25. Thorne
Chapter 25
Thorne
Ivy tried to access the Knights' database.
I knew she was lying the moment she looked at me, but I played along.
She left just now and I went back to my computer to check the history to see
what she was trying to find.
There’s no way she was looking for the standard stuff I’d use the database for. It’s something else. If it weren't, she would have asked me.
I’m aware Levgen kept a lot from her, and she’s new to what most of us are used to here, but I suspect this is about her father.
Understandably, we don’t talk about him. Ever.
It’s a touchy subject for me. Just as much as it must be for her.
Except my family is dead. Her parents are still alive.
Essentially I’m sleeping with my enemy’s daughter. I just haven’t thought of Ivy as such.
In the beginning she fascinated me and I couldn’t stop thinking with my dick. I wanted to own her. Now I’m thinking with something more.
I don’t even know when the fuck that changed, but it did.
Usually I don’t care about anything, but I care enough to find out what she wanted from the database. Even if it’s to do with her father.
She’ll lie if I ask her about what she was doing, but I have my ways of getting information from people. And I have just the thing in mind for my little deer.
Until then, I have my uncle to worry about.
I switch off the computer and make my way into the kitchen to brew a strong cup of coffee.
Today will be another long day. First I have to make sure Aiden keeps his hands to himself and doesn’t fuck around with Ivy. Then I’m going to the docks later tonight.
I haven’t been able to get information on what Aleksander is up to with Claudio Hernandez, but I think I might have a lead of sorts.
I’m taking Caspian with me. It didn’t sit well with me to investigate his father in this way without telling him. Whatever is happening is serious if it involves Claudio Hernandez. So it was only fair I let Caspian know.
It seems Aleksander and Claudio are most likely meeting in person and trying to do things off the record as much as possible. Meaning they can’t be tracked and people like me can’t figure out what they’re doing.
That’s fine. I’ll find a way to work around it. I always do. It’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
I just hope it doesn’t take me too long because time isn’t on my side.
The next shit Aleksander will throw my way is his list of potential brides. That’s going to make things difficult for Ivy and me. Especially because she doesn’t know anything about it.
It won’t be fair to her to continue this… thing we have when I’m engaged.
Fuck. I don’t even want to think of that word.
Hopefully I’ll find the first puzzle piece tonight. All being well, Caspian and I will be talking to a guy my uncle has worked with in the past. His name is Kai. He’s with the Yakuza. He’s gotten his hands dirty for my uncle on more than one occasion.
He should have some information for us about what Aleksander is buying or making.
It cost me a hundred G’s to get Kai’s help and buy his silence—for the moment.
The bad thing about people like him is that he gives his allegiance to the man who can pay him the most. Today that might be me. Tomorrow it could be my uncle.
I just have to work smarter and faster at figuring out what’s going on before Aleksander catches on that I know he’s up to shady shit again.
I make my coffee and head out, preparing my mind to take on the day.
“Heard you went to lunch with Ivy Yegorov today.” Caspian casts a curious glance my way.
“I did. What of it?” I keep my focus straight ahead as we walk along the docks. We’re heading to an underground boxing club on the south side. That’s where we’ll link up with Kai.
Caspian chuckles. “Are you serious? Weeks ago, when I asked you about her, you said she was just a girl. Since then I’ve been hearing a lot about you and this girl .”
I glance at him but say nothing.
“She’s also the only girl you haven’t spoken about and the one you’ve been linked to the longest.” He nods as if that should give his deduction more weight. “Clearly you like her.”
“Yes.”
At first he gives me an amused smile, but then the smile fades and morphs into his usual serious expression. “What are you going to do? My father will be arranging your marriage contract any day now.”
“I know. And… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“I fought my father tooth and nail to be with Willow,” he says with reflection, and I remember all he went through.
Caspian impressed the hell out of me. I didn’t know he could love anybody the way he loves Willow.
Aleksander hated her because she knew his wife was cheating on him with her father and kept it a secret. She could hardly be blamed because she was ten years old when she found out. Aleksander made it his duty to make her life hell, including forbidding Caspian to see her.
He only allowed Caspian to marry Willow because he was interested in getting the Raventhorn fortune. As the sole heir she got everything after her parents died. Caspian’s marriage to her took our wealth way above what we could achieve in this lifetime, but Aleksander still did all manner of things to screw with her.
“You’ve come a long way,” I say, looking him over.
“So have you.”
“My situation is different.” I can’t even tell him all the ways it is.
“There may come a time when it won’t be.”
