Page 37 of Resurrection

After securing the door, I turn on my heel, a smirk on my face. “What was it I said earlier? Something about Valeriya fucking you over, wasn’t it?” I grin. “A bit of a pump and dump, but definitely feels like she fucked you.”

Carys lets out a frustrated huff. “You don’t want to eat dinner with me when I’m sober. I’ll bore you to death. I’m a lot more fun when I’m drunk.”

I brush past her, and I chuckle. “Guess we’ll find out.”

Chapter Fourteen

Carys

We’ve made Valeriya’s apartment base camp while we sort through her papers, search for clues. Jay is phoning airlines, checking security footage, calling taxi companies. Finn’s on a conference call with an IT company. They’re supposed to be hacking into her phone records or her email—preferably both.

Seems like Finn’s right about Valeriya fucking me over. But since we don’t understandwhyshe vacated her apartment, he can’t declare a complete victory yet. Or at least, that’s what I told him. Really the two of us sitting down for a sober conversation over dinner, discussing things beyond this work, terrifies me. There’s only the tiniest thread of my willpower intact.

As I sort through the papers in a desk drawer, I come across a pile that stops me short. The surrogacy documents she signed. Back when I was with Eric, Valeriya responded to an advertisement I ran for a surrogate to carry a baby for me. In the end, the timing hadn’t been right, and I changed my mind. But I liked her enough to offer her a junior job in my Russian office. She worked her way up to the second-in-command toEkaterina. A lot of time and determination went into her getting this position. Why would she do this to me?

I’m about to rip up the contract when Finn appears in the doorway.

“Find anything?” he says.

I twist my mouth as I drop the pile of documents into the drawer. “Nothing useful.” Turning to him, I close it with my hip. “We need to follow the cash.”

“You got someone who can trace where her money went?”

“Maybe. I need to call Ekaterina.”

“And she is?”

“The lead person of this division. She’s in Moscow working on getting us more contracts, but she might be aware of something. We believed Valeriya was on top of the warehouse theft.”

Finn shakes his head, his shoulder on the doorframe. “The only thing Valeriya has been on top of is her own agenda.”

“Any luck with the IT company?”

“Gotta give them a few hours, and you’ll need to wire the payment to them.”

Finding her might cost more than backing down. I can’t waste time and resources on a dead end. “At some point, it’ll be more expensive to find her than to let her go.”

“I’m sure she’s counting on your levelheaded approach.”

I laugh. “And your approach would be?”

A hint of a smile touches Finn’s lips. “You’re aware.”

“Pursue her to the ends of the earth and burn her on a stake?”

He holds up his hands. “My revenge isn’t always rational.”

“Not always, huh?”

His expression is pensive. “Maybe never.” He cocks his head. “In my business, you needed a rep to keep people in line. Everyone in Boston understood you didn’t mess with the Donaghey family. First, because my old man was such a terror,and then because I was even worse.” There isn’t a hint of remorse in his words.

“You’re proud of that.” I cross my arms and stare at him.

Not an accusation, more of an observation. I’ve never considered how Finn feels about the reputation he’s built. Perhaps part of me hoped he regretted at least some aspect. Yeah, he’s impulsive, reckless even, but he makes himself sound as though he doesn’t even have a conscience.

“Come on, Carys. You don’t think I should be? After my father died, the organization didn’t collapse. We got stronger, bigger.”

On the tip of my tongue are the words,You also got raided by the FBI, but I’m the one who led them there. “When your father died.” I punctuate each word with a pause. “Finn, you played a role.”

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