Chapter 16
Ava
We stepped off the FBI’s jet, right into Interpol’s black, unmarked SUV. Owen sat up front with Claudia while Liam and I sat in the back seat, playing a silent game of Punch Buggy, except we got to punch each other for spotting any Volkswagen car.
Russia was every bit as beautiful as Grayson had once described it. We drove through grassy plains with magnificent mountains in the distance, looking like a scene that came from a painter’s brush.
But the holding facility that Claudia pointed to stood out like an ugly, festering sore against its beautiful surroundings.
The brick walls were almost black with years of accumulating dirt, and the barb-wired fence around the building was rusted and overgrown by mostly dead weeds.
The feeling emanating from the building made my chest constrict.
This was a bad place to be. Nothing good happened behind these walls.
Claudia rolled down her window when we reached the first security gate and handed her badge to the guard.
She spoke in Russian, and the man dipped his head low, scowling into the car.
He spoke in Russian to Owen, which Owen seemed to understand as he flashed his badge to the guard.
Liam and I followed suit. Satisfied, the guard whistled, and the gate opened.
We were led through the facility by another guard.
I struggled not to gag at the stench in the building.
And I wasn’t alone. The guard was the only one whose face wasn’t scrunched up in disgust as he prattled on to Claudia in his language.
He led us through a narrower corridor and ushered us into a dark, tiny room with a window looking into an interrogation room.
There was a woman handcuffed to the rusted table, an expression of absolute boredom on her face.
She looked completely at odds with the dirty, pitiful interrogation room.
She was devastatingly beautiful. Her long, jet-black hair was pin straight and fell thickly over her shoulders to her middle.
Her skin was pale and features sharp, making me think of Snow White.
Even the dark green prison jumpsuit couldn’t make her look bad.
“Raina Westbrooke. Caught red-handed trying to steal a Valentin Serov painting,” Claudia informed us. “She’s not talking. But I figured you would want to take a swing at her,” she said, nodding to Owen with a smile.
Owen studied Raina for a while. “Do I have anything to offer her?”
Claudia shook her head. “No deals. The best we can do is offer a sentence at a softer prison, if she’s helpful.”
Owen sighed but nodded. He turned to me. “I want you in there with me. If she has any connection with the Apparitions, you will know which scent to hunt, which questions to ask.”
“So I’m your bloodhound now?” I quipped humourlessly, staring at the woman behind the glass who was staring at her nails, grimacing at the state of them.
“Yep.” Owen grinned as he held the door open for me.
A moment later, I lowered myself into the chair opposite Raina, keenly aware of her scrutiny. She smirked at me, a devilish twinkle in her eye. She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “You’re no cop. You’re way too pretty to be a cop.”
“Good eye,” Owen said sarcastically, as he slammed a file onto the table, plopping down into the chair beside me.
He sighed and tugged at his collar. “Raina, I’m Special Agent Becket and this is my consultant, Miss Beaumont.
We’d like to ask you a few questions. Preferably before the stench of this place sticks to my suit. ”
Raina flipped her hair back, laughing elegantly. “Then you shouldn’t have come all this way, Agent Becket. Haven’t you heard? I don’t talk. But I appreciate the check-in.”
“I know this comes as a surprise, Raina, but we’re not here to talk about you. You’re a friend of some friends of mine. So I thought we’d chat for a bit. You know, trade some embarrassing stories of our mutuals...”
Raina frowned, uncertainty clouding her eyes.
Owen continued animatedly, “Like that one time Miss Beaumont and I tracked them down to an old cartel house in Mexico and smoked the little weasels out of hiding. You should have seen the look on Gemma’s face when we busted into the house.
” Owen laughed, shaking his head as if reliving the memory.
“Classic! And Hunter! God, you should have seen him! Running from us in nothing but his underwear.”
With every word Owen uttered, Raina’s face fell. Recognition and shock made her eyes go still, unblinking. She knew those names. She stared at Owen, and he smirked at her.
“Grayson didn’t think we were very funny though. But you know him,” Owen waved a hand dismissively. “No fun. A real party pooper.”
Raina swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Grayson.
My heart sank. She knew them. And I never knew about her. They never mentioned her. I never met anyone they were acquainted with. They never spoke of anyone. How had I been so blind? How did I not notice such things?
