Page 40 of Poisoned Roses

“Carry out our own investigations into the matter. Visit his apartment, lean on our contacts in the department and ask your informants. I don’t buy that a man heavily sedated after surgery would wake and understand enough to unhook the line keeping him alive before he had all the facts.

“I agree.”

Simeon frowns. “Any ideas?”

“Several.” I rub my thumb against my chin and think hard. There are several possible suspects, but no firm facts.

“Tell me about Nadia Solomin.” I park Leo’s murder to one side and lay out all the cards in play and Simeon sighs. “No trace. The transmitter in the ring must be faulty because we aren’t getting anything. Her apartment is empty and the neighbors haven’t seen her for days. There are no records of her boarding a plane as we studied the cameras at the bus depot and the train station, although she may have slipped through because the cameras are old and not the best.”

“So, if she attempts to sell the ring?”

He shrugs. “I’ve alerted the usual channels to inform me if the ring comes up for sale or is valued. Unless she attempts to sell it by other means, we should be able to trace it.”

“I don’t like it.” I state the fucking obvious because events are spiraling out of control around me.

Simeon nods his agreement.

“I’ve briefed the others and we are collectively working on it.”

The others are my brother’s men who act as a consigliere if you like. We are not the mafia but operate as such and there is a definite order of things that has always served us well in the past.

Simeon asks casually, “Do you know what is expected of you yet?”

He references the reason Boris Fedorov set up this engagement, and I shake my head.

“All I know is we are to embark on a public relations exercise to become the darlings of Russian society. To appeal to the country and bring them firmly on our side.”

“He has a reason for that?” Simeon adds and I shrug.

“Boris always has a reason for everything and I will await instruction. Meanwhile, it works in our favor.”

I fix him with a dark glare, my next question obvious.

“My wedding.”

His cunning smile reassures me.

“It is arranged. The men are briefed and your brothers informed. By the time you walk down the aisle in the Kremlin, it will only be a matter of time.”

A rare smile ghosts my lips, but I won’t celebrate until the plan is executed.

Simeon checks his phone and sighs. “I arranged a meeting with the florist.”

I raise my eyes and he grins. “Any preferences.”

“Yes.” I lean back in my chair and whisper huskily. “Blood-red roses with their thorns intact and nothing else.”

He grins, my meaning perfectly clear.

“Consider it done.”

As he leaves the room, I take a moment and caress the heavy ball of hatred I drag with me everywhere. I open the drawer and remove the file marked ‘Top Secret’ and, as I flip the pages, I find what I’m looking for.

The entire reason I am going along with Boris’s plan and the revenge I am seeking for the murder of Andrei Romanov. The letter my brother Valentin discovered in a dusty English attic.

Andrei

I write this letter with a heavy heart and as always ask you to trust nobody with this. You must know the facts, but I am relying on you to take care of the evidence.

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