Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
I slammed my fist down on the desk. “Maksim. I need to call Sergej, and I want to be on the next flight to Miami. I’m going to ask a few questions myself and make sure that Imogen is protected. Whoever tried to kill her, probably still wants to.”
What the fuck was going on here? My brothers and I had used all of our contacts in London to gather information but had only confirmed part of what Aislinn’s attacker had said.
He was a freelancer with connections to the Bratva.
That left plenty of room for options, and now Imogen turns up almost dead.
I’d have to call Balor again so he could add another man to Aislinn’s protectors.
“One of our contacts is with her now.”
“Good. I’ll pick two or three men who’ll guard her indefinitely.”
Seamus narrowed his eyes in thought. “Are you going to call Aislinn and tell her?”
“Not yet. I want to see things for myself first.”
Seamus regarded me with narrowed eyes then he nodded. I knew he had more to say but was waiting for the right moment, which would hopefully never come.
I called our pilot so he could prepare my private jet.
Thirty minutes later, I grabbed an overnight bag that I always kept in the office then headed directly to the airport. Seamus would hold down the fort in New York.
In the car, I called Sergej.
“Lorcan, I heard about Imogen.”
“And you didn’t call me?”
“I found out an hour ago. You’ll understand I needed to make a few calls before I could talk to you.”
“A call with Maksim?”
“That too. He didn’t throw her in the ocean. You shouldn’t try to kill him. It wouldn’t be good for us. Imogen jumped ship, so to speak. She found another stupid man to throw money at her for sucking dick, but apparently that man was less docile than Maksim.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him. Maksim didn’t seem like someone who had experience killing, but pretty much everyone was capable of killing someone if given the right incentive. Maybe Imogen had demanded a ridiculous amount of money and threatened to tell his wife.
“Who is the other guy?”
“Maksim didn’t know and neither do I. He must be richer than Maksim. I doubt she left him because she found her true love.”
“I’m heading to Miami now. You understand that I need to talk to a few people myself, Maksim included.”
“Maksim is under my protection, Lorcan. You can talk to him, of course, but I must ask you to be civil.”
“Don’t worry.” I hung up. Being civil wasn’t my strength, but Sergej was an important business partner and I didn’t particularly like Imogen.
Still, I wanted to know what had happened for Aislinn’s sake.
I wasn’t sure why I still felt like I owed this to her.
That woman had twisted my mind into a pretzel.
My first stop in Miami was the hospital where Imogen had been taken.
A young man, maybe nineteen, was hunched on the chair in front of her room.
I didn’t know his name, but he worked for us.
Seamus knew his family. He wasn’t part of Five-Leaf Clover, at least not yet.
He’d been on watch for almost forty-eight hours and it showed.
“I’m taking over now,” I said. He jerked upright, reaching for his jacket, where I assumed a gun was hidden but then he recognized me. He stood. “Mr. Devaney. Is there anything else I can do?”
“Grab some sleep. I’ll give you a call in the morning to discuss the situation.”
Two of my men had been on the private jet with me and they would spend the next two hours trying to gather information before they relieved me from watch duty.
He nodded, then he walked away. By now my arrival had drawn attention, and a nurse headed my way. She eyed me warily. “I don’t know what’s going on, but—”
“I’m taking care of the patient.”
She narrowed her eyes. “She’s in critical condition.”
“Maybe you can fill me in on the details.” I pulled out a wad of cash and stuffed it in her pocket. She froze.
“I can’t be bought.”
“I bet you have two or three kids who’ll soon go to college. Don’t be hasty. I’m the brother-in-law of Imogen, and I have only her best interest in mind, but I need to know what happened and who did this to her.”
She put her hand into the pocket, probably feeling how big the wad of cash was. I had just given her fifty grand. It wouldn’t get her kids through college but it was a lot of money for someone with her salary. “Did you send the young man who guarded her?”
“I did. I want to stop whoever beat her half to death from finishing the job.”
