Chapter 13 #2
Eric sounded grim. “I’ll send the files and an anonymous tip so the cops get the rest of it. No chance he’s coming after Lottie again. He’ll be busy keeping himself out of jail which isn't going to work with the rest of the stuff I'm sending.”
It didn’t feel like a win, but it was. At least that was one piece of darkness out of her life.
"I have a friend studying the will," Eric said. "I hope I'll have news soon." Eric clicked off and I breathed a sigh of relief about Marco.
Gideon cracked a smile. “You gonna tell her when you get home?”
I grunted. “Yeah. I’ll tell her. She doesn’t need to worry about him anymore.”
Maddox sipped his coffee. “She settling in okay?”
I thought of the way she’d looked this morning, cheeks pink, messy hair, clinging to Mr. Snuggles like she’d never let go.
The way she’d let me check her sugar, no resistance at all.
“She’s figuring it out,” I said. “She’s not used to being helped.
It’s like she thinks I’ll change my mind if she makes a mistake. ”
Gideon nodded. “Abby was the same. First time she didn’t say thank you when I made her lunch, she nearly cried. Like she thought I’d take it back.”
It was the same with Lottie. Every time I did something for her, she looked at me like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“What about the uncle? Did you tell her yet?” Gideon prompted.
I hated it. I hated not having answers for her. She’d trusted me, even if she didn’t know it yet, to fix the parts of her life that were too broken to handle, and all I could do was wait for a fucking paper trail.
“No. I haven’t told her.” My voice came out flat. “Not until Eric gets something solid. Last thing I want is to rip that wound open for her if it goes nowhere.”
Maddox threw back the rest of his coffee and made a face. “She doesn’t even know she’s supposed to have some money, does she?”
“No.” I raked a hand through my hair and forced myself not to dig holes in the desktop with my nails. “She thinks he was doing her a favor. All she knows is what the guy told her. That she had nothing.” My jaw clenched. “But I’m working on it. I won’t let her be blindsided.”
Gideon grunted. “You need anything, you ask.”
I nodded. It wasn’t about pride. I just needed to do this right. If we hit the uncle too hard, too fast, it could blow up in Lottie’s face, and she’d end up reliving every nightmare she ever had about being abandoned and unwanted. Not happening.
Maddox changed the subject. “How’s her health?”
I shrugged, but it felt almost like relief.
“Steady. She’s eating. Sleeping. I’m checking her numbers myself.
She didn’t even flinch today. Just let me do it, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
” Something inside me kind of loosened at that.
I’d never had anyone let me take over their care like that.
Not even my grandmother. “She’s still worried I’ll change my mind. Or get tired of her.”
Maddox’s mouth twisted. “Takes a long time to convince them you mean it.” He held my gaze. “She’ll get there.” I knew he’d gone through a lot with Clare.
“Yeah,” I said, but it sounded more like a promise than a word. “She will.”
Gideon huffed then glanced at us both. “I got a request about a job this morning.” He hesitated. “From Boris Sidorov.” I was silent for a minute, just staring at Gideon while my brain caught up. Maddox whistled, low and sharp.
“The Bratva boss is asking us for help?”
Gideon nodded. “Called me direct.”
I remembered the day we'd rescued Emily. We got all the women out alive just before they were auctioned off. Alexei Sidorov’s men hadn’t gone down easily, but in the end, Boris’s own people made sure Alexei—his son—was punished.
I was pretty sure that was in a permanent way.
I’d never been more certain of a man’s word.
Boris was a criminal, but he wasn’t a liar. Or a hypocrite.
“He’s got a Little, hasn’t he?” Maddox sounded like he still didn’t believe it.
Gideon nodded, lips quirking. “Katya. She’s…tiny, even smaller than Abby if that’s possible. Red hair in ribbons. Looks like she’d break if you breathed too hard.”
Maddox grinned, teeth bright. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“Me either,” Gideon said, but he smiled like it wasn’t a bad thing. “But we know that’s why he didn’t shoot us for the raid on his son’s operation. Katya’s cousin is the one that needs help.”
