AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She’s safe,” I assure her. “What happened to you, Stacy?”
“Lev…” Stacy’s struggling to talk. “Be careful.” Her head starts to bob. “Not who I… thought.” She’s trying to force her eyes open. “Tell B… sorry…”
Her head falls back, and the machines start to beeb. “Stacy!” I yell into the phone. “Nurse!”
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said. “I have to go.” The phone goes dead.
I turn to Temur. “Start talking!”
“Lev was leading us into a trap,” Temur tells me. “But he’d arranged for Stacy and Isabella to escape before we arrived. Apparently, Stacy was supposed to encourage Isabella to go on the trip to Canada we were all supposed to go on before Donald Whitman showed up.”
“To find the messenger?”
“Yes.” Temur’s eyes narrow suspiciously once again. “So Lev did mention that?”
“He might have.”
“Did you know Donald Whitman and Lev were big pals?” Temur is watching me intently.
“I don’t even know who the prick is,” I assure him. “I didn’t hear about the man until Konstantin mentioned him.”
“Turns out we now know how the fucker got onto the property and found out where we were,” Temur told me. “Your brother got pissed that Konstantin managed to find his hackers before they could find your mother’s encrypted file he was looking for.”
“Why send Donald Whitman to the compound?”
“Because Konstantin had you and James on your way there so he could get you all to safety and Isabella to the messenger. He needed to disrupt Konstantin’s plans and make him move to the next location without you. He also knew how Donald Whitman would freak Stacy out,” Temur tells me. “Your brother is shit scared of whatever the messenger has for Isabella.”
“He seems to think Konstantin is the one that wants the messenger,” I point out. “Lev also thinks that Konstantin’s the one that came back to take over EVERYTHING, including my organization.”
“Trust me,” Temur says, throwing a card on the table. “If Konstantin wanted the Belov Bratva, he could’ve taken it years ago.” He shrugs.
“Bullshit,” I snarl. “How would Konstantin take it?” I snort. “Another debt owed to the great Roman Zhukov or Karla Andreev?”
Temur looks at me coldly, shakes his head, and stands, getting ready to leave. “You know what? I’m done talking.”
“Sit!” I order.
“Fuck you,” Temur says to me. “Of course, you’re going to believe your brother.” His eyes narrow. “I understand that. Family loyalty. That loyalty can also blind you to who they really are.” He nods to where I’m holding his gun. “You can keep the gun. You’re going to need it because I have a feeling your brother’s not far behind you.”
“My brother said that Marco was taking them to a safe house.” I offer some information to get the man to tell me more.
“Marco?” Temur’s eyes widen. “He’s your brother’s hostage for leverage with Isabella.” He looks at me questioningly. “Have you spoken to your mother?”
“I thought you were listening?”
“I told you I got blocked out.”
“Yes, I did speak to my mother.”
“So you know about your father,” Temur’s eyes are emotionless and not giving anything away. “You’re a doctor.” He fiddles on his phone. “There’s your father’s medical records. You figure out why, only a few minutes after your brother had visited your father, he suddenly had a brain bleed.”
“What?” My brow furrows. “When did my brother visit my father?”
“While he was supposed to be being held hostage with Stacy and Isabella at the lodge for two days,” Temur’s words send a cold shiver up my spine. He takes a burner phone from his pocket and throws it on the sofa beside me.
“What’s that?”
“Call Sergei,” Temur tells me. “He’ll enlighten you. And I’d get rid of all your phones. Just keep the burner, and when you’re ready, you can call me on it.” His eyes become dark with a warning. “Let me tell you this. If anything happens to Isabella…” He raises his eyebrows. “It’s not me you’ll have to worry about, or even Konstantin.”