“I’m not sure I have a choice. At least not yet.”
“Let’s see what happens.”
I give him a curt nod. Five minutes later we arrive at the club.
There’s a big match going on. The place is packed with a roaring crowd cheering for the fighters in the ring who are both giving all they have.
I spot Kai across the room, standing by the bar talking to one of his workers.
He’s a tall, wiry man with a shaved head and a tattoo of a panther inked on the right side of his face. His head and neck have more tattoos of swords and Japanese symbols.
He sees Caspian and I and waves us over.
We approach him and he greets us with a cunning grin. He’s the kind of fucker you know not to trust or mess with.
“Hello, Ivanovs, arms out,” Kai instructs in his cultured Japanese accent. “I hope you don’t take offense to a quick search.”
“Of course not.” I give him a thin smile and glance at Caspian before I lift my arms.
Two bulky guards who look like Sumo wrestlers step forward and search us for weapons. We don’t have anything on us but that doesn’t mean we came unprepared.
You never can tell when meetings like these might go south. That’s why our guards are hidden away outside just in case we need them.
In any event, if shit went down in here we’d use their weapons. My patience is already non-existent, so if Kai fucks with us, I would personally fuck him up so bad he’d need to be identified by his dental records.
“All clear,” the biggest guard says once he’s finished checking us.
Kai’s smile widens. “Follow me.”
He leads us through a set of wooden doors which takes us away from the noise of the crowd. Then we walk into a washitsu room. Decorated with the traditional Japanese sliding doors and bonsai trees, it looks completely out of place with the rest of the club.
“Please take a seat.” He points to the tatami mats on the floor with a rattan table and handwoven futons on either side of it for us to sit on.
Caspian and I sit next to each other, while Kai sits in front of us.
“You certainly keep a man like me in business.”
“What have you got for me?” I don’t have time for chit-chat or his riddles tonight.
“Not a lot, I’m afraid. Your uncle is a very secretive man. I guess that’s what makes him so fitting for his line of work.”
I raise my brows. “For a hundred thousand you better have something useful to tell me.”
The tick in his jaw tells me he doesn’t like what I said, and if I were anyone else I wouldn’t live long enough to take my next breath. “Aleksander is making a special blend of fentanyl.”
“Fentanyl?” Caspian looks from Kai to me, narrowing his eyes. “That makes no sense.”
It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s similar to morphine but a hundred times stronger. People use it to manage pain but it sells for a pretty penny on the streets. Especially when it’s mixed with other street drugs.
“How did you find this out?” Caspian asks.
“I have sources from the logistics company he’s used before. They’re expecting a shipment of this fentanyl in three months’ time. Aleksander made the order yesterday.”
“The Knights already have an alliance with the Ramirez cartel, who produce fentanyl,” I cut in. Aleksander has the world’s finest at his beck and call. That’s why this makes no sense.
“Perhaps Aleksander has his reasons for getting it somewhere else,” Kai surmises. His expression holds the same air of mischief as before. I can never tell if he’s being completely open and honest, or if he’s holding things back.
“You sound like you might know more than you’re saying.” I level him a hard stare.
“That is all I know, young one. Men like your uncle are good at hiding secrets, so what you need to ask yourself is what is he hiding from you this time? What might he not want you to find out?”
I’ve asked myself those questions already. But as simple as they are, he’s right. Men like Aleksander are good at hiding secrets.
And now we know he’s cooking up some special blend of fentanyl.
What for?
“Keep an eye on this for me. I’ll pay you more. More than him if he finds out we’ve been around here.”
Kai dips his head. “You know where my allegiance lies.”
“Of course.” Bastard . He’s trying to tell me that if Aleksander pays him more than he thinks I can pay, he’ll screw me over.
I stand, signaling the meeting is over, and Caspian follows.
We let ourselves out and wait until we’re outside the club before we speak.
“My father is a man of many mysteries.” Caspian shakes his head. “Why would he need to get fentanyl supplied by a black-market dealer who’s banned from associating with the Knights?”
“It’s something he wants to hide from us. I’m going to keep my eyes on Claudio.”
“What can I do?”
“Keep an eye on your father. It’s easier for you to do it.”
“Sure.”
I hate vague shit like this. It leads you to that make-or-break moment where most people are stumped.
One wrong move and you either miss what you’re supposed to find, or your enemy catches on that you’re onto them.
I can’t let that happen. This information is all I’ve managed to gather in the last two months of Aleksander playing me like a bitch.
It must mean something.
Something useful to me.