jet heading back to America, we’re both exhausted. “Thanks for a wonderful week. I haven’t been in Paris in so long and it was amazing coming back.” As I thank Bryce, the staff is fussing around us with champagne and appetizers. Bryce lives a charmed life, even if he’s worked hard to get to this point. “I also loved spending time with Mariella. She’s absolutely adorable and I hope I’ll meet her again one day.” “What do you mean, hope ?” “Well, I’m not sure if there will be a future opportunity to meet her.” “Sofia, first off, Mariella adores you. She’s disliked nearly every single woman I’ve ever introduced her to and has a particularly acute disdain for Anastasiya, but you seem to have seduced her with your wit and charm. Of course, the fact that you speak Italian didn’t hurt.” “I’m happy to hear that, because I really like her and enjoyed spending time with her. If you have to come back to Paris in the next few months to conclude the deals with the two other tech companies, I’d love to come back and help.” “I’ll be honest with you, Sofia.” He takes a very serious tone. “I couldn’t have concluded two major deals of this proportion in one week without you. You were an instrumental part of the success of these negotiations.” “Oh. Um. Wow.” I’m at a loss for words and Bryce’s compliment makes me blush. “I’m really happy you’re so pleased with the way things turned out and that I could help.” My words come out in such an awkward way because I didn’t expect this from Bryce. “I have big news to share.” “Really? What’s the big news?” “I’ve been thinking about this since before we left New York. I’ve been looking at the many opportunities that came from the galas we attended a few weeks ago and after a number of conference calls with my team of executives, I’ve decided to reopen an office in New York and move in a small team that I’ll oversee personally at first until I get a management team in place. The European and Canadian clients need a different level of service than our American ones.” “Reopen? You had an office in New York?” He hesitates a bit too much before answering. “Ummm, yes. I did have an office and shut everything down about five years ago to pursue more lucrative opportunities in Silicon Valley.” He avoids my gaze and feigns being preoccupied by some lint on his well-cut trousers. There’s something more to this story. There has to be. “Well, I…” He stops in mid-sentence and becomes preoccupied again by more fictitious lint. “I had to get out of New York after a bad divorce and decided to start fresh on the other side of the country.” He fixes his gaze into mine and declares in a fake cheerful voice, “But that was then and this is now, and I’m ready to settle back in New York.” It seems that I’m not the only one who experienced a string of bad relationships. The mighty Bryce Van Der Linden has also had his share of heartbreaks. He breaks the moody vibe by taking control of the conversation again. “Oh, I have a little something for you to thank you for such outstanding negotiation skills in a language I barely know, but that’s becoming more and more crucial to the expansion of my company.” He’s switched back to the boardroom Bryce. He sounds so corporate I assume he’s going to give me something practical like a new briefcase or a new iPad, but from the size of the small box, I immediately know my assumptions are wrong. I open the box to discover another box. After opening the second box, I realize there’s a third. I look at him, trying to understand the significance of his charade. “I thought that using the concept of the Russian Matryoshka doll and nesting the boxes was a