Page 37 of Sin Wager
"You won't."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I won't let anything happen to you."
The promise comes out automatically, but as soon as I say it, I realize I mean it. Somewhere between seducing her for information and spending two days with her in Moscow, my priorities have shifted. Protecting Vera has become more important than protecting my investigation.
She pulls back enough to look at me, searching my face for reassurance I'm not sure I can provide.
"Can you keep me safe from whatever is happening at this track?"
This is the moment I've been working toward, the vulnerability I need to extract information about her involvement with the Radich crew. But looking into her frightened eyes, I find myself caring more about her than the answer or the intelligence value.
"Tell me what you're mixed up in," I say gently. "All of it."
She takes a shaky breath, then begins to talk.
"There's a woman named Sonya. She approached me about six months ago, said she had work for someone trustworthy. Simple stuff at first—placing bets, picking up envelopes, nothing that seemed dangerous."
"What type of bets?"
"Specific horses in specific races. She'd give me the information and the money, I'd place the bets exactly asinstructed. The winnings went to different pickup points around the city."
"How much money?"
"Started small. A few thousand rubles here and there. But lately…" She swallows hard. "The amounts have gotten bigger. Much bigger. Last week, she had me place bets worth more than I make in six months. And the horses always win. Misha… I'm scared."
"And you didn't think to ask questions?"
"I needed the money." Her voice is defensive now, but also ashamed. "Elvin's treatments, our rent—I couldn't keep up. Sonya paid me well for simple work, and I told myself it was harmless."
"It's not harmless, Vera. The people you're working for are dangerous."
Vera looks up at me with desperate eyes. "Misha, if they think I betrayed them somehow, if they decide I'm a risk…"
"They won't touch you."
"How can you promise that?"
Because I'll kill anyone who tries. Because protecting you has become more important than protecting myself. Because somewhere in the past few weeks, you've become mine to defend.
But I don't say any of that.
"Because I know who they are, and they know who I am. There's a balance of power here, and as long as you're with me, you're under my protection." My arms squeeze her more tightly, and I decide right then and there that Vera is nothing more than a mule, worthless and easily replaceable to them but desperately important to me.
She nods, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "What happens now?"
Good question. I have the information I need—confirmation that Vera isn't in any deeper than she should be, details about their operation but proof that she's not the mastermind but rather a pawn being used. Nikolai expects me to report back, to hand over Vera's name and let the family's enforcement arm handle the rest.
Instead, I find myself calculating how to keep her safe while still neutralizing the Radich threat.
"Now we figure out how to get you out of this without anyone getting hurt."
"Is that possible?"
"It has to be."
She curls back into my arms, and I hold her close, feeling the steady rhythm of her breathing against my chest. In a few hours, I should call Nikolai with my report and tell him that Vera Kovalenko is the money mule for the Radich operation, that she can identify their handler, that she has enough information to bring down their race-fixing scheme.
