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“You want to tell him?” Drago said.
I cleared my throat. “He actually already knows who Emmy’s father is. I told him when I found out because he was so close to her, he could keep an eye on her.”
Drago’s brows rose at the implication of what I was saying. Not only had Drago been tapping Armstrong at my request to make sure he wasn’t a threat to Emmy, I also had Nikolai watching over her, too. My need to protect her was far more profound than he’d realized. The exposure sat on my skin like hives.
“Is something going on with Armstrong? Is that why you called me here?” Nikolai asked.
“No, it’s not about Armstrong, though I would have told you about it now that he’s starting to show an interest in Emmy.”
“What’s he been saying?” I asked, anxiety tightening my stomach.
“He’s talking to his people about planning an introduction.”
My jaw dropped. “He wants to introduce himself as her father? Now?”
Drago nodded. “He has plans for her. He hasn’t mentioned explicitly what they are, but he mentioned introducing himself and then setting up plans to introduce Emmy to Martinez and his son.”
Fire burned in my throat, making it hard to think. Eduardo Martinez ran the biggest drug cartel in South America. Introducing her to Martinez, and Martinez’s son, Ignacio, could only mean one thing. “What the fuck? We have to take him out,” I demanded, as fear sat on my chest like a sack of cement.
“We will. Armstrong has been on our hit list for a lot of reasons, but we had sidelined him because taking him out didn’t fully align with our best interest. I think I can get Mikhail to agree to a hit.”
I nodded, wanting to run over to Armstrong’s office and pump an entire magazine into him right now.
“Why does Armstrong want to introduce her to Martinez and his son?” Nikolai asked and I almost couldn’t bear to listen to the answer.
“Armstrong has lost a lot of credibility, even among criminals. No one wants to partner with him because he’s unreliable and is known to double cross his partners, getting them killed or arrested. I have a feeling he’s using Emmy as a show of good faith, offering her to Martinez in marriage in exchange for a business deal. Martinez doesn’t know that Armstrong has never really been in Emmy’s life and probably doesn’t give a shit about her. If he burns Martinez, which he probably will, I hate to think what might happen to Emmy,” Drago said grimly.
My fists clenched imagining Armstrong exploiting Emmy. The need to storm back to her college and handcuff her to me was nearly overwhelming.
“We need to get someone on the girls. Emmy will be getting out of school soon and I know she’s meeting Hannah, but I thought you’d be there,” I said, nodding to Nikolai.
Nikolai nodded, his eyes pinching together as he digested the situation. “I’ll head back up there and meet them.”
“Wait,” Drago said. “There is a reason I asked you down here, both of you, besides this Armstrong shit.”
Nikolai and I looked at each other in surprise and then back to Drago.
“There’s a guy who just came back from Russia, Pavel. He says he was there after Yuri killed your mothers. He knows where they’re buried.”
We sat there in silence for nearly a full minute, my mind racing as I processed Drago’s words. My mother. My mother. My mother.
“Where?” Nikolai choked out.
Drago shook his head. “He wouldn’t tell me. Said he wanted to talk to you guys directly. Said he never felt right with it, that it was the reason he went back to Russia. He’s down at the Trinity Club working security. Should be there now if you want to talk to him.”
The air in the room was heavy, Nikolai appeared to be as lost in thought as I was, recalling the last moments we spent with the women we lost far too young, women far too good for the men they had chosen.
“You want to go down to the club?” Nikolai asked.
“Fuck yes,” I said. “I have to run an errand for Mikhail, well, Yevgeny’s fucking dumb ass, actually. Once I get that shit sorted out, I want to have a long conversation with Pavel.”
I felt things stirring inside me that I’d buried decades earlier. Memories returned, like the needling pain of a limb coming back to life after it had fallen asleep. Happy memories, excruciating memories. All of them surging to the surface and while I wasn’t sure I wanted to revisit all of them, I had to know where my mother was.
I had to see her one last time. I had to put her to rest.
Chapter 29
Emmy