Page 46 of Covert Vengeance

An auction? That cocky motherfucker was threatening to sell Amber in an auction on the Dark Net if Yury didn’t pay the three million Cordova had demanded?

Balls. The fuckingballs.

He shoved the rush of anger aside and focused. There was a link to the auction site. Yury clicked on it. It had to be a trick. A trap of some sort.

Except he recognized the name of the man who’d set up the auction. Someone well known in the criminal underworld for selling whatever people wanted to move—weapons, drugs, women. The man could definitely sell Amber and get top dollar for her elsewhere.

Yury called his hacker. “Check everything out. If anything looks suspicious, you tell me. Understood?”

“Yes. Give me an hour or two.”

Yury did his own digging in the meantime, but didn’t find anything that looked out of place. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing a finger across the space between his nose and upper lip.

What if Cordova really would sell Amber to someone else? The price could easily go as high as five million once bidders knew what she was, maybe even higher. Yury could potentially lose her to someone else.

Not. Happening.

She was his to do with as he pleased. She would suffer and die byhishand, and no one else’s. That’s the way it had to be.

The hacker called back fifty minutes later. “Everything looks legit, right down to the backgrounds of the people listed on the site.”

“What about Cordova’s location?”

“Nothing except it originated somewhere in England.”

Damn. “I’ll call you if I need anything further.”

He opened the forum back up, staring hard at Cordova’s message. Greedy motherfucker. But Yury could get the money together within a couple days. And he wanted this over with. He’d waited too long already to punish Amber Brown. Then, when he was done with her, he’d hunt down Cordova and end him too.

I’ll get you the money, he typed, anger punching through him with every keystroke.But we meet when and where I say. London.

Unease filled his gut, but he hit send anyway.

He leaned back in the chair, dragging a hand over his face as a wave of fatigue hit him. It was done. He’d set the wheels in motion and would be doubly careful from here on out.

He’d get all his and Zoya’s money back anyway. He would recover every last cent that bitch Amber Brown had stolen from them before he killed her. They said Valkyries never broke under torture, but he was game to test that.

Killing Cordova was merely a bonus.

Chapter Thirteen

“Oh, yeah, show me the money.” Amber practically squirmed in her seat when the account number finally showed up on Jesse’s burner phone the next morning. He’d brought it here to her room ten minutes ago, along with the news that the money transfer was about to take place.

Stanislav was going to pay the whole three mil, because he had no choice. They’d made sure of that. And she knew just what to do with the funds.

“Love that movie,” Jesse murmured behind her, his breath tickling her ear. “Maybe we can watch it together later. In bed, after everyone else is asleep,” he added in a low, suggestive murmur that added the wordnaked.

She nudged an elbow into his ribs, doing her best to ignore how close he was and the rise of goosebumps over her skin. “Stop bothering me and let Ada and me do our thing.” She accessed her offshore bank and got ready to do the transfer.

“Why Ada?”

“Lady Ada. After Ada Lovelace.” She shot him a frown. “Youdoknow who she was, right?”

“The name’s familiar.”

She sighed in disappointment and faced her beloved laptop. “She was the debauched Lord Byron’s daughter, and basically the world’s first computer programmer. Would have made one hell of a Valkyrie in her day, I think.”

“Hmm. Have I told you how hot it is, watching you work?”

---