Page 34 of Beautifully Ruined
“I’m aware. But we’ll keep her safe.” I pause, tap over to the next screen. “I’ll keep her safe. We’ve got the power to destroy anyone.”
“But we have to use it wisely or…” He makes his fingers like a gun. “Pop, pop, pop.”
He’s got a point, I know he does. And I also know why he’s bringing it up.
Ivan getting away very likely means trouble for us, and possibly trouble for some of our clients. And our clients aren’t the nicest or the smartest. They’re likely to hit us first and ask questions never.
“I know that.” I look at him. “I didn’t mean to like her.”
Now he rolls his eyes at me. “Anyone could see you liked her ages ago. The only idiots missing that were you and Jack. And Jack… Well, he’s an idiot and doesn’t deserve her, or maybe he’s just not ready for a girlfriend at this point in his life but…he’s your little brother.”
“Point taken.”
“Just wanted it out there. Now, what did you want?”
Apart from maiming Enzo? I shake my head. “What do you think of this mysterious girl?”
He shrugs. “What I always thought. Andronski’s into some kind of shit. And he had her for a reason, enough of a reason he took her when he ran.”
Those are my thoughts, but I throw him some shade. “You let Vi think she made it up.”
“I tried to dissuade her from wasting time by checking out the sub-basement. One girl? One? Come on. If there were more, she’d have heard them. Chicks.” He laughs at his own joke. “I believed her, but you had to go thinking with your dick. Or was that your heart? Which is so much worse.”
“So, he’s into trafficking?”
Now he throws me a dark look. “We’re both thinking the same thing. It’s not about him being a trafficker, it’s the type.”
I nod. “High end, the sickos who want a well-bred girl. And revenge trafficking.”
“Fuck.”
“Take someone of importance, hide them. And if whatever Andronski wants isn’t done or handed over, the girl is sold to the highest bidder.”
“Well, I’ve been looking into it like you, in between work, and I’ve got nothing. Just rumors.” He types something on his computer then has another sip of his energy drink.
I take a swallow of coffee. “Andronski does elite trafficking. And, of course, if a girl’s been taken, Daddy, or Mommy, is in shit so deep they aren’t going to the cops. They pay up or…”
“If it’s too late, he’ll sell her to a buyer he’ll have lined up. High end.”
“If you can call trafficking high end.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t, but I’m betting men like Andronski do.”
But we both know the reality of the underworld where high end means bespoke, exclusive, requested. And it all ties up prettily.
Would that have been Vi’s fate? To be sold?
I shudder because I can’t allow myself down that crazy path.
“Cade?” Enzo says quietly. “Don’t go there.”
I swallow. “I’ll try.”
“We’ll find this girl. Looking into missing-not missing girls right now. When did your flower say? Nine months ago?”
“Eight.”
We both get to work on it. Hitting up various contacts, on the dark web, in the hacker community, in our own syndicate, and cops we know.
