Page 51 of Deceptive Vows
“Three calls to ‘G’ in the last day,” she murmured, a strand of hair falling across her face. “Last one an hour ago.”
That didn’t track with what I’d overheard. “Gabriele? I know what I heard. Marco is setting him up.”
“Or maybe they’re trying to throw us off.” She frowned at the phone.
Dimitris lit a cigarette, the flare of his lighter casting shadows across his scowl. “So we’ve got two Morettis and a pack of Russian psychos. Great.”
Lex rubbed his neck, glass crunching under his boots. “Those cages will be full by the time that auction takes place?”
“Yeah.” Thea pocketed the phone. “Marco must be planning to bring the girls a few at a time so he can get them ready for the floor. Which means we need to find them before the auction happens. If we hit it, and all of the girls aren’t there, we’ll never find them.”
We drove another mile before Dimi tapped me on the shoulder. “Drop me and Lex here. I’ve got someone I need to see.”
I slowed to a stop next to the curb.
“I’ll call you later, sis.” Lex nudged Thea’s arm, a crooked smile playing on his lips as he left with Dimitris.
Once they were out, I pulled back into the flow of traffic. Thea and I drove in silence toward the penthouse.
Something bigger was going on, and I needed to figure out what that was. For her sake and Krysha’s.
Chapter Eighteen
THEA
The penthouse doorclicked shut behind us, sealing out the night’s chaos, but the silence inside pressed heavily on me. My boots thudded against the hardwood, each step reverberating up my spine to stoke the headache pulsing behind my eyes.
“I don’t know what to think.” I turned to meet Nazar. “Marco plotting a coup?”
He shrugged. “I know what I heard.”
“And I believe you. I just don’t—” Suddenly, it clicked. I caught his gaze. “I would bet money Gabriele is hoping we heard all that and will runright to him. He wants us to think he’s not involved in this and that he’s on our side.”
Nazar shook his head. “It’s a brilliant idea. The Morettis take you and your family out and give your territory to the Gray Wolves. I suspect Marco and Gabriele have offered tactical support in New York in exchange. Sergei wouldn’t offer his help if there weren’t more in it for him.”
“You think the Gray Wolves are helping the Morettis here so they’ll back them in New York?”
Nazar nodded. “Sergei’s a master negotiator. And his group? Stronger than the Morettis.” He paused, jaw tightening. “If Marco hands him your territory, Sergei will be plotting to take his before the ink dries.”
“I wonder if Marco and Gabriele know that.”
He shrugged. “I suspect they do, but there seems to be a desperation on Marco’s part. He may be overlooking that aspect at the moment to achieve a short-term solution, thinking he can deal with Sergei later.”
“Those men saw us there. If they tell anyone, they’ll know we’re working together.”
Nazar ran his hand down his beard. “Maybe not. It was dark, and we werefar enough away that they wouldn’t have been able to get a good look at either of us. Marco may suspect you, but you have four brothers. It could have been one of them with you.”
“True, but we can’t be certain of that.” I groaned. “And now they’ll move locations. We’re no closer to finding those women than we were to begin with.”
He stepped closer. “You’re right, but we have confirmation that the Gray Wolves are working with Marco and Gabriele. We also know that the Morettis are working the angle that Gabriele is split from his brother. We can use all of this information to our advantage.”
“I just hate that we didn’t find the women.” It made me sick to my stomach to think about what they might be going through, wherever they were. “I don’t think we can go back tonight either. They’ll have an army now.”
“Sergei will have a crew out there cleaning up any evidence they were ever there. By tomorrow morning, it will seem as though they vanished.”
Frustration and failure mixed together. I crossed the room and stopped in front of the window, staring out at the city. I loved this city.The lights, the crowds, the sounds, the smells, all of it. It was etched in my essence, but right then, I couldn’t have hated it more. Past leaders had allowed a stain to continue to spread, and I felt helpless to stop it.
The air swirled as Nazar took up a position next to me. “We’ll find them. I know that doesn’t ease your rage now, but justice will be dealt.”
