Page 18 of Thorns of Desire
Except the woman—Athena—had left my bed, leaving behind only her lingerie.
I forced the memory from my thoughts, leaning back in the leather chair and crossing my ankle over my knee.
“It would seem Atticus was indeed in Paris.”
The day after I shot that Triads’ man between the eyes, Ghost—Kingston Ashford—was able to trace Atticus to a shitty hotel outside Paris. The billionaire Atticus Popov, disguised as a poor bum, checked in under the name of Alexander Great—no fuckingjoke. The problem was, by the time I got there, he’d already disappeared.
“Have any clues as to why?”
I rubbed my chin. Although there were several theories, only one seemed likely. Atticus was here for business. Why he would hide under an alias in a dump of a hotel was a different question—one I didn’t yet have the answer to. Then there were all my contacts who indicated that he hadn’t approached them. Whatever the fuck he was doing, it wasn’t above board. If he wasn’t reaching out to the Omertà’s contacts, disrespecting the lines of our territories, it must mean he was up to something sketchy.
But what exactly?
Maybe Atticus had a mistress here. After all, he was known to have those all over the world—before, during, and after his marriage. Still though… it didn’t add up. He usually kept his mistresses on a short leash, not roaming the city of love.
“Manuel!” Enrico snapped, and I jerked my attention back to him.
“Nothing concrete,” I answered, recalling his question. “Still running down some leads. I want to eliminate all options to ensure he’s not trying to poach more territory.”
“The Popov family is getting too large and too powerful,” Enrico agreed, giving me a curt nod. “Their reach now extends beyond the Balkans.”
Rumor was that Danil Popov, Atticus’s son, ran it all, after one too many of his father’s fuckups. Over the past twenty years, criminal groups from the Western Balkans had become key actors in the global drug trade. Balkan networks were involved in heroin, cocaine, and cannabis production, and they trafficked from Latin America into ports in Western and Southeastern Europe. And the Popovs were behind it all.
“There’s a rumor that Atticus has an illegitimate daughter,” my nephew, although he was only a few years younger than me, continued when I remained quiet.
My brows scrunched. “Nicki Popova? That bitch isn’t illegitimate. Just fucking crazy, not to mention inprison.”
He shook his head.
“No, not Nicki. She’s legitimate, and anyway, she’s on house arrest in one of Danil’s castles here in Europe. He managed to work out a deal with a judge he had in his pocket.”
Idiot.
He should have left his crazy sister behind the thickest bars he could find. The woman was a stalker who didn’t understand when she wasn’t wanted. Apparently, Nicki spent years obsessed with Byron Ashford. When the man refused her, more than once, she went after his woman, Odette Swan. Let’s just say it didn’t end well for her.
“What do we know about this other daughter?” I questioned. “The illegitimate one.”
He shrugged. “Practically nothing. Speculations, assuming she’s real.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Well, that helps,” I said. “Should I start by asking every woman if she’s either Atticus’s mistress or daughter?” He flipped me off, but he knew I was right. We needed more information if we had any hope of locating the daughter. “Where did you hear about it anyhow?”
“Lykos. He seemed rather confident about it.”
“He usually keeps information on need-to-know, why would he share it with you?”
“Well, he was rather hammered when he did. He said something about her being murdered but then resurfacing.” When my eyebrow arched, he shrugged. “That’s all I know.”
I tilted my head, my mind working furiously.
“Maybe Atticus was here to reconnect with this mysterious illegitimate daughter,” I speculated. “It would make sense if he checked into a hotel under a fake—and dumb—name.”
“Well, let’s try to find her first. Maybe we’ll be able to hold her against him,” Enrico stated, focusing back on his computer screen. “He’s been a thorn in our side for long enough.”
NINE
ATHENA