She nodded slowly, still mulling over my offer.
Finally, she started speaking, “She was beaten severely. A few of her injuries might be the result of her going overboard but the majority were caused by kicks and hits. The police are convinced she’s a prostitute because of her outfit.
She wore very high heels with straps around her ankles and calves and a very short dress.
They probably won’t be too invested in solving the crime. ”
“Did she have other injuries than the beatings? Signs of rape or torture?”
The woman shook her head. She didn’t blanch or hesitate. A nurse would see a lot of ugly things, and most of them weren’t even related to the underworld.
“No, not that we could tell, but she’d been in the water for a while. That washes away certain traces.”
I nodded. Water was always a good way to dispose of a body if you weighed it down.
Otherwise, things like this happened. The person who’d tried to kill Imogen had either acted in acute anger or he simply didn’t have any experience disposing of a body.
Even in anger I couldn’t imagine forgetting the most important basics of getting rid of proof. “Is there a chance of her waking up?”
“It’s hard to say. She has brain swelling, and she’s been without oxygen for some time.
But again we can’t be sure for how long exactly.
The water in these coasts isn’t cold enough to prevent brain injuries for long.
If she wakes, it’s very likely that she’ll have some brain damage.
Once she’s more stable, the doctors will probably attempt brain surgery. ”
After my talk with the nurse, I went into Imogen’s hospital room. I wouldn’t have recognized the person in the bed. Her face was discolored and swollen, her head wrapped in a bandage with tufts of hair sticking out. The color was indistinguishable because of the traces of blood in it.
How would Aislinn react if she found out? Knowing her, she’d forget her anger for her sister the moment she saw her and be distraught.
Once my men had arrived to watch Imogen, I left the hospital and drove to the marina. Maksim’s yacht was anchored at the same jetty again. This time, three bodyguards guarded it. Either Sergej didn’t trust my restraint, or Maksim was trying to guarantee his safety.
The guards barred my way when I reached the end of the jetty. I gave them a harsh smile. If Sergej wasn’t involved, I would have kicked their asses. My brothers always believed I didn’t have any self-control but I wasn’t a teenager anymore. “I’m here to talk to Maksim. ”
A couple of minutes later, Maksim appeared on deck.
His expression was tense, almost fearful.
Even if he’d ruined his face with too many plastic surgeries, he wasn’t stupid.
He knew I’d find a way to kill him if that’s what I wanted.
There was a reason why Five-Leaf-Clover was hired for the difficult contract killings.
“It wasn’t me.”
“You were the last person I saw Imogen with. Maybe she blackmailed you.”
He gripped the rail of his yacht. His wedding ring flashed mockingly in the sun. “My wife knows about my affairs. As long as she has unlimited access to my money, and I’m discreet about it, she doesn’t care. We’ve been married for a while. There was nothing Imogen could have blackmailed me with.”
I believed him. But maybe his sexual preferences got out of control or he was an aggressive drunk. That would explain the messy job of disposing of the body. “What happened?”
“We anchored in St. Barth and I had a meeting with an old business acquaintance. Things got a bit out of hand. I spent a night at his villa with a couple of prostitutes. When I came back to the yacht the next day, Imogen got angry because my shirt was covered in lipstick and I smelled of other women.” He snickered. “Did she think I would be faithful?”
“Go on,” I gritted out. I couldn’t stand him for long.
“She said she’d met someone else who appreciated her more.
Can you imagine? She had been looking for dick even before she knew I had fucked the prostitutes!
” He shook his head in disgust. I didn’t think he had any right to judge her but I didn’t interrupt his rant.
“I guess she found an idiot with even more money who promised her eternal love.”
“You don’t know who he was?”
“I didn’t bother asking around. To be honest, at that point I was glad to be rid of her.
There are more willing girls out there, and many are far less trouble than Imogen was.
She packed her things and left. I never saw her again.
I don’t know if she boarded another yacht.
