Page 75 of Love Me in the Dark
Nik: You’re buying goods at the auction?
Nik was my right-hand man for several reasons, but one of the best things about him was the seamless way he understood my instructions. He knew not to speak out loud in here.
Me: Stealing goods, setting fires and shooting a few people.
He raised his eyebrows as he read my text, then shrugged.
Nik: What do you need me to do?
Me: Get one of the women and take her out to the car. Dark hair, older than the rest, blue eyes, number 873.
Fucking stunning. Doesn’t belong here, I added mentally.
This time, he looked up at me, widening his eyes.
Me: My future wife. I’ll create a distraction.
Nik gave a startled huff.
Nik: Okay, boss. Did you get the other thing you came for?”
I held up the ledgers.
The door opened and closed as Dobri returned, an air of irritation around him.
“Are you ready to bid?” Dobri leered at me expectantly from the other side of the desk, his yellowed teeth exposed.
“You’ve been skimming money, Dobri.”
“What?” he spluttered, his face turning red. “That’s fucking?—”
I lifted my gun and shot him between the eyes. He went down like the sack of shit he was, barging the desk forward with his momentum. Despite the silencer, the gunshot had been loud in the office and rang in my ears. Nik cracked the door open to check the corridor outside. He closed the door again and shook his head briefly.
I snatched Dobri’s cigarettes and lighter from the desk and stepped around his corpse, carrying the ledgers.
“The woman, Charlotte, has an office at the front,” Nik said as he strode off toward the girls.
I wanted to follow him, but I needed to tie all this up, and I knew Nik wouldn’t let me down. Lighting a cigarette, I took a long drag, disliking the feel of smoke in my lungs. I’d quit many years ago and had no intention of restarting at thirty-three, but I needed an easy fire starter.
Finding the man at the front door, I ordered him to take me to Charlotte. Her office was by the warehouse's front doors and smelled much better than Dobri’s. She stood from her computer, smoothing her suit jacket as I walked in. My eyes zeroed in on the wastepaper basket, full of paper.
“We got word there was money skimming, and I’ve found evidence it’s Dobri,” I said without preamble.
“What?” Her face paled.
“Did you know?”
“No!” She held up her hands. “I swear.”
If it were anyone else but me, she’d be dead too. Or sold off, but she was lucky she was a woman, and although she was part of this, so was I.
“I believe you.”
She swallowed.
“Where is the security footage?”
“It feeds to my laptop, but the main box is in Dobri’s office.” She gestured at the computer.
