Page 94 of Breaking the Rules
“His ass is a lot smaller than I thought it would be,” Kate murmured.
“It really is,” Chelsea agreed.
Xavier shook his head. “Grigory, I know this is hard, but try to pretend this was just a horrible, horrible nightmare. Let’s all go back to bed, get some sleep, and never speak of this again.”
He herded them all off toward their rooms, weapons in hand.
Waverly waited for him at the foot of the stairs to the third floor.
“You’re going to be a great dad someday.”
“If I were Grigory, I would have shot the bastard.”
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After breakfast, Kate took Petra-sitting duty and dragged the girl away from Dante to use the basement gym… or the basement wine cellar. Xavier wasn’t clear on which.
The rest of them convened in the upstairs media room, the only room large enough to hold everyone. Xavier and Waverly sat on a leather chaise while Chelsea and Malachi claimed the barstools against the mahogany bar. Grigory, Anatoli, and Micah all chose positions on the large leather sectional. Dante lounged on the floor by the cedar plank coffee table looking every bit the casual playboy.
Xavier leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees and began. “As you’re all aware, we’re in an awkward position of being aware of having evidence of certain crimes committed while not being able to turn said evidence over to the proper authorities. And instead of marching each and every one of us down to the FBI’s office to tell our stories and hoping for the best, we’re looking for a way to speed the investigation along.”
He glanced at Waverly and nodded, giving her the floor.See? He could do this partner thing.
She rolled her eyes at him as if she’d read his mind before addressing the group. “While we don’t have much in the way of legally collected evidence, what wedohave is all of the players that Brad wants. We’d like to use Brad’s inside source to inform him that Petra has already gone missing. It will motivate him to contact me.”
“Travers, you’ll also be on the line, and if Tomasso throws any threats around or demands that Waverly turns Petra over to him, it should be enough for the FBI to start digging,” Xavier said, taking over again.
Malachi was frowning thoughtfully across the room.
“I’ll tell Brad that I want a cut of the Axion action in exchange for turning Petra over to him,” Waverly said, smoothly picking up the thread. “Which, of course, won’t happen, Mr. Stepanov.”
Petra’s father had been looking a little green at the direction the conversation was going. He nodded.
“We’ll arrange the swap for Saturday, which should give the FBI enough time to call in the SEC and start their investigations.”
“And you want us to stake out the exchange,” Travers predicted.
Xavier nodded. “Invictus will be there as backup, of course. But you’ll be there to slap on the cuffs.”
Micah cleared his throat. “It’s a good plan. We can start by identifying a location for the swap. Somewhere public that feds would have no trouble blending in. Waverly, since you’re the cardholder, you’ll want to lay it all out for Brad. You pick the place and the time.”
“And my Petra? She will be safe?” Grigory asked.
“Brad won’t get anywhere near her during the exchange,” Xavier promised.
“What can I do?” Dante asked. “I’m tired of being a homebound prisoner.”
Waverly cleared her throat. “I was thinking if Dante comes back from the dead, it might be a good distraction during the exchange. Brad would have his hands full trying to deal with me making demands and a shiny, British loose end suddenly reappearing.”
Xavier thought about it. “It might be dangerous,” he said with a grin.
“And we know how devastated you would be if something happened to my gorgeous face,” Dante said, heavy on the sarcasm.
“You should do it,” Grigory said, getting a laugh out of everyone.
“Grigory, don’t tell me you’re trying to get rid of your soon-to-be favorite son-in-law,” Dante quipped. Xavier had to hand it to the man. He was unflappable.
Grigory was back to looking green. “This we will discuss much later. Perhaps after you have mysteriously disappeared again.”
