Page 65 of Bratva Jewels Box Set
“See, that’s what’s strange, we’ve never seen him do that before. Nikolai isn’t always the main perpetrator in these scenarios. His cousin Dmitri, his second in charge is the one that mainly focusses on grabbing the girls. But this time with you it was Nikolai,” Enrique states, pointing to the man in another picture.
I can see why Dmitri and Nikolai are tasked with grabbing the beautiful women because of their looks. Dmitri is ashandsome as his cousin. It’s a shame their souls are as black as tar.
“I was with my sister Gracie. She had just arrived in from ...” Zoe shakes her head unable to pinpoint the location. “… somewhere I don’t quite remember. We went out to my favorite place for drinks to catch up as I hadn’t seen her in a long time. Dmitri and Nikolai came up to us. They then took us to a party and then we went home with them. My sister and I both spent the weekend together with them. When my sister left that was the last she heard from Dmitri. But Nikolai, he stayed, he courted me. He wanted more. Why would he do that to just feed me to the wolves?”
“Not sure. But this is really good information you’ve given our investigation. There was something different about you and your sister, but I don’t know why it changed months later. I can’t imagine he was playing a long game with you. As horrible as it sounds, there are plenty of other beautiful women around Barcelona that he wouldn’t have to make a connection with,” Enrique explains.
“You think he fell for Zoe?” I ask.
“Maybe. It doesn’t fit his normal steps. Who knows, as far as I am concerned, these men do not have hearts. So not sure if they could fall in love.” Enrique scoffs. “Do you notice anyone else in these photos?”
Zoe shakes her head as she places the photo of Nikolai back down on the pile.
“The guys were saying you have been getting back bits of your memory. Do you think you can remember who any of your clients were?”
“Enrique,” Mateo warns.
“I have to ask these questions, even if they are uncomfortable.” Enrique looks between Mateo and me.
“I don’t remember anyone. The only person who made themselves known was that man from the other night with one of the girls.”
Enrique nods. We’ve already given him those details from the other night.
I don’t think I gave Zoe enough credit for what she is going through knowing that she was kidnapped, and sex trafficked by her ex-boyfriend. The same guy who put a hit out on you and assumes you are dead but thankfully through the sheer incompetence of the hitman you’re alive. That would break anyone mentally. I’m grateful now that her memory has only now started to come back when she is much stronger and has Mateo and me beside her. It makes me feel sick to my core that our beautiful angel was touched by the devil. She’s never going to have to live in fear ever again. Mateo and I will never ever let any harm come to her. Nikolai will have to take our last breath before we ever let her go again.
“We’ve been tracking Nikolai for years. That part of the Bratva’s operations is hard to track because moving humans is a little easier than drugs because they have legs.” Enrique chuckles, but no one else does. My cousin composes himself realizing the room is not about jokes. “Nikolai is high up in the Bratva especially here in Spain. We know that he has a lot of corrupt police and politicians in his pockets. Any time we get close to him, he is tipped off. Tomas knows what we’ve been dealing with, regarding this case, they are always one step ahead of us. That’s why our meeting here today is off the books, no one knows about it. I took leave for family reasons so I could do this without someone in our office tipping them off.”
“Ruby warned me that they didn’t know I was alive. That’s why she was so insistent on me disappearing again. That if they found out I was alive they would hunt me down,” Zoe explains.
“She’d be right. No jewel has ever been found alive. That’s why you are the key to putting these assholes behind bars.”
“I’ll do anything, anything, to stop these people,” she says strongly.
That’s our girl.
“But there’s one thing,” she says, looking at my cousin seriously.
“Name it,” he says.
“I need you to protect my sister and family. Especially Gracie as they have gotten to her before, and they will get to her again easily. As far as they know, I’ve been living happily with Nikolai in Russia. That I’ve given up my degree to be with him. I need you to protect them, please.”
Enrique smiles and tells Zoe he will, he promises he’ll keep her family safe.
“And by family, I mean Mateo and Tomas too,” she adds.
Enrique looks between the two of us and nods.
“Do you think we can protect her?” Mateo asks.
I can see the worry on his face. He’s stayed relatively quiet this entire time.
“Tomas has the resources but getting extra security wouldn’t hurt. I’ll do a deep dive into all your staff again and see if there are any links to this guy from the party. He is our only link between Nikolai, the Bratva, and the jewels.”
“Tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it,” I say to my cousin.
He gives me a nod. “Zoe, if you don’t mind, I have a lot of surveillance that I would like to run through with you, if you have the time?”
“Yes, of course.”
