Page 16 of The Enemy's Defector
My frustration scaled higher and deeper with every passing hour. I couldn’t explain this mad rush to find him. Anton had arrived home. I heard the commotion in the mansion when I lurked in the woods outside at night.
He’d shouted and ranted. He bitched and threatened. Just like I had anticipated, he was furious that someone had dared to kill Dmitri. And also just like I’d counted on, he was livid that I hadn’t gone to the Ivanov Family to fulfill that marriage arrangement. Before he left to go to Greece for over a month, that had been the recurrent theme of our heated arguments. He’d been so insistent that I marry into the Ivanov Family so he could later count on me as a spy. As a mole on the inside.
I’d never.
Anything Anton wanted was immediately the opposite of my goals because of my natural hatred for him.
I’d told him again and again that I wouldn’t go because I had to find the truth about my father. I’d been looking forward to hisGreece trip to have unfettered access to hidden storage sites. The moment I went to the Ivanovs, I’d miss out on searching through any Kozlov properties.
It was in the eleventh hour, with desperation, that I’d asked the new maid, Lucy, to go in my place until I could find the proof I needed. Now that I had it, I could tell her she was free to divorce the Ivanov she’d married, probably Saul.
But first, I had to find Nik. Before freeing Lucy from the marriage she’d entered in my place, I was impatient to find the Ivanov brother I'd dared to be intimate with.
Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.
It didn’t matter which security cameras I hacked into, which garage cameras I snuck onto, and any of the security alarms at properties I tracked. I couldn’t find a single place where Nik could be held.
“Is he somewhere here, or with the Romanos? Or someone else?” Whispering to myself, I shook my head and rubbed my upper arms as I thought. The heat hadn’t been turned on here in years, and with the gross neglect and disrepair that clung to the formerly well-maintained house, I felt more depressed and grimy. Stuck and lost.
Come on, think, Kat. Where haven’t you looked yet?
If Nik was held on a Kozlov property, I had a full report of those listings. I knew all the corporation names and layers that Anton hid behind. The real estate portfolio was easy for me to comb through. But the list was long. I’d been working off a spreadsheet of listings that were categorized by acronyms. And I was nearly at the end of the list now.
I was nearly at the end of my patience, too.
In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of movement. Through the window, a couple of men stalked down the neglected path to reach this old place.
“Shit.” Hurrying to close my laptop and cram it into my bag, I removed all signs that I was in this room before dashing up the stairs.
Men only wore those serious, lethal looks when they were on the hunt. It was too similar to how Dmitri had looked when I killed him. I didn’t have to sit and ponder whether this pair was coming to look for me. They had to be. No one else would ever come this way.
I wasn’t taking my chances. Slinging the strap to my bag over my shoulder, I hustled to get upstairs and find another way out of this house. I reached the landing just as they busted in the front door, stomping through the first floor with speed.
“Where the fuck is she?” one asked the other.
I froze, not risking another step on these creaky floors up here. Holding my breath, I kept my back plastered against the wall near an old linen closet that lacked a door. Edging sideways toward the shadows there, I shuffled and didn’t dare to exhale too loudly.
“I don’t know. She’s not here. No one’s been here for years,” another said. “The dust isn’t disturbed at all.”
“She’s got to be somewhere,” the first man said as they continued to search the first floor. “She has to be on the estate since they found that one car near the gate.”
Dammit!They had to be referencing the car I’d practically stolen.
“And no cameras show her leaving,” he added.
“It’d be nice if we could find her and bring her to him,” the second man said. “He’s so fucking mad. Delivering her would be a perfect way to get in his good graces.”
I didn’t want to consider what would happen if I were captured and taken to Anton.
I couldn’t allow my mind to go there. These two showing up put a dent in my plans to find Nik, but once I was alone again, I’d resume the search.
“Plus, they’re dealing with the transportation details for tonight. For that asshole they took.”
Nik!
My heart raced faster, but it wasn’t anxiety tripping me up now. It was elation. They were talking about Nik.
“The cargo van came through earlier from the east, but one of the contractors was too independent. Yusef paused the transport to handle that dumbass.”
