Page 138 of Redemption

Unaccustomed to working with a team and technology like the ear bud in her right ear, Victoria rolled her neck side to side as she meandered through the touristy crowd. Again, she tugged on her earlobe. The earpiece was in place, and no one could see it, but it felt like a telephone book was hanging out of her head.

“Leave it alone,” Locke’s voice whispered.

How long would it take for her to get used to having a comm? Likely not long. It would just be like she had her iPhone’s ear buds in, except for those were obvious and not as small and dropped into her ear canal. She lifted her wrist to her mouth as though scratching her nose. “Sorry. Last time, I promise.”

There were only three people in the world who knew what she was doing right now: Locke, Jared, and Parker. Not telling Ryder didn’t sit well with her, but this was need-to-know. He would eventually figure it out, and knowing her boyfriend, that realization would be almost instantaneous.

But the danger level and risk of tipping off anyone who might be listening was too high. The black-op job was sanctioned but would always be denied.

“The hotel is midway up the block on your left,” Parker said.

Other than one meeting, there’d been no discussion. She hadn’t been allowed to look up the location, map it out, or even check reviews of the hotel online. No evidence could exist that she’d ever seen the hotel.

Following Parker’s instructions, Victoria moved further from the water as the crowd thinned, but not by much. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and tourist season never seemed to slow down in Baltimore. There were kids with their families, college students, and sports fans, all mixed on the streets. Victoria caught sight of the hotel and patiently waited to cross.

“How’s Cassidy doing?” Jared asked.

It was a question Victoria wanted to know the answer to but was too terrified to ask Locke. The only updates that she’d had since Ryder had told her that Cassidy had been rushed into surgery were heartbreaking.

First, Cassidy had been in ICU, and no one knew if she would even make it. Then somewhere in there, Locke and Cassidy got married. It wasn’t a huge celebration, though they probably didn’t need one. How did it feel to have your hand forced? She couldn’t imagine how Locke worried.

Yet, Victoria understood. If Ryder was on his deathbed, there would be nothing more that she’d want to do than marry him that moment. Ivan Mikhailov tried to assassinate Cassidy and tear Locke’s future from him. Victoria understood why Locke was working this op as much as he’d married Cassidy the second she woke up.

Ivan Mikhailov was untouchable. Vast sums of money and corruption no one knew the total reach of made normal justice impossible. Ivan smiled when his government let him go for raping her, for trafficking women and children.Children.Victoria shook her head as she walked down the sidewalk. That sick son of a bitch was starting up all over again. How many people had died because of him? How many families had been destroyed because of his crimes?

Ivan knew there was no justice that could touch him.

But he didn’t know her, and he didn’t know Delta and Titan.

She walked into the hotel lobby and sat down at the first overstuffed lounge chair as though waiting for someone. Really, she scanned the crowd. Intel said he was here.

Twenty minutes later, she moved to the open bar where the early adults-only brunch crowd was taking advantage of mimosas and Bloody Marys. With a champagne flute of orange juice, hold the champagne, she casually moved about the lobby.

Someone tapped her shoulder. “Are you looking for someone?”

Victoria turned around to see a nicely dressed man smiling, almost smirking, and she realized it was an attempt at a wink. “I’m waiting for some friends.”

“Because I couldn’t help noticing…”

Whatever his pickup line was faded away as her skin prickled. She had been told so many times before there was no such thing as the physical touch of a man’s gaze. That was bullshit. Ryder could look at her, and she would melt, her clothes burning off her body with just his hot, Aussie glance. But this was different, and Victoria turned away from the man as he was still talking, waving him away wordlessly.

She heard him mumble bitch but didn’t care as she remained calm and casual and kept her eyes on the pivot. Ivan Mikhailov had her in his sight. He likely was fuming. After all, she was a possession that escaped, a special gift stolen from his personal collection.

Too bad…Victoria had tracked him, hunted him. Without the bastard knowing, Victoria had worked with all of Titan’s powerhouse resources. It was the PI-slash-bounty-hunting job of a lifetime.

Like a rabid dog eager to sink her teeth into a victim, Victoria found her target. Ivan was staying in this hotel. But Parker had found that he was traveling under heavy disguise because of everything that had happened. Still, he was too cocky to stay out of the United States.

“Where are you, you sick bastard?” She took a casual sip of her orange juice, keeping the champagne flute close to her lips. “He’s here.”

“I’m here too,” Locke confirmed.

Victoria moved casually through the crowded brunch crowd milling around the bar that spilled over to the coffee shop area. Her skin shivered with cold awareness of the man who’d intended to own her.

Ivan thought he was hunting her. Heart racing, pulse thumping, and adrenaline driving her keen senses, she tried not to look everywhere at once.

There he was.

A man looking not at all like the billionaire took a seat, positioning himself on a bar stool facing her. He looked nothing like Ivan. Wrong hair, wrong cheeks, wrong chin.

---