It would explain why she ended up ashore. ”
I nodded, then turned and left. I had a feeling torturing him wouldn’t bring me any closer to finding out what happened to Imogen. Maksim wasn’t the type who killed. My flight to New York was leaving the next morning. That gave me tonight to ask around a bit more .
My conversation with the hooker who’d found her didn’t shed any light on what happened to Imogen, and a contact at the Miami police department left me with the same information I had before.
Maybe the only one who really knew what had happened was Imogen.
She could name her attacker. It was unlikely she’d wake, and even if she did, it was even less likely that she’d remember, but I would have to keep a guard in front of her room indefinitely.
When I returned to New York, I filled Seamus in on what I’d found out.
“You should tell Aislinn. Maybe she’ll find a way to transport her sister back to Dublin. Then she isn’t our problem anymore.”
“She’s not stable enough. And I doubt Imogen had travel health insurance. Plus, I feel like this is our problem. Sergej and Maksim know Imogen is my sister-in-law. If I don’t try to avenge her, how would that look?”
If Aislinn found out about her sister, she’d get herself in trouble. She’d try to investigate.
“You’re on the brink of divorcing Aislinn.” Seamus paused. His expression told me he only said it to provoke me. The fucker knew I wasn’t close to filing divorce. “Right?”
I ignored his question. I wasn’t sure I wanted to discuss the details of my emotional predicament, even with my best friend. I despised myself for my weakness when it came to Aislinn. “This is Devaney business. End of story.”
Seamus sighed. “All right. But you need to tell her. It’s her sister.”
“She’ll feel obligated to spend every moment at her sister’s side. She’ll want to believe in a miracle and waste her life on foolish hope.”
“That’s her decision to make, don’t you think? Why do you care? She betrayed you. To be honest, I thought you would dispose of her.” He tilted his head and regarded me curiously.
“Don’t say whatever it is you want to say. I’m not in the mood for your shrink bullshit. For once, remember I’m your boss not just your friend.”
Seamus shrugged. “This is your game. I’m just a player.”
I knew he wouldn’t stay silent for long.
This was bothering him. “Listen, I don’t care if you’ll be mad, but I need to say this.
You obviously still care about Aislinn as your insistence to keep her safe shows.
So why don’t you see Imogen as a chance for a reunion.
Now you can bring Aislinn back to New York without having to admit your feelings.
You’ll keep face and get what you want: her.
Maybe this marriage deserves another chance.
She can prove her loyalty over the next few months and years. ”
I glared. “Balor told you everything, didn’t he?”
Seamus shrugged, as if it was obvious. “Think about it.”
I nodded, not sure what to say. He had a point. This was an easy way to bring Aislinn back to New York, to me. But should I really risk it? Should I risk opening myself up for more weakness?
A week later, I organized a medical helicopter to transport Imogen to New York.
She still wasn’t exactly stable, but my men had noticed strange guys wandering around the hospital and the parking lot.
They tried to catch one of them, but they were professionals and knew how to get away, which made me believe they belonged to a crime family or someone with very good connections in the underworld.
I didn’t think it was Sergej. I hoped it wasn’t.
Our business endeavor with counterfeiting guns was off to a promising start.
But I couldn’t guarantee Imogen’s safety in Florida.
It wasn’t my territory. I didn’t have enough contacts there, and I couldn’t send a large enough number of men over there.
The only place where Imogen would be safe from the people who’d tried to dispose of her was New York.
She survived the transport, but of course having her in New York made Seamus only grate on my nerves all the more. And I couldn’t stop thinking about telling Aislinn. I couldn’t stop thinking about Aislinn. Period.
It would mean she’d come back. I was the one who’d sent her away, who didn’t want to see her again, but now the idea of having her close again made my heart throb in the most annoying way possible. Our encounter in Dublin had chipped away at my resolve.
Should I let Aislinn back into my life? For what reason? A few more pleasurable nights? Or was there a chance for our marriage?
I wanted our marriage to be what I’d always envisioned.