Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“Are you alright?” he asked.
I nodded quickly. He didn’t need to know that just listening to the sound of him breathing beside me was overheating my blood. “My father ...” I croaked out.
“What relations does he have to Meridian, Idaho?”
I paused for a moment to think. “None. Why?”
“He used his credit card in a convenience store down there.”
My heart seized. “When?”
“Late last night. I got the report this morning.”
I sat back then deep in thought. “Idaho? That’s so far away. Why would he be …” I stopped as something clicked. “My mom’s nephew, Jeremy Sawyer used to live there. But for what reason would my father be there? They’d never really been friends, but after my dad cheated on my mom and it became public knowledge, everything was shot to hell.”
“Perhaps they reconciled?” he said. “Maybe he has some business with him—”
“That’s impossible,” I interrupted. “Jeremy died two years ago. There’s no reason he’d be there.”
“He’s dead?” he repeated.
“Yeah.”
“And he didn't have any kids?”
I shook my head. “As far as I know, he didn’t have any other family apart from us.”
“Hmm.”
“Well,” I spoke again, “He did spend a little while in Idaho after he was released from prison, so it could be he has other contacts there.”
“Don’t worry about it. My men are checking it out even as we speak. They are thorough. If there is anything to be found, they will find it.”
“But why would he be looking for anything in Idaho? Or was that where he planned to hide away after he sold me off?”
Levan didn’t respond to my bitter snipe. Instead, he reached out and placed his hand on top of mine. His eyes communicated what he wanted me to feel, which was assurance, that all would be well in time.
I wanted to believe him, but there was so much I didn’t know. “The woman … that you and Aldie were speaking about yesterday. What was that about? I can’t get it out of my head.”
He let go of my hand.
At his reaction, my heart fell. “Levan.”
“Bianca, just leave it.”
“Aldie mentioned something about saving her ... is this related to me?”
“The less you know the better for you. I’ve got it handled,” he dismissed the subject.
I wanted to insist, but his phone rang.
“I’ve got to take this,” he said, and rising to his feet, walked away from the room.
I tried to return to my meal but my heart was too heavy.
It occurred to me then that I hadn’t seen Biscuit around, so I headed into the kitchen and found Gloria talking rapidly in Russian to one of the maids.
They both stopped the moment I came in and looked at me with surprise. This was obviously not an area guests wandered into. “What can I do for you, dear?” Gloria asked politely.
“Um … where’s Biscuit?
“The gardener has taken him for a walk around the grounds,” she replied.
“Oh, okay. I might do the same,” I said awkwardly and quickly walked out of the room.
17
Levan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdoSy4ROZpg
As I listened to Mikhail giving me his report about a matter unrelated to Bianca, I watched through the window, her trudge towards the stables, probably in search of her dog.
Telling her what she wanted to know would only serve to make her more worried than was needed. As she went out of my sight, I turned away and ended the call.
Just then, there was a sharp rap on the door. When I called enter Yuri came in, his face hard, and his gaze, stone-cold, the way it got when there was trouble.
“We know where they’re keeping the boy.”
Judging by Yuri’s face that was not good news. “Where is he?”
“Right here in New Jersey.”
I stared at him with astonishment. It didn’t make sense. Why would Bogdan keep the boy in our backyard? “What?”
“Looks like Bogdan has become closely affiliated with the Death’s Angels and he has asked them to keep him in their clubhouse. We guessed he was there purely from the fact of how much they’ve increased the security on their clubhouse these last few days, but this morning Marcus was finally able to get one of our guys in their Miami chapter to enter the premises. He confirmed they have the boy.”
“Fuck!” I swore.
“Yeah. Death’s Angels are insane. If we break in it’ll be a damn blood bath.”
I frowned. “Why the hell would they risk offending us to help Bogdan?”
He looked away for a moment.
My eyes narrowed at him. “What is it?”
He opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated.
“Fucking talk.” I growled impatiently.
“They just elected a new president last November. Roman Tsepov. He was among Lazovsky’s guys two years ago.”
The moment he said the words, my chest throbbed with the memory of the four bullet wounds that had come so close to taking my life.
“After you were shot, your brother went on a rampage. He offed as many guys as he could from Lazovsky’s gang. His brother was one of them. Since then, he’s had a gun cocked at your family, so he’s definitely not going to pass up this chance.”