Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
The place screamed wealth and power.
Viktor didn’t say anything as he guided me forward. There were so many things going through my head, and the silence was killing me. When I couldn’t stand it a second longer, I asked, “Can I ask you something?”
The side of Viktor’s mouth twitched like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear whatever I was about to say. “Go ahead.”
I hesitated for a second, then went for it.
“You don’t have an accent.”
His grip on my arm loosened slightly. “Neither do you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said. “The others, the men who brought me here had a pretty heavy Russian accent, but you and your brother…”
“That’s because I wasn’t born there. My brothers and I grew up in New York.”
“Really? What part?”
“Brooklyn.”
“No way.” He looked slightly amused when I told him, “My son and I lived in Bay Ridge for almost two years.”
“Bay Ridge?”
“Yeah. We moved there after…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. “Anyway, we used to eat at a little diner called Maggie’s. Have you ever heard of it?”
He let out a short laugh as he nodded, “Yeah, I know it. Used to go there quite a bit.”
“Seriously?”
“I don’t joke, Miss Warren.” When we reached the end of the hall, Viktor opened a door and said, “You should be comfortable here.”
I stepped inside the enormous bedroom, and just like the hallway, it was elaborately decorated with a king-size bed, a dresser, a sofa, and a private bathroom. I’d never stayed in such a fancy room, but I didn’t like the idea of being locked in there for days on end. “How long will I have to stay in here?”
“As long as it takes.”
“And how do you know that I won’t try to escape?”
“Because if you do, I’ll have to put a bullet in that pretty little head of yours, and neither of us want that.” He reached into his pocket, and I feared he was going to pull out his weapon until I saw bundle of letters. “I believe these belong to you.”
He tossed them on the bed and closed the door. The lock clicked, and just like that, things had gone from bad to worse. I wanted to believe that Rooks would give them the information they needed, and this nightmare would be over. But I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that easy.
That should have had me spiraling, and it did.
I didn’t know what Sergei and his brother had planned.
I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of there alive, and it terrified me to think that I might not make it back to Ford and Holt. I had no idea what that would mean for them. But as I stood there in my storm of terror and regret, I couldn’t stop staring at the letters.
I knew if I opened them, it would break something inside of me, and I was already on the verge of losing it. I wasn’t sure I could take much more. But the longer I stared at those little white envelopes, the more tempted I became.
19
SEVEN
“You don’t understand.” Rooks curled his hands into a fist. “I just helped him set up the accounts.”
“Okay, then why didn’t you tell us that from the start?”
“You were asking about a code. I don’t know anything about a code.”
“They’re Russian.” Goose shrugged. “Maybe there was a mix up in communication or something.”
“There wasn’t a mix-up. He knew damn well what they were wanting!”
Tension had filled the bar with the kind of thick, suffocating pressure that settled deep in your bones and refused to let go. I’d already gone a round with Rooks, and as I sat there glaring at him, I had to resist the urge to go after him again, especially when he kept feeding us a line of bullshit no one believed.
“We’re not getting anywhere with this.” Grim looked over to me as he said, “We need to set up an exchange, and we need to do it now.”
Before I could respond, Prez stepped back into the bar and motioned for me and the others to step into the hall. Once we were gathered around, Preacher looked to me as he said, “Just got off the phone with Cotton.”
“And?”
“These guys aren’t your typical mafia. They come from old money and have deep pockets. Real deep. They don’t do shit by the book. They run some dope, but not the hard stuff and a few weapons here and there. But nothing over the top.”
“So, what were they doing with Tallie’s father?”
“He was helping them buy up properties along the river. They’ve been using them as fronts for their drug and weapon distribution, but Sergei’s ultimate goal is to build a high dollar, water-front casino with all the bells and whistles.”
“That’s the last thing we need around here.”