Page 113 of No Longer Mine

My finger went down the list spread out before me. “All of these are technically owned by our father, but not a single one of them can be traced back to him. Benson tried to find as much dirt as he could, but Father actually covered his tracks rather well on all of this. That’s why we were so blindsided at the docks that day. We hadn’t expected him.”

His fingers sifted through the files, eyes narrowing as he read. “Benson can handle digging up dirt on the buyers. If we make this public, they’ll scramble—some will disappear, some will cut deals, and the rest will burn.”

I nodded. “The trick is controlling the fire. We give the FBI just enough to tip them off, but not enough to trace it back to us.”

Alexei rubbed his jaw, considering. “And what about Scarlett?”

I stilled. “What about her?”

“She’s the one who stole this information in the first place. If Father finds out it was her, she has an automatic target on her back. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

I rubbed my jaw. “I’m not okay with that at all. I didn’t want her involved in this. You’re the one who hired her, remember?”

Alexei let out a nervous chuckle. “I didn’t know she was your girl. Which, by the way, that’s kind of hot.”

I groaned. “Thanks?”

“How’d you find her anyway?” Alexei asked as he stacked the papers back up.

“She broke into my home.”

Alexei’s smile was slow and mischievous. “That’s super hot.”

“This conversation is over.”

“Are you ready for this war?” He asked, finally.

“I’ve been waiting my entire life for this.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Scarlett

I found myself bored,for the first time in my entire life. I wasn’t able to go anywhere. I wasn’t able to do anything. All I could focus on was healing, so when the grannies showed up on my doorstep with a bottle of wine and two other women, I wasn’t sure what to think.

They beamed at me.

“We’ve been waiting to meet you!” The dark-haired, exotically gorgeous woman exclaimed as she peeked around Grandmother.

The other woman, who was just as beautiful but in more of a girl-next-door way, squealed as she rushed forward. She wrapped her arms around my waist and I let out a hiss. She stepped back, and Grandmother whacked her with her cane. “I told you she was shot.”

“Sorry,” the brunette said as she stepped back next to the exotic beauty.

“Um, hello? To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked both of the older women.

“Dimitri wouldn’t tell us anything about you, and the grannies here know everything, so, of course, we had to call in a favor!” The brunette giggled as she shimmied her shouldersexcitedly. She reminded me of a golden retriever. I liked her instantly.

The exotic beauty walked around all of us, and her gaze covering every square inch of my penthouse. “You have a beautiful home.”

I took a step back. “Uh, please make yourself at home?”

The golden retriever girl clapped her hands together, beaming. “Oh, don’t mind us! We fully intend to.”

The exotic beauty shot her a dry look but smiled all the same before turning her gaze back to me. “I’m Carina, by the way.” Her voice was smooth, confident.

“And the one with absolutely no sense of personal space is Audrey.”

Audrey wiggled her fingers in a wave, undeterred. “Nice to officially meet you, Scarlett! We knew that Dimitri would probably never introduce us, so we figured it was high time we met the new woman in his life!”