Page 32 of Echoes of Sin

It wasn’t Jordan and it wasn’t the bartenders at any of my other establishments. It wasn’t any of the waitstaff or drinks girls either because they were never in a position to access large sums of money. I’d gone through most of the hired staff, but those were all predominantly cash based. There were only a handful of people I hadn’t spoken to. I would get to them, though, if not before tonight was over, certainly before the weekend closed out.

I made it back to my office just as my phone vibrated with a phone call. Looking at caller ID my heart sank. “Oleg,” I answered with a tight voice. “This is a surprise.”

“You are keeping secrets.”

His voice was clear, almost like he was standing in the next room. “What secrets am I keeping from you, Uncle?”

“You have a nosy numbers girl,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “And you haven’t taken care of it yet. I hope you’re not thinking with your dick, Ilya.”

I bit back the frustrated sigh that threatened to escape because I couldn’t afford to let Oleg read too much into anything I said or did. “I never think with my dick,” I assured him. “Who told you that I have a nosy accountant, Oleg?”

“Oh, I have my ways, boy.” His tone was smug, which pissed me off. “You need to get rid of her. That’s an order.”

Get rid of her. He wanted me to kill Brooke, which was absolutely not going to fucking happen. “Is that necessary?”

“Yes, it is. You’re not going soft on me, are you?” He accused.

“Of course not,” I answered.

. “She knows more than she should about your business.”

“That isn’t true. The numbers weren’t adding up and I asked her to look into it.” He didn’t know that she had no idea about my illegal businesses, which put him at a disadvantage.

“That’s an order, Ilya.” He ended the call.

“Fuck,” I grunted to myself. Somehow, Oleg knew about the numbers and Brooke, which only Dmitri and I knew about, which meant he had an inside source. I had a suspicion about how he was getting his information, but I needed to talk it out with someone, and my second-in-command was always a good listener.

***

Thirty minutes later I was on Dmitri’s doorstep, angry and worried as fuck for Brooke. Oleg knew about her, which meant he knew where she worked, and likely where she lived. I’d kept to my initial vow of not investigating her as I would any new employee, as I trusted what we’d had in the past. But now I wondered if perhaps I should have looked closer—not because I believed she was untrustworthy, but to ensure that no one could get to her or find any weak points—I needed to know she was safe at her home. If I didn’t act quickly, he would send someone else after her.

Again.

“Ilya.” Dmitri’s surprise put me on edge. “What are you doing here?”

“Is this a bad time?”

He shook his head. “No, come in. What’s wrong?” he asked, and stepped back so I could enter.

“Oleg ordered me to kill Brooke. Says she knows too much about my business. Mentioned her by name.” I was still shaken by the order and implication of what it all meant, that I didn’t realize we weren’t alone until it was too late.

“Alexei. This is a surprise.” I looked at Dmitri and then to his father, who had been exiled from the bratva since the night my father was killed. I should not be talking bratva business in front of Alexei, but it was pointless backtracking, now as he’d heard what I had said.

“He’s visiting,” Dmitri said with an easy shrug. “How did Oleg know about Brooke?”

“Exactly. You and I are the only ones within the organization who know about this, so who could his source possibly be?”

“Our men are loyal, if there was a spy in our ranks then I would know.”

Dmitri was correct. You didn’t get to my status without a degree of paranoia. I never held sensitive conversations anywhere but my office…

My mind went back to the footage I had watched of me and Brooke fucking in my office, “The CCTV!” I exclaimed. While I ensured that no recording took place whenever meetings were held, and only visuals were recorded at other times, what if someone had overridden the settings and were using our own equipment to eavesdrop?

“Shit,” Dmitri grunted. “We were so worried about the cantina we didn’t stop to think that we were bugged.”

“Why would he do this?” It made no fucking sense, and I hated when shit did not make sense.

“I may have some insight to offer,” Alexei said as he lit up his cigar. “If you want advice from an old man who couldn’t save his best friend, that is.”

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