Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
It made my stomach turn to consider how many atrocities he’d committed. Several months ago, a fire destroyed his home, and he disappeared off the radar. There was clear evidence the Theriots were present at his home that night.
Some of his top lieutenants had been systematically killed or disappeared over the next few days. All those incidents had links to the Theriots, so either they were involved, or they were also trying to bring Ivanov down.
I needed to know which it was before I could go any further. If they were working to eliminate him too, then I could move more aggressively, knowing we were on the same side. If they were in league with him, my choices were limited. If I could bring them down, I’d be able to write my ticket to whatever position I wanted, but I didn’t want to deal with all that fucking bureaucracy. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I liked putting people away, not dealing with politicians and government bullshit.
I didn’t know how much longer I was going to last anyway. Ten years of this had nearly killed me.
If this was my last time undercover, I was sure as hell going to make it count. Rafael was my ticket to learning more about the Theriots’ involvement and identifying some of Ivanov’s contacts.
I pulled up my file on him. I’d been studying him for days, seeking out every article, picture, and video of him I could. There was one of him at a club that I hadn’t been able to stop watching. He might be a fucking mobster, but the way he moved his body on the dance floor was intoxicating.
I was surprised he’d been chosen by Remington to run the casino and even more surprised at what a good job he’d done. The place was far more successful than it had been a few years before. Based on his reputation, I would have expected him to run it into the ground.
Maybe he just knew how to hire good people to make the business decisions. Or someone in his family did. I had no proof he was actually hands-on with running the place. From what I could tell, he was far more interested in his own pleasure than in anything else. He spent plenty of nights at the casino, but he also spent time hopping from club to club, picking up both men and women, sometimes at the same time. He was an up-for-anything kind of guy. I could play to that. I might be straight, but I had no problem flirting with him, luring him in, and making him want me.
Doesn’t that mean you’re not so straight after all?
I pushed that thought away. I didn’t have time for a personal crisis now.
2
RAFE
The buzz of my phone woke me. It was clearly morning, possibly even afternoon. I squinted against the bright sun coming in through the hotel room curtains. Why the hell hadn’t we pulled the blackout shades closed?
My phone kept going off from somewhere on the floor by the bed. I managed to extract myself from between two women whose identities I didn’t know. I vaguely remembered following them back to the hotel, but if I’d ever learned their names, I didn’t know them now.
It would probably be best if I got myself out of there before they woke up. Fortunately, neither of them stirred as I slid from the bed. I found my phone in the pocket of my jeans and fought the pounding in my head as I read the screen.
Fuck, it was Remington. He never called me about anything good.
The phone stopped buzzing, and I decided it would be best to find my clothes and get out of the suite before calling him back.
My jeans were on the couch, but my underwear was nowhere in sight. I’d have to just leave commando.
It took a few moments to find my shirt under a chair. It was a wrinkled-up mess, but I slipped my arms into it and did up enough of the buttons to keep it on.
There’s no sense in trying to fake it. Why the hell did I care if anyone in the lobby knew what I’d been up to? It wasn’t like I had a pristine reputation to keep up. This was totally on-brand for me.
My phone started to buzz again, and I continued to ignore it. I found one shoe, then the other. The phone stopped ringing as I slipped my feet into them and headed out the door. When it started up a third time, I knew I was in trouble. I pulled it from my pocket and answered as the elevator opened and I stepped into the lobby.
“Hey.” I hurried to find a place where I could talk privately.
“Where the hell are you?”
“I was in bed.”
“Your own?”