Page 6 of Forced Bratva Wife

“Speak!”

“Gambling!” He squirmed against my grip; Pietor had already secured his arms, so there was little else he could do. “I lost it!”

Ugh. Not this bullshit.

I hated gambling. Taking a risk for potential profit is one thing, but going in on something when the odds were so clearly not in your favor was just plain stupid. Every game in this town was rigged, from basketball to cards to horses.

“You’ve got to be kidding, Pavel. You lost it gambling? Thought you’d double down, huh? On what? Who fronted you the credit?”

There was no one in town who didn’t run things through the Vadims first. We owned basically every bookie and club in this town. If it was one of ours that let him gamble with such high bids, knowing he stole that money, they were in some serious shit.

“I…”

“If you fucking stutter one more goddamn time Pavel, I’m going to blow a hole in your damn knee. Speak up.” The words may not have been a shout, but they were low, a growl, and I shoved harder against the gun at his head.

“Wasn’t yours! I went off family to bet. I knew you’d…”

Smashing the gun against the side of his face, I pulled back from him. Pavel’s head whipped to the side, and I ground my molars, gripping the pistol so hard it bit into my hand.

“You knew that we’d catch on.”

Pietor righted Pavel in his chair as he’d slumped to the side, and I faced him once more. “Who, asshole? What crew dealt with you?”

A grotesque sob blubbered out of the man as he spat blood, tears, drool and snot smearing all over his face since he couldn’t wipe it away.

“Lenny Dotson.” Pavel sniffled. “Independent contractor.”

Disgust roiled through my veins, and my head fell as I sighed. “Fucking, of course.”

Giving Pavel a swift kick to the shin, I shook my head, racking my brain for ideas. Lenny was well-known throughout the city as one of the few remaining bookies and dealers who weren’t loyal to anyone. I’d been warned about him as soon as I got to town and received the low down on business from Sergey and the gang.

The guy was smart, always moved around, and he had a small network of chumps working for him. Tracking him down to put him out of business had been impossible for the Vadims for years. It wasn’t worth it to try tracking him down in a vain attempt to get our money back.

Pavel’s fucking kid was the best shot right now. Dammit. I don’t have time for this.

I hunkered down on the balls of my feet, using the gun to shove Pavel’s chin back up.

“Name. I need your daughter’s name, whereabouts, everything.”

Unconsciousness was dragging him down at the edges, and as much as I wanted to lay into him for that, I reined it in, just giving Pavel a few slaps with the pistol. He pulled back, his eyes lazily opening.

“Parker…Kozlovsky. Attending the Chicago Medical School at…at Franklin. That’s it. It’s all I know.” He shook his head. “They keep that shit private. She just moved down by campus. Strawberry blonde hair, short.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s so much to go on, Pavel. Don’t strain yourself.”

With a sigh, I looked up at Pietor. “Get our guys on the phone. Find out where she lives. We’ve got an in with the school, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

There was a trickle of fear behind Pavel’s exhausted eyes, and I ate that shit up like goddamn cake. He really thought he could pull one over on us and get away with it. Chump was going to learn real fast how much we enjoy being played.

Watching Pietor pull out his phone and dial up a few of the more technologically savvy among the family, it didn’t take long for him to nod at me.

“Marcus says he can pull on his connection on campus. He’s in with one of the dealers we have working in that area.” He turned his attention back to the phone, and I stood back up, looking down at Pavel with a satisfied smirk. “He’s got a man on the phone with him. Says it’ll take the guy a minute to crack the campus files.”

I leveled the gun at Pavel once more. “You do know what’s going to happen if they can’t find her in the system, right?”

The guy swallowed hard, and I continued to just stare him down. It was longer than I would have liked before Pietor heard back from our university contacts, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that our dear Parker was living in a student apartment just off campus.

“Thank you, Pietor.” I turned back to Pavel. “Well, I guess it’s your lucky fucking day.”

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