4. Accounting Change #2
He gets out of the car, and I clench my fists because it won’t matter how much I want to stay with her. How much I need her. The minute Tom tells her what I did, she’ll leave me.
I get out of the car and follow Drew into the Veiled Vixen. It’s daytime, but there are employees in the hallways back here, setting up for tonight and keeping the customers that are in here doing business happy.
We head back to Drew’s office and he cues up his TV. Security footage plays. Someone cut the clips of Peter Sokolov and Tom together.
“We won’t have any sound, but this might help us figure out what kind of relationship these two had.” Drew pours himself a drink and holds up the bottle to ask if I want one.
As much as I’d like to drown in alcohol in this moment, I decline it. He shrugs and rounds the couch to sit down. I sit on the edge of one of the chairs and watch Peter and Tom talk, taking note of the guys they’re surrounded by.
These seem pointless, but if we find even a hint of something that will help Finn and Dante find her faster, it will be worth it.
Peter seems very confident but so does Tom. It’s odd to see Tom. It feels like so much has happened and changed since he disappeared. I can’t imagine him slotting himself back into our lives again.
But he’ll be back, and I’ll need to end what I’m doing with Sara.
But he might decide to blow me up with her anyway.
There’s this imbalance in our relationship.
We’re fiercely loyal to each other, but he’s also held what happened all those years ago like a guillotine over my head. Just waiting to let the blade fall.
I’m not even sure he’s forgiven me for it.
“Wait.” I hold my hand up as a woman who definitely is not a stripper walks up to their table. “Who is that?”
Drew pauses the video and takes a picture with his phone. He types on it and after a few minutes, it buzzes. “Natasha Sokolov, according to Verity.”
It’s easy to tell that she’s Peter’s daughter. She has his dark eyes and dark hair. There’s something softer about her mouth though. I study Tom, but the still frame doesn’t tell me much.
“Play it.” I stand and focus on Tom’s face.
There’s this moment where Tom glances at her and there it is. That fucker wants her, but it’s more than that. At the same moment, Natasha meets his eyes and it’d be obvious to anyone paying attention that these two want each other.
“I’m going to kill him.” I need something to hit, but take a deep breath instead.
“What?” Drew glances from the screen to me.
“That fucker took off with her because he wanted her. He totally disregarded his sister’s safety to bang a chick.” I never thought I’d hate Tom, but in this moment, I do. Because he was thinking with his dick, Sara is gone and probably terrified.
“There may be more to it.” Drew looks at it as an outsider, but I’ve known Tom my whole life.
The video continues and we cut forward. The next time we see Natasha, a man is next to her, holding her arm possessively. Tom’s nostrils flare, but that’s the only hint that the man’s presence bothers him.
“Perhaps he was saving her from that guy.” Drew pauses and takes another picture. He texts, and when his phone buzzes, he arches an eyebrow. “Apparently that’s the guy Natasha’s father wants her to marry.”
I pace away. “We already know Natasha and Tom are most likely together on the yacht. I don’t think any of this is helpful. We need to pay a visit to Verity’s uncle and figure out where his yacht is.”
Drew speeds up the playback and Peter comes and goes and sits while he talks. Every now and then, the same waitress comes over and pays him some attention. She’ll sit in his lap while he has his discussion and he’ll squeeze her hip.
“Who is that?” I ask.
“Noelle.” Drew goes to his desk and hits a button.
“Wait, is this the same waitress we knew was working when these guys come in?”
“She wouldn’t talk before. Said she didn’t know anything.” Drew runs a hand through his hair and glares at the screen. “But she will now.”
The door to the office opens and one of the bouncers escorts Noelle in.
“I didn’t do anything,” she complains. Which might mean she did. She’s just preparing to deny everything.
“You said you didn’t know Peter Sokolov.” Drew points to the screen where he has her captured on Peter’s lap.
Noelle bites on her lip and glances at the bouncer, but he’s stone-faced. She shrugs. “He’s a big tipper.”
Drew closes the distance between them. This is the coldest I’ve ever seen him. “I need everything on him. Everything you know.”
“Do you mean how big his cock is?” She doesn’t appear as intimidated as she should be.
“He has my woman. I want whatever you have.”
Noelle sucks in a breath and glances at all the men in the room. “I mean, he likes to have parties and invite some of the girls. But he always sends a car to pick us up.”
“Where?” Drew looks less than impressed.
Noelle swallows. “Mostly at his loft, but this one weekend he took us to an estate. It was huge. A whole mess of employees to take care of everything.”
“You don’t know where it is?” Drew asks.
I’m already typing a text to Finn and Dante.
She shakes her head and steps back. “A limousine picked us up and there was champagne in the back and music. At least an hour drive, maybe more. We didn’t pay attention, but you couldn’t hear the city at all. There was forest around it. It was super fancy.”
I relay the information to the guys knowing they’re going to search the company records and any tax documents they can find on Peter.
“Anything else?” Drew glares down at the woman. “I swear if you hold anything back, you won’t be working here or anywhere anymore.”
“Nothing else.” Her eyes well with tears. “I need this job.”
Drew nods to the bouncer, who leads Noelle out, then he rounds his desk and sinks into the chair. His hands thread into his hair. “Fuck!”
“It’s more than we had.” But I’m frustrated too. This could have been prevented.
“I talked to Noelle a few days ago.” Drew flings his hand toward the door. “She didn’t know anything, but my manager has been working on this tape for the last few days to see if we could figure out more about the guys Tom has been interacting with. This is from two nights ago.”
He points to the screen with its time stamp.
“That bastard came into my club knowing he was going to take my girl. What if I’d brought her here Friday night?” He shakes his head.
I straighten because I’m not going through this alone. None of us are. I step closer. Right now, we’re stronger together and can’t let each other fall apart.
“Come on. We can’t dwell on what-ifs. We need to find Sara and Tom.”
He glances up at me. None of us had much sleep last night, going over what we know and deciding how to attack today.
“We need to see a man about a yacht.”