Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Then things got confusing, though. I followed your instructions, but you were acting strangely.”
“Of course, because it wasn’t me.”
I sigh. God. I was played for a fool. I have no idea why, but everything spiraled out of control. A knock sounds at the door and Zack walks in, but he’s not alone. Viktor walks in beside him, looking tired and wan with a swollen lip and black eye. I wait. I need to know what happened but even though my head pounds, my heart is hopeful. It wasn’t him. Something was amiss, and we’ll figure that out, but he didn’t cheat on me. He wouldn’t. God, I was stupid.
Viktor reaches a hand to me. “Agent Ivanov,” he says. “Undercover agent. What we say in this room is highly confidential. Even Marla will not know. She will, eventually, but not yet.”
Axle gives me a look that underscores this command. I nod as Viktor and Zack take seats.
“About a month ago, I came here following a small circle of men who were hired to hurt Axle. It was a professional hire and was supposed to end with a hit.”
I blink. What?
“Why?” I ask.
“Seven years ago, as you know, Axle was a Father Noah at a small church in Louisville. There were several rich parishioners who invested in the property affiliated with Fairwood Enterprises. When the…” he pauses and looks apologetically at Axle, “scandal went down, investors pulled out. And a certain investor, Veronica Vanderkilt, invested so much, she went into financial ruin.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “It wasn’t your fault. The investments were stacked illegally, funded by the Bratva, and when the deals fell through, the investors were scrambling. So, she’s been trying to track Axle, and it appears she did so out of pure revenge. She hired the men who were at the club last night, and they were happy to oblige, since their investments were tied into the church as well.”
“This is crazy,” I say. He nods and shrugs, not disagreeing with me.
“I knew the plan, but I couldn’t act right away. I’m still undercover with them. They’re heading back to Atlanta, and I’ll have to join them in the morning.” He continues, his eyes going from me to Axle. “Their plan was to take you,” he says. “But the plan was sloppy and poorly orchestrated. One dressed like Axle, and someone stole his phone. They were staging a kidnapping. Zack’s men have uncovered the van in the back parking lot of Verge, ready to take you. They were planning on Axle following, and the plan then was to stage his execution. But their plan was sloppy. They began with a staged fight in the bar area to distract Zack, but Travis ended that too quickly, and then there was supposed to be a second man there to perform the abduction.” He smiles. “That man was supposed to be me. I pretended to be dealing with Marla, and I never arrived in the dungeon. As you know, Axle intervened, and the rest is history.”
“You got beat up over it?” I ask.
Viktor shrugs. “I have men in high places,” he says. “It ended quickly.”
“And now what?” Axle asks.
Viktor sighs. “The Bratva left, and they’re heading back to Atlanta. They’re powerful and slippery. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. I’ll be joining them, but I needed to talk to you two first.” He gets to his feet.
“Marla knows nothing?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not yet. All she knows is that there’s a family emergency and I’m heading home. It’s safer for her this way, Chandra.” And then he’s on his feet and shaking our hands, before he leaves. Zack talks to Axle, but I lay back on the bed, stunned and quiet. This could’ve gone so terribly, terribly wrong.
Finally, we’re alone. And I want to cry.
The door clicks shut, and Axle’s got me in his arms. He’s on the bed and holding me and everything is right again.
“I was so confused,” I tell him. “I saw the note and my head was all a jumble. Then when I saw you with her—”
“Shh,” he says. “I left you after an intense session. You weren’t in your right frame of mind. You needed a good, long, aftercare session.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I should’ve known you would never do that.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t.” We sit in the silence, my head on his shoulder.
“Will they do anything else to hurt us?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Viktor says they moved on. Correction. Our source says they moved on. We don’t know anything.” His voice takes on a stern edge when he raises a brow at me. “Understood?”
I nod.
“At first, our source wasn’t sure if they’d pursue us or not, but he diverted their attention with another job. Now he’s making sure they do everything they can to focus on that.”