Chapter 22
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
LEO
“Your move,” Aly says, her lips tilting into a sly grin.
I squint at the chessboard, a sea breeze tousling my hair. Sunlight dances off the plastic pieces, turning them into glistening figures on a miniature battlefield. It’s a massacre. My king is backed into a corner, threatened by her ruthless queen.
A queen like Aly.
A queen I’d happily bow down to.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I move a rook, a futile attempt to divert her attack. Aly’s eyes flash with amusement. She takes a slow sip from her wineglass, sun reflecting off her sunglasses.
“Well,” she drawls, setting her glass back onto the table with a clink. “It was a brave attempt.”
The corners of her mouth curve upward as her hand hovers over the board, fingers brushing her queen with a confident touch.
I still her hand with my own. “Aren’t you going to take pity on me, butterfly?”
She leans forward, interest flaring in her eyes. “What’s in it for me?”
I give her a sinful smile. “I’m sure I could think of something. Maybe I can bend you over this table, and fu—”
“As fun as that sounds …” She shrugs and moves the piece, taking out my rook. “Checkmate.”
I clutch my chest. “No mercy, woman.”
She sits back, lifting her wineglass in a silent toast to herself. I can’t help but raise my own glass, clinking it against hers. “I’m still happy for you to bend me over the table, though.”
I chuckle. “Not sure if you deserve it.” Truthfully, I’m just giving her time to recover from this morning, when I got acquainted with Bob.
With my hand wrapped around her long hair, I’d fucked her from behind, pushed up against the bathroom mirror.
Instead of using my fingers on her clit, I had the inspired idea to bring Bob into the mix.
As a wingman, he did his job just fine. She came so hard and fast, her pussy spasming around my dick so intensely, I nearly saw stars.
This is how it’s been for the last few days.
Getting lost in each other. The cold divide that had stretched over our time apart has dissolved, replaced by something warmer; something that’s kick-starting my heart back to life.
But we’re living on borrowed time. Sooner than later, reality will come crashing down on us.
Yulian’s call a few days ago was a stark reminder.
“Why do you look so serious?” Aly teases, feigning a frown. I suspect she’s already buzzed.
I wink at her. “I’m not. Just my resting bitch face.”
She crumples up and throws a napkin at me. I’m just about to duck when someone beyond Aly catches my eye, prompting a real resting bitch face. Behind Aly, Jack appears on deck. He’s talking with a few other crew members, but his attention keeps veering towards her, his glances not all that subtle.
An unpleasant knot forms in my gut. “Has that mudak bothered you again?” I ask, gesturing behind her with my chin.
Aly turns around. When Jack notices her looking, he has the audacity to lift a hand and wave, the insolent prick.
I return his friendly gesture with a middle-finger salute, which he pretends to not see. “Leo!” Aly hits my arm, shaking with laughter. “Leave him alone. I talked with him and made it clear I’m not interested. He’s kept his distance since.”
My jaw ticks. “Yeah, but I still don’t like the look of him. Or how he looks at you for that matter.”
“Forget him. I have. I’d much rather think about you.”
“Oh really?” I sit back and reach for my beer. “Are you thinking about my magic dick or how hot I look naked?”
“You wish.” But before she can say more, my phone dings with an incoming text. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I see Dima’s name flashing on the display.
Dima: I have the information you wanted.
And there it is. Reality comes crashing down.
I call Dima as soon as I enter the office.
He picks up after the fifth ring. "Apologies, boss," he pants.
"I lost track of time with the punching bag.
" I discovered Dima when he was just a pimple-faced teenager hacking into government databases for fun.
Recognizing his raw talent, I took him under my wing before he could land himself in jail.
Now, he’s more than just a hacker. He’s become a trusted lieutenant.
With a crack of my knuckles, I ask, “What do you have for me?”
“Marko Horvat. That name ring any bells?”
I pause in thought. “The Croatian arms dealer? He was one of the shitheads Alexander Lukov was locked up with.”
“That’s right. The two other shitheads Luzkov was in prison with are out of the picture. The Russian drug dealer was killed two months ago, and the Albanian is back behind bars. Which leaves Horvat, and he’s certainly been busy,” he adds with a low whistle.
“Tell me,” I say, dragging my knuckles down my face.
“Days before Alyona’s near-abduction, Horvat received a $20 million payment from a company called Transglobal Holdings. He’s an arms dealer, sure, but this kind of money? Doesn’t make sense, and his arms business has been relatively quiet of late.”
The gears in my mind start spinning with all sorts of possibilities, none of them good. “And Transglobal?”
“That’s the thing,” Dima sighs. “Transglobal is nothing but a cover for a network of shell companies. So far, it’s been impossible to figure out who is actually behind it.”
The revelation makes me sit back, my throat tightening. Could Horvat be the middleman between whoever is after Aly and Luzkov, the man he hired to do the dirty work?
Figuring out the players behind Transglobal could take weeks, months even. “It’ll be faster to track down Horvat and interrogate him,” I say, “Find him for me.”
“I have a lead. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll confirm his location.” Just as I’m about to disconnect, Dima adds, “One more thing. You asked me to dig into that crew member, Jack Martin.”
I stiffen. I had pushed that to the back of my mind. “What about him?”
“Guy’s hiding behind a fake name. Came up empty on my initial search, but once I dug deeper, I found out his real name is Jaxon Marley. Has a criminal record, but since it was before he turned eighteen, it’s been expunged in Australia. I’m working on getting it, though.”
“Keep on digging. I’m stuck on a yacht with this fucker, I need to know what he’s hiding.”
Disconnecting, I stare at the blank screen of the phone in my hand. An uneasy knot twists itself in the pit of my stomach. This revelation about Jack is fucked-up, if not entirely surprising, but he isn’t my only concern right now. Getting to the bottom of who is after Aly is.
Only minutes later Dima texts:
Dima: Marko Horvat is at his estate in Dubrovnik.
He follows it up with the necessary details about Horvat’s location.
Well, shit.
I smile at my dumb luck.
We aren’t too far from Dubrovnik, a port city in southern Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. Tonight we’ll be restocking and refueling in Bari, Italy, but if we leave just after midnight, we can be in Dubrovnik by late morning.
Satisfied, I send a message to my brothers to meet me in Dubrovnik tomorrow with the basics of what they need to know.
Settling back in my chair, a bitter taste fills my mouth. The harsh reality is once we step off this boat, my time with Aly is up. We’d agreed on that, even if I now regret it.
I barely survived walking away from her once, and the thought of doing so again feels like swallowing shards of glass.
But it was part of our deal—she insisted—and I won’t go back on my word.
I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but Aly and I still have tonight.
And I intend to make every moment count.
I pick up the house phone and call Genevieve. “What can I get for you, Mr. Walker?”
“I’m giving you and nonessential crew the night off. Go out and enjoy yourselves on my dime, but be back on the yacht by midnight. We leave for Dubrovnik shortly thereafter.”
“Oh wow, thank you.” Genevieve sounds beyond excited.
Other than the captain, the crew is young, most of them are in their twenties or early thirties. They work hard and deserve to play hard tonight. Just like I intend to.