Chapter 22 Rafe
RAFE
My phone rang, and I glanced down. Xavier’s number flashed on the screen. Of all the fucking times to call me. I couldn’t ignore him though.
I looked up at Zach. “You’re in. Now, don’t make a sound while I take this call.”
“Hello. What’s wrong?”
“Does something have to be wrong for me to call?”
“Um… I assumed so.”
“One day, I’ll call just to talk and shock you. I have proof that Ivanov is back in the country.”
“Oh, shit. I guess you’ve already told Remington.”
“Actually, I called you first. If the casino is Ivanov’s way to get to your family, I thought you should have priority. Any new leads?”
I glanced at Zach, and he raised his brows, but I didn’t dare ask him the question. “Nothing concrete. A few suspects. You are going to call Remington next, right? Because I…”
“I thought you wanted to prove yourself.”
“I do, but—”
“Then do it. My courier is bringing you more information about what I learned. When the time is right, you’ll tell the rest of your family what they need to know.”
Was he serious? “Why are you…”
“Why do I trust you?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve never given me a reason not to.” He said like it was so fucking obvious.
“But my brothers—”
“Are your older brothers, and Remington is not good at delegating.”
“He’s better than he used to be.” Why was I defending him?
Xavier chuckled. “He’s got to delegate some things, or he wouldn’t be able to spend time with Henri. That would be unacceptable.”
I smiled. My cousin could be cruel. He didn’t trust easily, and he wanted to be in control all the time, but he was so in love with his boyfriend. It was actually kind of cute.
“Watch your back now more than ever. Have you been taking my advice?”
I froze for a second before I forced out my lie. “Yes, sir.”
“Hmm. That’s exactly what I thought would happen.”
He ended the call before I could say anything else or ask him what the hell he meant by that last statement. Did he know about me and Zach? If so, how? Was he watching me? If he was, I’d never figure it out.
And what was he doing trusting me with something this big?
Remington and Lorenzo were reluctant to even trust me with small assignments.
This was huge. Ivanov had put Lorenzo’s and Dante’s boyfriends in jeopardy, and he’d hurt countless people.
I might run some profitable games and know how to drive more business to the casino, but was I really the one who could bring this man down?
I wasn’t lying to myself. I wasn’t one of the good guys.
I was a fucking criminal. I’d killed, and I would kill again.
Sometimes that would include people I knew, even people I’d slept with, but I’d never hurt a child.
Ivanov was vile, and he needed to die. How the hell was I going to manage that?
I was going to have to bring in my family.
“Who was that?” Zach’s question stopped me from spiraling and pulled me back to the room.
I raised my brows. “You actually think I’m going to tell you?”
“Not really.”
“Then why did you ask?”
He smiled. “I never know when I might catch you off guard. Maybe next time, I’ll try asking when I’ve got you right on the edge. I won’t let you come unless you tell me. That might be the perfect way to torture information out of you.”
I glared at him. “Don’t you dare.”
“You wouldn’t like to be tortured by me?”
I did not like what his words did to me. “You think I won’t hurt you if you act like that?”
“Oh no, I’m very sure you’d hurt me. You’d kill me if you thought it was necessary to protect your family. I’ve never questioned that, but right now, I’m useful. And you’re useful to me. Isn’t that what this is all about?”
Was it?
Yes. That was absolutely what this was about. Mutual benefits while we brought Ivanov down for good. I had to remember to stay impersonal. “Ivanov is back in the country.”
Surprise flashed on Zach’s face, but only for a second. “That’s what your mystery caller told you?”
I nodded.
“And you trust this source.”
“With my life.” He studied me like he was considering whether he should trust the information simply because I did.
“You’re right. I will protect my family any way I have to, but ending Ivanov and keeping him from rebuilding his operation is the most important thing I’ve ever done.
I want your help. I want you here helping me so I can do this for my brothers and for your informant and everyone else Ivanov’s hurt, including his own damn daughter. ”
Zach closed his eyes and drew in a breath. “Tell me he didn’t…”
“He physically and verbally abused her. He made her life hell, but he didn’t touch her sexually. He was going to force her to marry her to a man who was actually for him, a man who’s kind and good and who’s now my brother’s boyfriend, but I guess she probably knows that too.”
“Only some of it. Everything I hear about Ivanov makes me hate him even more.”
We could do this. We had to, but Zach needed to fully understand my rules. “I won’t turn Ivanov over to be arrested. He’s not going to have a trial. He’s not going to have more chances to escape. He’s not—”
Zach raised his hands. “I’m not arguing with you. I don’t trust the court system either, especially not with Ivanov. No matter what we’re ‘supposed’ to do, I intend to kill him on sight.”
I shook my head. “No. I want his death to be slow. I want him in agony for as long as we can draw it out. He needs to be punished for every person he hurt.”
Zach nodded. “I won’t stop you from doing that, but every second he’s alive is a second he can escape.”
“Oh, we’re not going to leave him well enough that he could escape. We want him barely alive, but we will keep him that way for a long time. Does that scare you?”
“No, very little scares me anymore, and certainly not that.” I hadn’t really thought it would, not after the way he’d killed Andretti with no remorse. He’d probably seen as many or more horrible things in his life as I had.
“Then let’s figure this out and bring him down.
These are some of the people I’m looking at.
” I grabbed the files from my desk and handed them to Zach.
He let his fingers brush mine as he took them, and heat raced through me.
I could barely get my next words out. “I’m going to switch to looking at patrons while you check those out. ”
Zach flipped through the top file and frowned. “I need access to everything. I need to get into your system.”
He was already so deep I didn’t think I’d ever get him out. “That’s not an option.”
“I’m not going to fuck up anything. I swear.”
“No, I—”
“I can work faster that way. And I’ve got an idea.”
“What?”
“You know how you thought I’d put over your desk?”
How the hell was I supposed to work with him putting images like that in my head? “Yes.”
“That’s how we’ll celebrate when we find the mole.”
I opened my desk, pulled out my backup laptop, and started it up. This was my last chance to turn back, but I didn’t. I handed him full access to a Theriot family business.