The Allure of Ruins Read Online Mary Calmes

Categories Genre: Contemporary, Crime, M-M Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
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Colton nodded.

“Once our guy talked to Csokas, of course all he wanted was a phone. We got to hear everything when he talked to Rokov, who lives in Miami at the moment, when he spelled out that Gen would have to return to court to give testimony against him a second time, and would Rokov please eliminate him before he could do that.”

“None of which explains what we’re doing here.”

“I agree,” Calhoun affirmed, sounding a bit bored.

“Rokov advised him not to worry. Well, because the office in Miami has Rokov under a microscope, when we found out he wanted to get in touch with Gen, we had the marshals release him into our custody, and let Csokas know we had Antonov and we’ll be ready for his second trial.”

“Which is not at all how any of that works, and Csokas should know better, and if not, at least his lawyer would,” Colton said, his voice dripping with derision.

“You’re right, and his lawyer apprised him not to do anything, but of course, he called Rokov to give him this news, and no more than two hours later, as soon as we had confirmation he made contact, we had Gen call Rokov.”

“So Gen called Rokov, and the big man said what to him?” Colton demanded, his furrowed brows and clenched fists on the table letting me know how tense he was.

I leaned into his side, crowding him, and he quickly exhaled.

“Rokov notified Gen that if he could retrieve the diamonds he’d been holding for Csokas, who in turn had been holding them for Rokov, then Gen would be a free man. Rokov would take him off his kill list.”

“And Csokas just rots in prison?”

“Yeah,” Walker told him. “Rokov doesn’t give a crap about his loyal man. He only wants his diamonds.”

“And Gen?” Colton asked.

“We suspect that if Gen gets the diamonds, he will take them and disappear. I mean, really, the chances that he gets out of this alive are slim. And once we played Csokas the conversation between his boss and Gen, he rolled on Rokov, which renders Gen⁠—”

“Irrelevant,” Colton concluded. “You have a bigger fish, so you can ditch Antonov.”

“That’s right.”

“What I don’t understand,” Colton began, “is why doesn’t Rokov send guys after Pax?”

“Because no one knows about Pax except us and Gen. He didn’t give Pax’s name to anyone and claimed a rival organization in LA hit his house.”

“That makes no sense,” I chimed in. “Erast knew that was a lie. He was working for you guys the whole time.”

“Not from the beginning, but you’re right. Erast would know that was a lie, and could have told that to Rokov, but his cover was blown shortly after you left, and he died in an explosion when his car blew up in his driveway.”

“Wasn’t he in protective custody?” I asked. “I thought Agent Lattimer put him in witness protection.”

“He did, but Erast was stupid and didn’t listen to the marshals. He didn’t follow their specific mandate for his safety. He contacted Rokov, wanting to get back to his old life. He hated Gen, even though they were cousins, but he had enjoyed the money and other perks.”

“And by then, they knew he was the one who had rolled on Gen,” Colton surmised.

“Correct.”

“Like house sex slaves,” I said before I even realized I was going to. “That was a perk Erast had appreciated. He never hurt me, but I heard him with all the women.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Two days after contacting Rokov, Erast was dead,” Walker informed me.

“I thought he was smarter than that,” I mused as Colton put his arm around me. The heat, as well as his strength, was so appreciated.

“But now Pax is the only one who knows for sure what happened that day he and the others escaped. And Gen certainly won’t ever tell anyone that his sex slave got the better of him, turned everything over to the FBI, and skipped town with ten thousand dollars of his money. That’s why he put out the rival-gang story all those years ago. He didn’t want to lose face.”

“Of course not,” I agreed.

“Where is Gen now?” Colton wanted to know.

She was silent, and when Calhoun cleared his throat, we both looked at him.

“Gentlemen, as the Los Angeles office is now prepping Csokas for the witness stand, and Rokov has been taken into custody, awaiting trial, the fact of the matter is, Genrikh Antonov is no longer needed as a witness.”

“No,” Colton said under his breath.

“Because Antonov was given transactional immunity⁠—”

“He was freed,” Colton stated.

“How?” I asked him.

“Because they gave him blanket immunity, and he held up his end, he’s out,” Colton stated. “Now he’s running around without any protection and with a giant bull’s-eye on his back because everyone knows he rolled on Csokas, but that doesn’t help you at all because I bet no one had eyes on him and he disappeared.”


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