Page 25 of Relentless Sinner
Eric rests a hand on my shoulder. “You’re doing good, son. I’m damn proud of you. No one deserves the leadership more than you. I know our dearly departed would have shared my excitement for you.”
The same sadness he speaks with fills my heart.
He lost loved ones, too. His wife and son were murdered in their home in Moscow a year before Jacob died.
“They are still with us,dyadya.” I’ve always called him uncle. He’s more deserving of the title than Magnus or Damian.
“I believe that, too. See you both later.”
With one last smile he leaves us and Micah stares at me with cautious eyes.
“Man, do I have a lot to tell you.” He sighs, tilting his head.
“That sounds serious.”
“It is. Walk with me.” He glances over his shoulder.
I look, too, catching a glimpse of Magnus and Levka at the end of the hall. They were watching us.
Micah and I head outside to the edge of the lake where we used to play together as boys.
He turns to face me with a frown on his face. “I think your wife-to-be’s kidnapping was a setup.”
My scalp tightens and I stare at him with wide eyes. “What the hell are you saying to me?”
He’s the only other person who knows about Gabriella’s kidnapping. Once I’d spoken to Cillian I needed Micah’s helpto track her down. That’s what he does best— find people and things others can’t.
“When I ran a search on Estes, the Odessa leader, I found an email arranging Gabriella’s kidnapping for half a million. It was encrypted and sent from an unknown recipient but when I checked it out, I saw that it came fromhere.”
The walls of my chest shrink and I look back at the house. A house filled with enemies who don’t want me to have what I have.
Without Gabriella, there is no position,I remind myself.
“Fuck. This isn’t happening.” But it is and now certain things that didn’t make sense do.
I found it strange how she was taken. It was like they were waiting for her. Targeting her specifically. And Estes never wanted a ransom. I’d assumed wrongly that he’d already been paid.
“Estes took Gabriella out of revenge for what her father did with their business deal but he was just a tool. Someoneherewanted her out of the picture for good,” Micah explains. “The same person hooked him up with a buyer who would have given him two million for her.”
“Do you know who sent the email?”
He shakes his head. “And it’s difficult to guess which one of your so-called family members wants to stop you from becoming Pakhan.”
“What if it is all of them?”
“That’s why you have to be careful. They could still take her and pin it on one of her father’s enemies. There are no end of them and if the Castellanos find out what he did…”
“They won’t,” I say quickly before he can continue.
Micah only knows about Salvatore’s crimes because it was he who drew my attention to the discrepancy in the audit I got fromSalvatore. I would have preferred if no one knew but I trust him as a friend to keep my secrets.
“They will not hear it from me,” he promises with a nod, as if sensing my concerns. “But just think, if we found out what Salvatore did, it may only be a matter of time before someone else does, too. He’s in a desperate situation. Desperate people do fucked-up things. Don’t think for one minute that he’s not trying to get himself out of this situation with you.”
“I’m counting on it. I’m sure he’s already planning some dumb shit to try and get his daughter back from me. She’s his collateral now that the older daughter is off the grid.”
“Exactly. The Castellanos are his biggest source of income so he can’t lose them. They’re also the kind of people who won’t hesitate to kill him and his daughters if they find out what he did.”
That’s another reason to have the wedding so soon. When Gabriella marries me she’ll be under my protection. The Castellanos won’t want to start a war with the Bratva by trying to kill my wife.