Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Boris clears his throat rather sheepishly. “A friend.”
I glare at my uncle. “And who is this friend?”
“A dancer by the name of Brandi-Lynn. She works at—”
“The Pink Diamond,” I interrupt.
Boris’s eyes light up. “You know her?”
I shoot him another glare. “No. It was an easy guess, knowing your penchant for girls at The Pink Diamond.”
Boris offers me another sheepish grin.
“And this Brandi-Lynn, how would she know about Vlad and where he’s hiding out?” I ask, growing impatient.
Feeling my mood, Maksim explains, “Another dancer confided in her. Told her she was spending time with him. Said he had plans to make a move on some big players in town. He told her she was fucking the man who would be King of New York by the end of the month.”
Boris adds, “According to Brandi-Lynn, Vlad was planning on taking some, quote, ‘Russian cunt’s bride’ and making him pay for her safe return.”
My hands curl into fists, and I clench my teeth. When I think about what Vlad did to Brooke, how he marked her skin, how terrified she must have been… I have to breathe in slowly through my nose to calm the rising fire in me. “And when you visited this woman in New Jersey, what happened?”
Boris looks frustrated. “It was a complete waste of our time.”
Maksim adds, “Vlad wasn’t there. She said she hadn’t seen him in days.”
“And you believed her?”
“When she showed us the burned pile of his belongings in the back yard, we did. She thought he’d run off with another woman, so she set fire to any clothes or belongings he’d left at her apartment.”
The elevator reaches the penthouse suite, and when the doors open, I’m first to leave. I step into my office and head straight to the bar to pour a shot of vodka. I need to calm the angry beast inside of me. It wants loose, and it wants to roar. I’m used to being in control, but right now, I feel my grip on it slipping away because I’m so angry I want to burn the entire world down. Because of what was done to her and my failure to stop it from happening.
“Lev, why are we in your apartment?” Maksim asks. “This is information we could’ve shared at the meeting.”
I don’t sip the vodka. I down it in one mouthful. “Because, as of this moment, you three are the only three people I trust.”
My uncle and cousins share confused looks.
I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. “How did Vlad know Brooke was going to be at that liquor store?”
“He must have had somebody watching her,” Boris says.
I turn to look at him. “Perhaps, but this feels more than opportunistic. This feels planned. He had a point to make. He wanted to show that he could get to me and my circle whenever he wanted to. He waited for the right opportunity, and when it presented itself, he was ready. But he doesn’t have the resources to have men on constant surveillance.”
Maksim frowns. “You think someone in the bratva told him?”
The idea makes me sick. “Yes, I think we have a rat in the house. And I don’t mean Vadim. Whoever took her knew where she was going to be.”
Feliks’ brows pull together. “There was only a handful of people who knew Brooke was going to be there. You, me, Maksim, Igor, and the new bodyguard.”
I turn back to the view below. “The new bodyguard who was with her the day she was taken. What do we know about him?”
“He’s ex-military. He was vetted well. He’s straight down the line.”
But he’s new.
We vet soldiers rigorously. We leave no stone unturned when it comes to their past and their associations. But trust needs to be earned. And I don’t know him, so I don’t trust him. And I’m fucking angry at myself for putting Brooke in his charge.
“Tell Pierce I want the bodyguard looked into.” My head of security is like a bloodhound. If there is anything fishy in the bodyguard’s life, he’ll find it. “I want every minute detail of his life looked into. If he’s the rat, something is going to prove he’s tied to Vlad somehow.”
“And if he is, you want me to dispose of him?” Feliks asks.
“No, I will do it myself. People need to learn that if they touch my fiancée, then I’m gonna make sure there’s hell to pay.”
9
LEV
After I leave my uncle and cousins, I head to the hospital to check in on Igor.
The nurse is changing his bandages when I arrive, so I stand at the viewing window, my body tense with anger. It hurts to see my friend lying there.
I feel a person next to me, and when I look, it’s Agent Michaels.
“The doctor says it’s a miracle he survived,” Michaels says.