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“He probably needed an immediate increase to match whatever her care cost, so he increased the demand once he realized his mother wasn’t coming home.” Montana’s jaw clenched for a moment. “He knew enough to think long-term too, so he got help from his college buddies and invested some money, enough so the money mademoremoney. Enough to keep his mother safe. And yet, he kept making my family pay.”
Vadisk reached out and gripped Montana’s clenched fist. Montana twisted his wrist, lacing their fingers together and squeezing.
“This wouldn’t be enough to convict him of blackmail in court,” Nikolett said. “But we’re not a court of law.”
“Sinaveristhe blackmailer,” Vadisk declared. He really wished that was enough. That having identified the man, they could get the hell out of here. But the blackmailer’s identity was only one part of their mission, and not the important part.
“Is there any record of the Abduramanov family associating with the Masters’ Admiralty?” Vadisk asked. “A great-great-grandpa?”
“Nothing that we can find, and we asked the archivist too.”
“I’ve been thinking about this,” Dahlia said. “And I think Sinaver only found out recently. About the Masters’ Admiralty, I mean.”
“Why?” Nyx asked.
“I’ve never been blackmailed?—”
Montana mouthed “yet” and shot an exaggerated knowing look at the window. Dahlia’s lips twitched but she kept going.
“—however, I have run into people who take bribes, and they never do it just once.”
“We know he blackmailed multiple people,” Nyx said, sounding closer to the phone now.
“Yes, but the switch from blackmailing individuals to blackmailing the whole society was recent, correct?”
“It was,” Nikolett said.
“It’s unlikely that the trinity from Ottoman was the first to say no,” Dahlia continued. “But this was the first time he had an option to go to someone else with the same pictures.”
“Saying the knowledge is recent narrows it down, but doesn’t answer the question,” Nikolett pointed out.
There was a moment of silence as they contemplated that.
“Ottoman?” Vadisk asked.
“They’re doing a complete security audit of the territory membership, and so far have found nothing,” Nikolett said.
“The janissaries are out for blood,” Grigoris added quietly. He’d been a janissary in Ottoman before his marriage to Nyx, after which they’d moved to Hungary to help Nikolett rebuild.
“The fleet admiral’s blood for suggesting they have a traitor in their territory, or the blood of the hypothetical traitor feeding Sinaver information?” Vadisk asked.
“Both.”
There was a short silence.
“We know who the blackmailer is,” Dahlia summed up. “But we still need to find out how he’s identifying members. And to do that, we either have to extract that information by questioning him or breaking into his house and searching his office.”
Vadisk’s entire body twitched in horror at the idea. “Or, we wait until we’re blackmailed, refuse to pay, and, using Montana’s phone mirroring thing, we see who he calls to ask if we’re members.”
Montana was shaking his head in warning. “Remember, the phone mirroring isn’t indefinite. It could click off at any time.” He frowned, looking at the ceiling. “Maybe if I set up a relay…”
“We need to speed this up,” Vadisk declared, thinking they might need another sex around the pool display. Except he didn’t want their first time with penetrative sex to be for an audience.
“We could leave early,” Dahlia added. “If he’s waiting until we’re home, we cut the trip short. Once we’re sure he’s gotten something blackmail worthy.”
“I keep checking,” Montana said. “He’s probably not out there watching us himself, which means, someone is going to send him those photos, hopefully via message or the email address he has on the phone.”
“Then you stay for now and keep trying to provoke the blackmail, but don’t take unnecessary risks,” Nikolett ordered.
