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“I am currently the favorite aren’t I?” I chuckled.

She raised a hand and tapped her index finger against her chin as if she were thinking it over. “Hmm. I’m gonna go with… yes.” she answered, one side of her mouth tilting up in a smile.

“I am gonna show you all my tricks,Ma Petit. You’re gonna be the best at snatching mobsters off the street in no time. I’ll even let you play with my grenades just for saying I’m the favorite.”

“No!” Az and Craig hollered in unison.

“Fucking hell, Leighton. This needs to be done as quietly as possible, no god damned grenades.” Az snapped. “Now, if you’re done trying to raise my blood pressure, we have other things we need to discuss.”

I gave him my cheesiest grin and stuck both thumbs up near my face. Az rolled his eyes and gave his attention to Craig, motioning for him to speak.

“There was some decent intel on the flash drive Tiffany handed over. Not only did it have the intel on this group of Jackals Leighton and Victoria will be hunting this evening, there was some intel on Theo.” Craig paused, his eyes flitting to Victoria as if to ask whether or not to continue. She slid to the edge of her seat, her hands dropping to her lap, fingers laced together as she held them tightly, and nodded. “There were over two dozen photos and a handful of video surveillance clips ofTheo meeting with a member of the Bratva. He’s been smart and hasn’t been handling any of that business in his office so the bugs we planted haven’t given us anything. These, though… He’s been meeting with Sergei Kumarin. He showed up about six years ago in the Petrov ranks, and worked his way up pretty quickly. Last known information on him was that he was a soldier working directly for Alexi Petrov, Capo and third son of the current Pakhan.”

I let out a whistle. “Sounds like Theo is in deep.” I cringed, realizing I’d said that out loud. “Sorry,Ma Petit.”

“Anyway…” Craig interjected. “Each video shows an exchange. There’s nothing about what’s being exchanged, but we can safely assume he’s getting money in return for whatever he’s handing over.”

“I really can’t believe Uncle Theo would be mixed up with mobsters.” Victoria murmured with a slight shake of her head. “There has to be something else going on that you’re not seeing.”

“I wish that was the case, Bunny. I really do.” Craig replied.

“You don’t get mixed up with someone like Kumarin by accident. The only way you meet with someone at his level is with illegal dealings.” Az added.

“I just can’t accept that.” Victoria sighed.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, there was information on your ex, Benson on the drive as well. Looks like the little worm has holed up with some Jackals. Given his family connections to them, I’d wager he’s joined up for some protection.”

“Protection from what?” Victoria scoffed. “His daddy’s money can buy him out of any trouble he finds himself in.”

“Protection from you,Ma Petit.” I smirked. “In case you decide you want to send us after him. No way he didn’t figure out who we were after everything that went down. A smart manwould know all it would take is one word from your pretty mouth and we’ll gut him.”

“It wouldn’t even require a smart man to know that.” Az added.

“Anyone with half a brain and shoddy observation skills would have figured it out.” Craig said.

“Death threats should not be so sweet.” She laughed with a shake of her head.

“Um… Yes they should.” I retorted.

“Anything else?” Az asked Craig, steering the conversation back on track.

“That’s it. If what we learned from Jen holds true, we won’t get anything out of the Jackals Leighton and Victoria bring in. I wish I could say we had something that made this all tie together, but…” Craig shrugged one shoulder. “At least Bunny will get the practice she needs.”

“I mean… We can catch a Petrov Brat if you want.” I offered.

“Absolutely not, Leighton. Stay the fuck away from the Russians. We don’t need them coming at us right now.Ifthey’re involved then we will have to go the negotiations route and pray to every god there ever was that they’re feeling generous.” Az replied.

“Uh… My almost dead wife was Bratva. I feel like I should probably mention that. I can… I can’t believe I’m saying this, fuck me, I can make a phone call. No clue if the Sidorov’s have dealings with the Petrov’s but it might be worth the agony of talking to my sister to find out.”

“You couldn’t mention this, I don’t know, at any point since we found out Theo is talking to the Russians?” Az drawled.

“And have to deal with my sister? You know how Lacey is. Why the hell would I call her when it’snota last resort?” I snapped.

“Fine. Just make the fucking call,afteryou deal with these Jackals.” Az sighed. “If there’s nothing else, then we’re done. We’ll meet back tomorrow and debrief.”

“Aye aye, captain!” I chuckled with a mock salute as I stood from my seat and pulled Victoria along with me.

A couple hours later, Victoria and I were creeping toward Uptown in the dark. We’d dressed in dark clothing, and she looked kind of adorable in her dark hoodie with her hair pulled back. I had to keep reminding myself we were on a hunt, and I couldn’t pin her up against the side of a building. It surprised me how distracting having her along was, considering hunting was among my top three favorite things to do. I slapped myself a few times to regain my focus before going over the plan with her.