Page 56 of King’s Promise

Pavel and I exchange looks. It appears the family has a few skeletons in their closet and Anya is paying for it.

I turn to Igor’s advisor. “Do you think he’ll force her to marry him, or will he hold her hostage to bait me?”

“Tough call,” Konstantin replies, having silently waited for my interrogation to finish. “I had no idea. I knew he was being paid money, I assumed he was doing extra jobs for Igor, it was a touchy subject, and I couldn’t pressure him too much. I should have put it together.”

“Now that I’ve spoken, they can’t be married here, it’s illegal,” Inessa adds.

“It doesn’t matter,where would he be with her? You know the other holdings and I assume some might be off the grid.”

“There are.” He nods once in agreement.

“We need to hit them all, let’s go,” I reply.

Pavel is already on the phone as we walk to our black SUV. His eyes are lifeless as he explains, “Sergei left a few hours ago and his phone isn’t going through. Fuck. We were sitting ducks. Do you think he killed Igor?”

“Doubtful, he doesn’t impress me as a man capable of that, he wanted his love and recognition. With him dead, any shot of it dies with him. This Irish bloke, Cillian, he’s the one who heads the Irish mafia. We need Dmitry informed.”

Pavel dispatches more soldiers to Inessa’s house to provide more security.

I’m angry enough to tear someone’s head off. There’s no way Pavel could have known about Sergei, we didn’t vet him and Russian records can be changed for a price.

“Igor’s death left him perfectly positioned to take over with the help of others,” I murmur.

Pavel runs his hand over his stern chin. “Sergei needs someone to help him. Who do we suspect?”

“The Irish are helping him,” I exclaim. “It makes sense because Gracie is missing, and we’ve heard rumblings the Irish are muscling in on our betting outlets. That’s George’s territory, so either he’s in on it, or he’s being played. Someone is skimming money to finance a takeover. It’s all falling into place.”

* * *

We returnto my estate and inform my brothers. Hazel is making meat pies for us to take on the road.

“I’m here for you, brother,” Roman says while checking his gun to make sure it’s loaded. “We’re going to need more weapons, and we need to hit some of their cash houses and stir shit up.”

“Basement. Papa was always ready for a war.” The room falls silent for a second as his memory hangs over us. I’ve pushed down my anger over his death. “I don’t think Sergei is capable of killing Papa and Igor; it’s a reach, he’s not that bright, he’s flashy, but there’s no telling what he knew of Igor, or the will.”

“I’ll get all the men to beef up patrol on the house, the others will mobilize at a secure location. I’ll send them to a place we’ve never used so if someone is compromised, we’ll know we have a mole.” Pavel says. “Others are going to create chaos on the opposite end of town once we have a deets on the location.”

“Smart thinking. Get on it. Dmitry, anything yet?”

Pavel dispatches men to check all our vehicles with more men arriving to help guard the house and follow us when we have a list of places to check.

Hazel sits and I pour her tea; she’s distraught over Anya.

“I’ll find her, Hazel,” I assure her even though I have no clue how.

Anya must be scared. “Where could Sergei take her? I want answers. Now! Konstantin, you knew him best, let’s look at your suggestions first.”

Finally, my head has cleared and I’m in military mode. War has been declared and I need to fight to keep what’s mine.

My heart grows heavier with each passing second. Seconds become minutes and it’s all in slow motion. The idea that someone could snatch Anya right out from under my nose is unbelievable. We’re all capable of guerrilla tactics to get what we want. We’re ruthless, too. This is what concerns me the most.

“Roman, what will Sergei do to her?”

He shrugs. “He wants the throne, what would you do for it?” His eyebrows furrow and his jaw tightens. Really? He chooses now to give it to me straight rather than sugarcoat his bad news?

22

Anya

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