AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nikolai had made it possible for the Kingston men, as well as Nikolai and several of his own men, to infiltrate Anthony Bart’s London home and rescue Brianna from that awful fate. Bart, and a lot of his men, had been killed during that rescue.
Nikolai hadn’t seemed in the least concerned about those deaths, possibly because the Russian bratva and the new head of the Irish mob had since divided up the Bart money and kingdom between them.
Casper frowned as he remembered speaking to Terry Bart’s girlfriend at a nightclub one evening, only a short time before the bastard had beaten her to death. Casper remembered her as being a tiny and very beautiful brunette with gorgeous blue eyes.
She’d thanked Casper warmly for his concern when he’d asked if she was all right. He’d seen Bart grip her arm tightly as he dragged her off the dance floor minutes earlier. She had brushed off his concern, even though there were red marks already visible on her pale skin, before she returned to the booth where Terry Bart sat impatiently waiting for her.
Casper hadn’t been at all happy with the situation, even less so when she and Bart left the club together just minutes later, her bruised arm once again tightly held in the other man’s grip.
A week later, Violet Brady had been found beaten to death.
No one had asked Casper to do it, and his family still wasn’t aware of Casper’s involvement, but within hours of learning of Violet’s death, he’d found evidence and eyewitnesses of Terry Bart’s brutality against Violet. He’d provided the police with the results of that initial investigation. Enough for them to be able to take the other man in for questioning, at least.
While Bart junior underwent that questioning, Casper searched all the camera feeds of London until he found the one where Bart could clearly be seen carrying a badly beaten Violet from the back of a warehouse before throwing her in the trunk of his car. When he straightened, his clothes were clearly covered in blood, and there were three long gouges down one of his cheeks where Violet must have tried to defend herself.
Casper had used numerous security cameras and feeds to follow Bart as he drove to where he had dumped the body in a park on the other side of London.
All the time he had watched Bart’s movements, Casper had been haunted by the knowledge that maybe if he had insisted on taking Violet away from Bart that evening at the nightclub, she might still be alive.
Maybe…
“Maybe both,” Sinclair answered him regarding his comment about Morozov and Nikolai. “Which is why I’m relieved Nikolai is on our side. Most of the time,” he added ruefully.
Adam gave a throaty chuckle. “Believe me, we would know about it if he wasn’t.”
Sinclair nodded. “Despite the fact both men are Russian, Nikolai made it obvious to me he doesn’t think of Morozov as anything more than a bully and a criminal that he would prefer took himself out of his city. Nikolai assured me that neither he nor his pakhan, Gregori Markovic, want any part of Morozov. He also told me it had been reported to him that Morozov was seen hitting his wife in a restaurant a week ago,” Sinclair added in a hard voice. “Nikolai paid a visit to the other man to issue a warning for him not to do such a thing again.”
Max’s eyes were narrowed. “Which means the bastard probably just continued his abuse in private.”
Adam growled. “I hate weak men who think they’re proving the opposite when they hit someone smaller than them, most especially a woman.”
“We all do,” Sinclair confirmed.
“Do you think he’s aware of our…association with Nikolai, and that’s why he chose to come to us with the problem of his kidnapped wife?” Casper mused.
“It’s possible,” Sinclair agreed.
“For what purpose?” Max frowned.
“For the purpose of ‘returning missing wives’—note, he said missing, not kidnapped—‘to their husbands,’” Casper bit out in a hard voice.
Sinclair grimaced. “As I said before Morozov arrived, I only agreed to the meeting with him because I felt we all needed to hear what the man had to say. We’ve now agreed we don’t wish to work for him. Now we have to decide what our next step should be.”
“The first thing we need to know is if his wife actually wants to be rescued, or if she has simply chosen to disappear,” Max said.
Sinclair nodded. “Morozov and Martyna signed a prenup agreement, one which states that if Martyna ends the marriage before five years have passed, she will receive nothing in any ensuing divorce.”
“It says more than that,” Casper added knowingly. He had already done this part of his research on Morozov. “If the marriage ends after five years, Martyna can sue Morozov for half his assets. Which, as he took pains to boast a short time ago, are considerable.” His top lip curled back with distaste. “Motive enough for him not to want his wife to survive a supposed kidnapping.”
Sinclair grimaced. “One thing Nikolai did tell me is that Morozov continues to make millions from his involvement in the sex and drug trade in Russia.”
“I’m also guessing the marriage will shortly reach its fifth anniversary?” Adam quirked one dark, questioning brow.
“Next month,” Casper confirmed.
Max scowled darkly. “Martyna could have just decided to leave because she’s in fear for her life once that fifth anniversary deadline is reached.”
Sinclair nodded. “That’s my take on it too. We could all be wrong, of course…”
