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“No idea who made the requests?”
“She has the names of five different companies, all of them check out. I even had Pirate dig into them to see if we could find a link with Maxim.”
“Maxim has connections with several legitimate companies. I could review the list and see if I recognize one. Also, send me the itinerary of the ships and I’ll see if a port of call sparks anything,” Vladimir offers. “In the meantime, I better get going. Maxim’s expecting me. He thinks I’m flying in from Boston today.”
“He doesn’t know you’re already here?”
“No, and I don’t want him to find out. Until we know what he’s up to, I can’t have him suspect me of working behind his back.”
“I’ll have Pirate send you the information we have. Are you taking the speedboat? I can walk you out.”
“I want to say goodbye to Delphine before I go,” Vladimir says.
We head for the common room, but we don’t see Delphine or her daughters. Hex calls out to the prospect, Jack, to see if he knows where they went.
“They went outside with Cleo and Nora. They’re helping Nora plan out her herb and vegetable garden.”
The three of us head outside and find the women standing near a small patch of land with trees surrounding three of the sides. Nora is holding what looks to be a plan, with Delphine and Cleo on each side of her. Shayna and Sasha have twine and long sticks they’re using to map out the space.
Delphine sees us and heads in our direction. Her eyes on Vladimir. “You’re leaving?”
He smiles at her. “I am, but I promise to be back. Now that I’ve found my family, you couldn’t keep me away.”
Delphine gives him one of her brilliant smiles before pulling him in for a hug. While Vladimir says goodbye to Sasha, Shayna, and Cleo, Abra comes outside to find us. He glares at Vladimir before focusing his attention on Hex.“There is a limo at our gates.”
Vladimir grins. “You can keep the speedboat. Looks like my ride is here.”
“How the hell did you find our location?”
“Golubrev’s man, Mikel. After he escaped, he wandered around until he found the road. So I had a general idea of your location. Once Delphine and the girls escaped, I used the locator on the speedboat to pinpoint your location. I don’t think Mikel remembers how to find you, or at least he never gave up your location to Maxim. He would have if he had it.”
“Mikel works for our father?” Hex asks. “I thought you said Maxim wasn’t involved in human trafficking.”
“He’s not, why?”
“We rescued several children from being auctioned off. Two of them were babies. We have an eyewitness who swears Mikel was the man who brought the babies.”
Vladimir’s face goes blank. “Maybe he was working on orders from Golubrev. Maxim better not be fucking around with children. I’ll kill him myself. Leave it with me. I’ll find out where those babies came from and let you know what I find out.”
Hex nods. “You’re certain Maxim isn’t trafficking?”
Vladimir nods. “I have intimate knowledge of all his income streams and his holdings. He doesn’t have the logistic means to traffic women and children. He also wouldn’t be able to hide the income from me.”
“But he’s hiding this shipment from you?” Hex reminds him.
“He is, but this is a one-off, and he hasn’t hidden the transaction, just the details.”
We walk Vladimir to the road where a black limo idles. A man hops out and opens the door for his passenger. Before he climbs inside, Vladimir looks at me. “Hex is obviously okay with the relationship between you and our mother. However, I don’t know you. If you hurt her, I’ll happily kill you.”
“If I hurt her, you and Hex will have to flip a coin to determine who kills me,” I correct him. “However, I have no intention of hurting Delphine. I love her.”
“Don’t keep secrets from her,” Vladimir warns. “Every man in her life has kept secrets from her. Don’t be like them.”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “I won’t.” Although even as I make the assurance, I know that I already am. Not only am I hiding secrets from Delphine, but from Hex and my brothers. I probably should have found Delphine and told her everything right then and there. But of course I’m male of the species and don’t always make the right decision.
CHAPTER TWELVE: DELPHINE
When we leave the men, the girls and I head straight for the bar. Jack pours us each a rum and coke as we decompress from our emotional overload.
