Page 17 of Scarlet Promise (Yegorov Bratva #4)

Chapter Twelve

ILYA

I disconnect the call from the PI, a thread of excitement in my blood. It’s not much, but it’s something.

It seems Melor was sighted an hour ago at a gas station in Morgan Park, near the Chicago city limits. He filled up and withdrew cash, both signs he’s on a road trip and going off grid from the electronic world.

It’s something to go on.

The fact he still has his car is a dubious plus. Dubious, because even filling the tank doesn’t mean he won’t ditch it soon, but he still has it.

Svetlana leads Isaak up to me right on time. Originally, I’d wanted his brilliant eye on the finances, but now… Maybe not.

“What is it?” he asks as he prepares a drink for himself and for me.

He then sits and loosens his tie.

I look up at him and frown. “Thanks for the drink. Something’s come up, and short of sending a team of men on what might be a goose chase, I don’t know what to do.”

“Tell Isaak. I hear he’s a genius.” He grins.

I shake my head and take a swallow of the bourbon. Then I tell him about the situation with Melor. How a contact of my PI saw him and reported in, and I show him the texts.

Isaak frowns.

“Thing is, with the cash out, even with the car, he’s pretty much vanished.

It’s not exactly a bright-yellow sports car or something else obnoxious.

It’s the same as a million others. This girl who does work for the PI noted the plates and the guy fitting Melor’s description.

But that was over an hour ago.” “No one disappears without a trace,” Isaak says.

“Even with cash. There are CCTV cameras, personal cameras in businesses, places that need an ID, even if you use cash.

“Shit, even if he gets a burner, most places have security footage. And if we know the time he used the ATM and where…that could be something.” Isaak snaps his fingers. “I know a guy.”

“You know a guy. Do you want flowers?”

“Next time.” Isaak sets his drink down, pulls out his phone, and scrolls through it. “I went to college with this guy. He’s an amazing hacker.”

“I don’t need a hacker.”

“You need a hacker. You’re good at the bang-kill-maim shit, the dark side of business, and the violent side of crime. He’s good at the dark side of cyber. He used to do this crap in his sleep at college.” Isaak grins down at his phone as he types in a message. “How’s the pretty girl?”

“Alina is?—”

“Not her, the other one.”

“Isla?”

“Yeah.”

I consider him. “Are you interested?”

He shrugs, sending a second text. “Making conversation.”

He looks at me. “My friend Chase will be able to get into the ATM’s records, get Melor’s card details, and track any other charges he’s made.

And I’m betting with where he works—don’t ask—he’ll be able to run facial recognition through all kinds of CCTV feeds.

Maybe we’ll get something now, maybe not, but even if not, then he’ll be able to see when he pops up again.

He’ll use his card again in the future. Guarantee it. ”

He glances down at his phone. “He said to call. You want me to?”

“Do it,” I say. “Bring him in.”

Isaak makes the call.

When he hangs up, he says, “It’ll take him a minute to get all the equipment he needs, but he can hook up to his system from here when he does it. And he’s got the bare facts.”

“Good,” I say. “Thanks.”

I fucking hate how reliant I am on everyone else all of a sudden.

There are things I can do, some hacking, but even I know it’s base level.

My grandfather doesn’t have anyone on staff who can do that.

Even Demyan follows older-style ways. He uses tech when he can and when it’s needed, but nothing like what Isaak’s proposing.

I take a breath and a mental step back. Do I need someone who can hack? Not a hacker, maybe, but a tech-savvy person to take on a dedicated role?

“Hey,” Isaak says to me. “That offer you made me?”

“The job?”

“Yeah. Is it still on the table?”

I frown, nodding.

Isaak gives a small shrug. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I want the job. I’m not happy where I am. The amount of effort isn’t an issue. It’s the time everything takes, like most of my hours. I’d like a better balance and a smarter job choice. It might just be the thing I’ve been missing.”

I take another sip of the bourbon. “After everything that’s happened to me recently, I’m going to lay out what you already know. This is going to be very different from what you do. I work in, as you say, the criminal area of business.”

“Big business is almost never on the up and up.”

“Your friendship’s more important to me than a job, Isaak. So why don’t we settle on a trial so we can both make sure it’s the right fit? And no hard feelings if either one of us decides it’s not working. I’ve already lost one good friend. I’m not prepared to lose another.”

Isaak smiles. “Speaking my language. I’ll take the leave I’ve amassed. And if I’m not into it, or you’re not, I’ll go back to my job or find something else.”

He holds out a hand.

I shake it.

“Deal,” I say.

“Deal.”

I work long after Isaak leaves, feeling good but apprehensive at the same time about working with my friend.

Before the shit hit the fan and things fell apart, I’d have been nothing but excited.

Deep in my bones, I know he’ll be perfect because I know him. I know his skills.

Now?

It’s not that I think I’ll find he isn’t the right fit. I’m worried he will be the right fit and he’ll sour.

But then again, Isaak isn’t Demyan.

Demyan’s stubbornness makes him a brilliant pakhan, along with his eye for perfection. He demands loyalty and gifts loyalty. But those things can also make him blind when it comes to his sister.

I know how much he loves Alina. He’s spent his life doting on her, protecting her, making sure she wasn’t ever caught up in the bratva machine.

Even as much as their father favored and adored her and would have done anything for her, I stand by my assertion that the man would have married her off if it suited him.

Demyan, for all his threats, would never do that. His threats are empty.

They pissed me off, but…yes, they are empty.

I shift my thoughts from this whole complicated mess.