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, struggling to picture a Bratva boss tying shoes for a Little. “So, what’s the job?”
Gideon tapped the folder in front of him. “Katya’s cousin has three-year-old twins. One of the nannies, Molly, vanished three days ago. The cops have nothing. Boris says he’s tried everything. She was last seen at Kingdom, at a private party.”
Maddox frowned. “Have you asked Xavier?” The manager of Kingdom was someone they trusted from when they'd all been in the service.
“He’s on his way. I briefed him already,” Gideon said. “Molly has no immediate family that would raise any immediate concerns. She’s not Bratva, but Katya’s family. As far as Boris is concerned that makes her his problem.”
I leaned back in my chair, thinking it through. “Eric run her?”
“Already did,” Gideon said, flipping the top page around for me to see. “Molly Gilbertson. Twenty-three, college grad, no criminal record, and has just started a BS in childhood development. She works part-time for Katya’s cousin on their live-in nanny’s days off.
We turned at the knock to see Xavier walk in. His suit looked like it cost more than most people’s cars, but he didn’t move like a civilian. He moved like us.
He nodded to us, then set a folder on the table.
“Kingdom had a private function on the VIP level last Thursday for a group out of Tampa. Corporate types, at least on paper. They paid cash, used a service to book. The service is owned by a guy named Clark Owens and a woman named Ruby O’Keefe.
Both regulars at clubs in the city who specialize in organizing corporate promo events.
No red flags, but beyond doing a financial check for those that book private rooms we don’t have the same level of security as you do at Salvation.
” We all knew that. Kingdom was simply a nightclub.
He paused, flipping open the folder. “The only connection as far as Eric has found so far is that Molly goes to the same Tai Chi class Ruby does. I’ve spoken to Vanessa, who also knows Molly casually, and who served them that night, and she says Molly got a headache and decided to call a cab, so I pulled up security footage. ”
Vanessa was one of our trusted servers.
Xavier grimaced. “Except Molly didn’t go to the main exit, she went to the bathrooms, followed by Ruby.
Then they both exited the bathroom just as a fight broke out.
You see them heading to the staff exit, which isn’t signposted and only covered by the loading dock cam.
” He grimaced. “My security team were called to deal with the fight so there was no one on the door. I’ve got the footage.
It’s grainy, but you can see Ruby almost having to hold her up.
Molly looks out of it. Drunk or maybe something else. ”
Fuck. My stomach twisted. “Did she have a drink at the club?”
“Bar tabs show two gin and tonics, and she didn’t finish the second,” Xavier answered immediately. “Someone could have dosed her, but I trust my bar staff and the server.”
I scrubbed my face, the knot in my chest winding tighter. “Who owns the car?”
“Rental,” Gideon said. “Booked with a forged out-of-state license. I’ve got Eric pulling DMV traffic cams within a hundred-mile radius, but if they dumped the car, it could be anywhere.”
Again, that sharp, helpless anger. “And Boris didn’t get anywhere?”
Gideon’s voice dropped. “No. He wondered if it was linked somehow to him, but he can’t find anything to link Molly at all, and it wasn’t a direct attack for ransom like he might expect. He’s pissed. Like, nuclear-level. He wants her home, and he wants us to find her because his Little is upset.”
I sighed. “Which is why he called us. We can probably do what he can't without treading on toes he can't afford to antagonize.”
Gideon was already flipping through the folder. “Eric’s starting with Ruby. It looks targeted to me, and Molly might have been the easier target.”
I glanced at my phone. I had to collect Lottie. “Let me know what you need from me.” Gideon clicked his fingers as if remembering something. “Abby wants Lottie’s phone number so they can hang out.”
I nodded my permission. I knew Gideon had her number but wouldn’t give it out without asking. For a brief second, I wondered if I should ask Lottie first, but she’d agreed to let me make the safety decisions. “She’d enjoy that.”
I didn’t run back to my car, but it was a close thing.