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“Dimitri must’ve made a deal with someone powerful enough to make him feel confident about his safety,” Roman guesses. “If we figure out who his new business partners are, we can go after them and weaken Dimitri. We will force him to come back to us, begging on his knees to forgive him.”
Ivan rubs a hand over his jaw. “Maybe women are a point of leverage.”
I cock my head. “Women? How?”
“Igor is already known to sleep around,” Roman agrees, going along with Ivan’s suggestion. “We could invite him, Aleksander, and Mikhail to an exclusive VIP party. We fill it up with women and pay them to drug the men. After that, we begin the interrogation.”
“We can offer them deals. Reveal who they’ve worked with in the past in exchange for their freedom,” Ivan suggests, then smirks. “Or a quiet, slow death.”
I shake my head. “That won’t work.”
The two men share a look. Before Ivan can protest, I explain, “Men like them won’t give away the secrets of their fathers easily. Besides, we can’t be sure that Dimitri won’t come after us regardless.”
Ivan frowns, obviously not sharing my concern.
“We might not be able to go after his sons, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t go after his daughter,” I say, an idea forming in my head. “Dimitri himself said that Katarina is sacred. If I take her and hide her away, he won’t risk attacking me. I’m not sure he’d follow the same rules if we took his sons.”
Ivan shakes his head. “That’s risky,” he warns. My loyal bodyguard and childhood friend is already thinking about all the future problems that could arise from this strategy.
“You still plan on marrying her, you said?” Roman asks, ignoring Ivan’s protests.
“Of course, I plan on continuing the engagement,” I say. “A legally binding union is exactly what I need to keep Dimitri and his sons in line. Once I marry her, she belongs to me. They will have no claim on Katarina Volkov. The sooner it happens, the better.”
“Then it’s settled,” Ivan says, already starting to move. “When do we do it?”
“As soon as we find a moment to snatch her,” I reply.
Once I have her tucked away, I won’t be at risk from Dimitri anymore. That thought causes a smirk to curl my lips.
“Make sure that the corridors and rooms inside the house are freshened up,” I say to Roman. “I’ll keep Katarina in my townhouse. They won’t expect that I’m hiding her in plain sight.”
Roman nods and leaves the room to call my housekeeper. When I bought the Upper West Side townhouse, I made sure the Prohibition Era tunnels and corridors were renovated and secured, even though I rarely used them before. Now they’ll be the perfect place to keep Katarina.
“Put your best man on Katarina’s tail,” I say to Ivan. “I want to know when she leaves the house, where she’s going, and who she’s meeting with.”
“On it,” Ivan confirms.
“Be careful, though. We can’t make a move until there’s a window when she’s alone,” I warn. “We don’t want the police on our backs. I already have a big enough headache with Dimitri.”
Ivan nods and hurries out the door.
With my plan in motion, I relax into the soft cushions of the sofa, ready to take some of the weight off my feet. I know it isn’t over yet, but this tiny moment of reprieve is definitely a nice reward for all the problems I’ve been having these past few days.
It’s going to be tricky to accomplish my plan and not have the Sokolov family come knocking at my front door. But even if they do, they’ll never find her. No one knows about the secret corridors from the Prohibition Era except for the people I trust with my life.
After drinking a second round of whiskey, I turn to my laptop and get to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s personal or business; I always give it my all. I need to calm my investors and make sure they don’t withdraw their support. Now more than ever, I’m going to need their funds and connections in Russia.
Besides, working is the most constructive way to pass my time at the moment. Keeping my business running is the one thing I do best.
Katarina will have to wait until Ivan gives me a sign. But the moment he does, I will lure her into my trap like a spider catching a fly.
TWELVE
KATARINA
I hand the fob to my car to Solanum’s valet. Tonight’s a girls’ night. We aren’t leaving until sunrise. I’ll have one of my father’s men drive us home and pick up the car in the morning.
Mila takes my hand, and we hurry past the growing line on the sidewalk. There are countless people waiting with an excited buzz and an air of impatience.