“Listen to me yap on and on…” Owen leaned back into his chair, an easy smile playing around his lips. “Let me hear your stories. I’m sure you have plenty to tell.”
Raina had regained her composure. She leaned back into her chair, mimicking Owen’s demeanour. “Cute story, Agent. But I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
Owen gave a cold laugh. “Nah, your memory is just foggy. It’s this stench. It’ll drive you nuts. I am absolutely certain you know them.”
“I guess the stench has gotten to you too, Agent. I’ve never heard of those people.”
“You sure?” Owen countered, slamming a photo of Gemma on the table before her. “You never giggled over a glass of wine about your celebrity crush with this woman?”
Raina’s eyes sparked with recognition, but she kept an aloof smile on her face. “Never seen her before.”
My heart thundered in my throat.
“What about her boyfriend?” Owen pressed, slamming down the photo of Hunter. “Never cheered for your favourite boyband from the nosebleeds with him before?”
Raina’s shoulder twitched. “Can’t say I have.”
Owen sighed dramatically. “Well, my female colleagues assure me that this one has a face that can’t be forgotten.” He slowly slid the picture of Grayson over the table.
Raina kept her face blank, but her breathing grew unsteady, her fingers twitching ever so slightly as she studied the photo.
Owen caught it too. He gave a sharp laugh, making Raina jump. “Oh, you fucked him, didn’t you?”
I stopped breathing as I saw the truth of Owen’s words in Raina’s eyes.
She straightened in her chair. Her eyes flicked to me, then Owen, then back to me. A quizzical look formed on her face as she observed me. “Does that bother you, Miss Beaumont?”
Owen leaned over the table. “I have a question. It’s more of a theory, really. He has a small dick. I’m right, aren’t I? He walks around with all this big dick energy, but it’s tiny. Right?” Owen tried to steer the conversation away from me, but Raina’s attention didn’t falter.
She ignored Owen and cocked her head at me. “What exactly do you consult on?”
Breathe, Ava.
I plastered the fakest smile on my face, mustering my last nerve. I chuckled and hoped it sounded nonchalant. “Well, Raina.” I leaned forward. “You and Agent Becket here might be their friends. But me? I’m practically family,” I lied.
She laughed and shook her head in dismissal. “If you say so.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “How do you think the FBI knows about your connection to them? Gray told me all about you.”
Her eyes shot back to me.
“He called you a decent fuck, once. That’s something, I guess?” Gods, I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t think of her underneath him. I couldn’t think of her nails clawing at his back.
He had fucked her. Grayson had fucked this woman sitting in the chair before me. This stunning woman that fitted perfectly into his life.
Raina’s lip twitched. I had struck a nerve. I had to keep it up. I had to keep going.
I clutched the chair beneath the table, digging my nails into the metal to keep myself from running out of the room. “I always wondered why it never turned into something more between you two. You’re pretty enough.” I shrugged.
She smiled coldly at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met the guy. But you seem to be especially fixated on him.” She lifted a perfectly groomed eyebrow in question. “Did he break your heart? Does he not feel the same way?” she mocked.
Keep it together, Ava. Don’t let her under your skin.
Owen’s finger brushed against my leg, under the table. A silent comfort.
I studied Raina, silently keeping her stare.
She grew uncomfortable under my steady gaze, her shoulder twitching again.
How was I going to get her to break? Get her to talk?
As sick as it made me feel, she clearly had a thing for Grayson.
They had history. Or maybe it wasn’t history.
Maybe it was still very much in the present.
My stomach rolled.
Maybe jealousy was the way to go. It sure as hell had an effect on me.
I was about to hurl my guts out onto the table and slam Raina’s face in it.
“We’re wasting our time, Agent Becket. I was wrong.
She was nothing more than a quick fuck to ease his boredom.
She won’t know any more than I already do.
” I snorted as I pushed my chair back. “I see now why he preferred me.”
I made my way around the table and headed for the door.
“Tell me, honey, does he still wear that white t-shirt I got him?”
My blood froze.
“He does, doesn’t he?” She laughed. “The thing is falling apart, but he just can’t seem to part with it. Ever wondered why?”
I turned slowly, begging my knees to hold. Begging my body to not curl in on itself and go catatonic on the dirty floor of the interrogation room.
Raina had a smug grin on her face, her eyes spewing venom at me.
Keep it together, Ava. This is what you wanted.