Page 49 of The Bratva's Innocent Sold Bride
“Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of it, but I wanted to tell you this myself.” Who was I kidding? I wanted to see his eyesgrow wide with appreciation for my extreme hacking talents. “I found some Russian ties, which I thought were odd since, as far as I know, Terrance isn’t Russian.”
Mat was in the process of opening the front door, and he stiffened, rushing me inside and slamming it behind us like someone was out there other than his army of guards. His eyes narrowed as he nodded for me to continue.
“One name in particular kept cropping up, and apparently he’s got a brother in Moscow who’s in the same line of work as you are.”
“CJ,” he said, but I was on a roll.
We were almost to our bedroom, and I expected him to sweep me into his arms when I was done. “Ovinko,” I said. “Ring any bells? The one man Terrance kept getting linked to is Anatoli Ovinko.”
It obviously rang a bell, but there were no congratulations, no look of wonder, no sweeping me off my feet. He was suddenly ice cold, looking angrier than he did when I first got home.
“You’re done,” he said.
“What?”
“You’re done with the project. No more going to the office, no more helping out. I don’t need any more information.”
“But I was able to get into his personal cellphone. There’s so much more to find out. And I think this Anatoli is—”
“Enough,” he interrupted, his voice hard and low. “I’ve told you that you’re done.”
Confused, hurt, and furious, I slammed myself into the bathroom and locked the door. I expected to hear his fistspounding on it, or for him to yell at me to come out, but there was only silence on the other side. He didn’t need to argue, only to order me around.
Well, I wasn’t going to stand for that. I flung the door open to face him down, but he was gone.
Chapter 30 - Mat
Every time I thought the day couldn’t get worse, it did. Damn it, damn it. CJ had spoken Anatoli’s name. If she didn’t know who he was yet, she would soon enough piece it together that he and Terrence Hendricks were one and the same. The moment she said she had gotten into his personal phone, something shattered in my heart, turning me to stone.
This was on me. I had foolishly given her the job to look into the man, thinking she’d be safe if she was on the other end of a computer. I told her to dig as deeply as she could, and she went further than I could have imagined. While I was impressed, I was also furious with myself for not setting limits. I should have had her explain exactly what she did, report it all back to Delta, and ensure there was no way Anatoli could trace her from what she’d done.
The man was dangerous, and there was no telling how ballistic he’d go if he found out he was being tracked by my wife. Even with his second in command in our custody, he had just organized a raid that stretched up into Lev’s territory, taking out another of his warehouses. Lev was no longer on the sidelines and had joined in on interrogating the second in command.
Pavel might have had soft hands, but he was a tough son of a bitch, enduring three solid days of slow, grueling torture without ever admitting a thing. He refused to admit the attack on the charity was Anatoli’s doing, and still pretended not to know who Anatoli Ovinko was. But two of his underlings, who we’d caught at Lev’s warehouse, sang after only a few smacks and assured us we had the right man.
We would keep trying to get a better location than the highly guarded office to try to grab Anatoli, but my hopes weren’t high.
When I got home that evening, I was cheered by CJ’s suggestion for a night out, eager to show off my restaurant and the nightclub, and relieved she had gotten past thinking I didn’t trust her. Her eyes looked tired from staring at screens for days on end, but she was in good spirits, and it was like we’d never had the most recent rough patch.
Everything was so good, I’d even forgotten all about Pavel and having to resume my questions as soon as I returned CJ to the house after our date night. There was no way I was going back to Lev’s safehouse any time soon, not when CJ had that look in her eyes.
Maybe her news shouldn’t have come as such a surprise. She was acting so excited, almost giddy, all evening. But it was like a hit to the side of the head with the butt of a gun when she said she’d linked Terrence to Anatoli.
Now she was pissed off at me all over again, because there was no way she was returning to her work. No information was worth risking her safety. With my wife locked in the bathroom, our night was over, but I wasn’t returning to the interrogation.
This had to end. One way or another. Either in a deal we could both agree on to split up the territory, or in me standing over the man’s dead body, this was going to end right now. Calling up Garik, I told him to send me a team to the fortified office building. I had men on the property who would have jumped at the chance to go, including a couple of sharpshooters who might be handy in taking care of those snipers Anatoli had on the roof, but I wanted a full team at the house to cover CJ.
After ordering them to keep her in the house no matter what kind of tantrum she threw, I headed out to meet the dozen men Garik sent my way. We gathered about a block away, and I told most of them to spread out and surround the building, trying to remain unseen until I gave an order otherwise. I waited for two to find their way to the roof of a nearby building to get eyes on the snipers before heading in.
The first plan was to go in alone, demand to speak to Anatoli, and show that I only wanted to talk. The second plan was to blow the place to hell and count the bodies after.
“Boss, we’re not seeing anyone on the roof. You’re clear to advance.”
“Stay alert,” I told them, pulling up to the gate and getting out.
The building was completely dark, with a deserted air about it. I rattled the bars of the gate and called for the guards.
“I’m alone,” I said. “Call your boss and have him come out.”
