Page 12 of Blood Mosaic

“The human finds the money or she doesn’t find the money. Either way, we can use her to draw Zara out.”

“Use her as bait?” Oleg was intrigued.

Zara taking up with Laskaris meant his own child was out of his aegis because the old Greek was wealthy, influential, and powerful with the old guard in Athens and Rome. And since vampires were slow to come into the modern world, the Athenian immortal court still held an enormous amount of sway among vampires.

“As long as she stays in Istanbul, we can’t touch her, but the moment she steps back into your territory…” Mika shrugged. “Laskaris might complain, but there would be nothing he could do.”

“Zara’s left the woman alone this long. Why do you think she’d bother to come after her now?”

“Before now, Tatyana Vorona wasn’t revealing all her secrets to you.”

“I like your thinking.” Oleg nodded. “Instead of keeping Tatyana’s identity a secret, we make it known that she’s working with us. That Zara’s secret bookkeeper came to us and is helping us track her money.”

“She has her financial settlement from you, but she knows she can’t touch it.”

Oleg smiled. It was one of his finer ideas. No sire in the immortal world would send their progeny off without some kind of financial settlement, usually something around five percent of their wealth, which in Oleg’s case was a treasure gathered over a millennium of conquest along the richest river cities in Europe.

And five percent of that immense wealth was sitting in several nondescript trunks in his mansion in Saint Petersburg, the heart of Oleg’s business empire.

All Zara had to do to claim her inheritance was return to Oleg’s territory.

Mika continued, “With your permission, Oksana and I will put the word out among the immortal gossips of the world that Tatyana is our new favorite human and she has all the information we need. Whether it’s true or not, it will draw Zara out.”

“It could put the human at risk.”

Mika frowned. “Do you care?”

“An excellent question.”

Oleg kept strict standards on who could be subjected to harm in his world. Mundane humans simply living their lives were a resource. They created the economies that fed his wealth and produced the blood he needed to live. To harm them was as foolish as salting his own fields.

Humans who willingly entered into the vampire world were another matter, which made Tatyana a bit of a conundrum. She had been working with vampires, but he was fairly sure she had no idea what Zara was, which should have made her immune to immortal violence by his own rules.

But…

“Put her name out,” Oleg said. “We’ll keep an eye on Miss Vorona, but getting Zara away from Laskaris is more important. Once she’s not whispering in his ear, we’ll be able to negotiate more reasonable tariffs for our shipping partners.”

“And Zara will finally be under your control.”

“Exactly.” He glanced at Mika again. “Hang Tatyana Vorona out the window and let’s see who comes after her.”

“Done.” Mika smiled. “I’ll start making calls tonight.”

He calledElene on the video chat system built into his office at the penthouse. She must have already arrived at her residence, because he could see her husband in the background mixing a drink and she was dressed in a blue housecoat.

A maid was hanging his coat and then gathered the papers Mika had handed her, stacking them silently on the console table.

“Thank you for calling Marina and filling her in,” Oleg said. “I told her to put the woman in the employee’s suite.”

“I’ve already sent a note over so she won’t be confused when she wakes up.”

“She’ll be confused, but I don’t think she’ll run.” Oleg remembered the firm handshake the woman had offered before she was triggered by his use of amnis.

Elene said, “I have a good feeling about Miss Vorona.”

“You think she can find the accounts?”

Mika lifted a hand to wave goodbye before he departed the room.

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