Isaak’s friend Chase is coming here tomorrow. Tonight would have suited me better because I’m anxious to get this over and done with. But I defer to his expertise and his need to get the right equipment, the right VPNs, and the dark channels set up.

I don’t know… He lost me at VPNs, to be honest. I know what they are, but beyond that, I don’t know why he needs them. But Isaak trusts Chase, and right now, that’s enough for me.

Svetlana knocks and pops her head around the corner of my door.

“Sir?” She almost bounces with excitement. “Mrs. Belov is here.”

I stare at her in shock.

First, Alina? Here?

Second, why didn’t she come in herself?

I get to my feet, my heart racing, my palms suddenly sweaty as my temperature soars.

“Where—”

“Here.” Alina gives me a smile from the doorway.

She hugs Svetlana as Albert screeches around the corner. He barks joyfully as he rams into me and jumps up like he’s forgotten he’s a dignified dog, not a silly puppy.

I pick him up and endure his doggy kisses. “You brought me Albert.”

She laughs as the door shuts. Svetlana left, giving us privacy, and I take in Alina fully.

“ Malyshka ,” I whisper.

She’s a vision in a black mini, low-wedge heels, and a pretty floral top that shows off one shoulder.

Alina smiles, a hint of nerves beneath her happiness.

She flips her hair, rich and thick, over her shoulder, accentuating that tantalizing glimpse of skin, right before her top slides back into place.

I pray her next movement will set it free to expose her shoulder once more.

It shouldn’t be so hot, but then again, this is Alina.

Everything about her fascinates me. It always has.

Once again, I’m a little amazed she chose me as her choice after Max.

Amazed and beyond pleased.

If only the cloud of her brother didn’t hang overhead, or that whisper in my ear of me not being good enough.

“How the hell did you get here?”

“Gus,” she says.

Albert wiggles his round body, wanting down. He’s said hello, and I’m pretty sure he wants to explore now that he’s home.

That’s what this place is. Home. This place, me, and Alina.

“Does Demyan know you’re here?”

A frown flits over her face. “He’s not the boss of me.”

“Really?” My brows rise. “He thinks he is.”

“Demyan thinks a lot of things.” She smiles and shrugs. “Besides, I may have ambushed him this morning and informed him I’m an adult and can make my own decisions, and if I didn’t get to see you, things might happen.”

I really do love this girl, and a smile starts to bloom. “Things?”

“Um, let’s see… I pointed out this and that, and then I might have threatened to move out, with a special serving of the consequences of a rift.”

“Consequences, malyshka ?”

“I said I might not talk to him again.”

I groan. “Alina. Demyan doesn’t respond well to threats.”

“Sure, but he responds to the idea of losing his sister.”

Another groan escapes me.

I catch her arm as I lean on the desk, pulling her in. “One thing it might not help with is me winning my friend’s trust back.”

She sighs, putting her arms around my neck, and brings her face closer to mine. “It will, if he wants his sister happy.”

“ Malyshka , that’s not how things work. Are you sure he knows where you are?”

A wicked little smile appears. “Svetlana’s fluttering wasn’t all for me. I have a giant bodyguard she thinks is hot.”

“Z—”

“Nope, don’t tell me his name. I call him Bodyguard, or Mr. Guard. And don’t worry, Ilya. And don’t make me go back.”

I kiss her softly on the lips. “I just don’t want unnecessary issues right now.”

Because of Melor and the tatters of my bratva. The threat that must be coming from Simonov as well.

She reads that like it’s a simple book. “Those issues are also why I’m here. I trust you to protect me.”

“I didn’t last time.”

“Things happen, and you and Demyan came for me. I have a bodyguard, you, Albert. It’s going to all be fine. And Demyan will come around eventually.”

“He might not. He’s a stubborn SOB.”

“Well, then, that’s his problem. His decision.

All we can do is show solidarity and open arms for him.

And Ilya, I’ve missed you. I only ever missed one person before.

Max was everything. Was. And maybe I should feel guilt for how I’m feeling.

But I don’t. There’s no guilt now for wanting you, for missing you, for feeling so strongly for you.

I missed you, Ilya Belov, and I needed to see you. So here I am.”

Damn. That took so much for her to say. More so, it means the fucking world to me.

There are some men who may take it as a slight, her bringing Max into it, but I don’t. Max was a good guy. He was taken before his time. He’s in her heart. And, it seems, so am I.

So. Am. I.

Fuck.

My Alina looks at me with a question so big that it pulls me in.

“You missed me, huh?”

“I don’t say that often. Just to you and Albert.”

“I’m not jealous of Albert,” I say, “so don’t try to start a war.”

“Me? Never. I want you both in my life, and yes, I missed you, Ilya.”

“How much?” I murmur as I play with a lock of her hair.

Alina closes the gap and kisses me in a long, breath-stealing kiss. Her tongue dances wildly with mine, and then she drops one hand from around my neck to my thigh.

She looks up at me.

“This much.” She wraps her fingers around the hard length of my cock. “This damn much.”

“Maybe I should have you show me how much you missed me.” I lift and turn her to set her down on my desk.

Books, a bottle, an empty glass go flying.

I shut the lid to my laptop and move it out of the way as I slide up her skirt to dance my fingers over her panties.

“But first, let me show you how much I’ve missed you , Alina.”

“Yes, please.”

I kiss her, slipping my fingers into her panties to stroke against her flesh. I push into her hot wetness, the tightness something I’ve craved and missed, the velvet softness of her… I could come right now, and no one could ever blame me.

I massage and rub her clit, kissing her so deeply that she melts.

My cock twitches, and I break the kiss, move to her ear, and whisper, “Want to come?”