Page 41 of Under Control

He found the edges of the folder, opening it and revealing a printed-out report marked ‘highly sensitive’ from LAPD. Carrick nearly snapped the folder shut then and there, but he wouldn’t stop reading once he’d started.

A confidential source has come forth with information pertaining to the death of Ivan Petrov, the intelligence report read.

Carrick’s mouth dropped open as he read on, realizing that there was someone snitching from Petrov’s organization…to the cops. And it wasn’t a nice story.

Under the condition of anonymity, the source has disclosed that Kosta Petrov murdered his younger brother Ivan Petrov because Ivan disagreed on business matters with his older brother, threatening to leave the family business. No one can leave the family. The car accident was staged. Petrov has threatened family members with death if they disobey him.The report concluded,This source has intimate knowledge of Petrov’s organization but refuses to testify in open court due to fears of reprisal and his-her own personal safety.

Carrick took the report in his hand, trying to understand it all. It was no surprise that Petrov was the real culprit behind the deaths of Danica’s parents. The only question was, why was he trying to ruin Danica’s life?

As he leaned back in his chair, studying the report, he realized that the question he really needed to answer was—should he tell Danica or not?

They were making progress, and she was learning to trust him. It had been a rocky start, but he felt like they were working toward a position where she might start listening to him. That alone was reason enough to tell her the truth. He needed her trust.

I need her to fight.

But then again, there was something at the back of Carrick’s mind that gave him pause. What would this information do to her? Cause her more pain? Scare her into submission? And would these facts just send Danica down a spiral to rock bottom, knowing that her parents’ killer had gotten off without punishment?

There was a reason why LAPD hadn’t charged Petrov yet. Sure, there probably wasn’t enough evidence, but Carrick suspected that there was a darker one.

Grabbing his cell, he shot a text to Delta.

Awake?

Within seconds, Delta was calling him.

“Do you ever fucking sleep?” Carrick grunted into the phone.

“I’m a monster,” Delta replied, an amused tone in his tired voice. “You reading the report?”

“Yup. Got it right here.”

“Look…” Delta began, his voice lowering. “There’s a hit out on you and demands for anyone to bring her back to daddy. They’ve bought and paid for too many cops to count.”

“Fuck,” Carrick snapped, running his hand down the black folder with the intel report. “How much shit would we get into for having this information?”

Radio silence.

“Matteo,” Carrick urged, using his friend’s Christian name.

He heard a dog starting to bark in the background of the phone call.

“I’ve got to go,” Delta said quickly. “Lie low. I’m going to keep digging. You need to figure out how the fuck you’ll crawl out of this dumpster fire. Someone needs to deal with the girl.”

“I’ll deal with her.”

“I’m sure you will,” Delta replied a little too smartly before ending the call, driving Carrick’s ire through the roof.

The phone call left him with more questions than answers, but one thing was damn clear. This wasn’t going to be easy. Now, he had some serious decisions to make. What to do with Danica?

Carrick knew one thing about himself. He was a fighter. He was aggressive, dominant and didn’t take shit from anyone. And her? That wasn’t her. She was the opposite—and he knew it in his core. She had to be the one to stand up to her uncle. It was the only way.

He glanced again at the report in front of him. Her uncle had killed her parents. How much did she need to know? He played through the conversation in his head—imagining himself telling her the bad news, imagining her breaking down and crying, reliving all the pain of losing someone she loved. Carrick knew how that felt. And he knew he couldn’t do that to her, not when she was just starting to strengthen up. His job was to help her be strong—strong enough that she’d be able to fight for herself…

When I’m gone.

And that was why Carrick folded up the report, deciding to tuck it away somewhere secret, somewhere safe.

Chapter Seventeen

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