Page 90 of Reign of a Billionaire
“On the phone?” I asked.
“No, face-to-face.” My jaw clenched. Winston would have already given me the entire fucking story by now, but instead, I was having to drag it out of Billie. I knew I made her nervous, so I tried to be considerate, but there were times—like now—where it’d be easier to just have her step aside.
“Where and why?” I needed to know whether the lead on Sofia was reliable. “Actually, tell him it’s urgent, and it concerns Danil too.”
“Huh?”
“Billie, put. Winston. On. The. Fucking. Phone.”
Fuck, Winston was going to be pissed off when he learned about this. To Billie’s credit, she just huffed, and I could hear her faint voice through the headset as she spoke to Winston.
“Kingston wants to talk to you. And he’s being a cranky bitch.”
I let out an exasperated breath. Time to stop handling my sister-in-law with delicate gloves. It turned out she’d grown a set of balls sometime over the last year.
“Kingston,” Winston greeted me.
“Watch Danil’s expression,” I instructed. “And put me on speakerphone.”
He didn’t hesitate. “You’re on speakerphone, Kingston.”
I got straight to business. “Danil, are you meeting or have you already met with Sofia Volkov?”
His response was immediate. “Fuck no. That bitch is crazy.”
Just as I suspected. “Why am I hearing rumors that you’re meeting with her in Montenegro?”
Two heartbeats passed before he flung out a string of curses. “I’m going to kill that motherfucker when I get my hands on him.”
“Care to elaborate?” I demanded.
“My father’s in Montenegro.” Clearly he wasn’t happy. “Don’t worry, that meeting won’t happen, because I’m going to murder them both.”
I considered his words for a second before saying, “This could be our chance to set Sofia up.”
“Are you saying let it happen?” Winston chimed in just as Danil’s phone sounded, signaling a sent message.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if I can let it happen. My father’s dabbled in human trafficking in the past, and I’m certain it’s the reason behind this meeting. I can’t have that connected to the Popov family name.”
Fuck!
“How long has he been involved?” I asked, debating whether it’d be wise to fly to Montenegro and try to corner Sofia myself.
“I’m not sure. I’ve only learned about it in the recent years,” Danil admitted. “It’s the reason I had him removed. He was doing it behind everyone’s back.”
Just as I ended the call, my phone buzzed again and I glanced at the screen.
Alexei: You in?
A reflection of golden locks caught the corner of my eye and my decision was made.
The next day, with Liana by my side, we were parked on the outskirts of Budva Riviera in a black van. A large oak tree and the night’s crescent moon provided us with decent cover.
Alexei’s intel was that Danil’s father and Sofia were meeting here—a state-of-the-art warehouse with a soundproof basement, according to blueprints we managed to get our hands on. Whoever our source was, they didn’t want to be found.
Danil claimed he’d never heard of the building and insisted that his father wasn’t en route to Montenegro. In terms of Sofia, we hadn’t gleaned any additional information on her whereabouts, so it was possible she was already here.
