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"The Kozlov brothers."
"Who the fuck are the Kozlov brothers?" I asked, the name meaning absolutely nothing to me.
"They arrange Green Card sort-of marriages, but a bit more murky than that. Maisy worked as their book keeper for years without knowing who they were or what they were up to."
Jesus Christ.
She couldn't get a break.
The mom with the social security fraud.
The ex with the chop shop.
Then the bosses with the trafficking?
No fucking wonder she had trust issues.
"Until..."
"Until she realized they were laundering money through their legit businesses. She took the info to the cops who couldn't and wouldn't do shit. They pushed her in my direction."
"How long did you have her?" Reign asked.
"Six months." He gave us an almost wistful smile. "The Maze you know was nothing like the soft little blond that literally came crashing into my life six months ago."
So she was a blond. That was also news.
Obviously I knew she wasn't fucking naturally purple-haired, but she had dark brows and, well, no carpeting so there was no other way for me to tell.
I couldn't picture her blond. It didn't seem to suit her.
But then again, I guess I didn't fucking know her at all.
"Why us?" Reign asked, shaking his head.
"You're safe. You're a very insulated group. You hate the fucking Russians and wouldn't be too receptive to a couple of them sniffing around at all, let alone after one of your members. If you patched her in, you'd protect her."
"So you were just going to plant her here?" Reign asked, brows together. "Indefinitely? Just play-acting at being someone she wasn't for, what, the rest of her fucking life?"
"Better pretending to like riding that bike she used to curse seven ways to fucking Sunday than end up garroted in some alley somewhere, don't you think?"
"They're that dangerous?" Reign asked. "'Cause I gotta be honest, I ain't ever heard shit about them."
"Yeah, well from what I hear you're pretty happy with your arms dealing. You're not looking into selling poor Russian girls to the highest bidders. There's no reason you would know about them. They're a city problem anyway. They don't cross the border."
I was still rather caught up on the image that got conjured at the phrase garroted in some alley somewhere to pay them much attention.
"Why do they want her so bad? She didn't fuck them over with the cops."
"She had a copy of the files she gave to the cops."
"I'm assuming you have those copies."
"Yeah. But only until I find some cops I trust to hand it all off to to bring them down. The Russians are always a brutal lot though. They'll kill someone just for stepping on their shoes. So her trying to stab them in the back? They aren't going to let that go. And then a coupla days ago, they closed shop. Their offices are gone. Their legit businesses are still operating but they aren't present. So I don't know what the fuck is going on at this point. And I don't like that one fucking bit."
"Alright," Reign said, uncrossing his arms. "I sent Maze to go food shopping a couple of hours ago. When I noticed she still wasn't back, I started to ask around. Then Cash said he saw my truck at the train station. We went. The trunk was full of festering groceries. She paid for fucking parking for hours and she locked the keys inside. That's all we got."
K nodded then looked to me, brow raised. "You're sleeping with her. You got anything to add?"
I could feel everyone's eyes fall on me. Reign was just looking. Cash was grinning. Renny didn't look surprised. Duke had his brows drawn together, but I had fuck-all any idea why. "I got nothing, man. You trained her well. She didn't let any of that shit slip. All I really know about her is the ex with the chop shop thing and the mom thing and that she has trust issues. Guess now I know why."
"She told you about Thato and her mom?" K asked, looking surprised.
"Thato?" I repeated, almost laughing. Fucking bitch-ass name for a bitch-ass man. "If that's the ex's name, yeah. Why?"
"Because she knew better. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone anything about her past."
"Yeah well, she's human. She screwed up," I growled, shoving away from the rest of them and making my way toward the door. Where I found my arm snagged in a strong grip. I turned, looking over at K. "Get your fucking hand off me, man."
"Where are you going?"
"We aren't doing any good standing around here bullshitting. I'm heading to Philly."
"Repo..." Reign said in a warning voice that I knew him well enough to read into. He was telling me I didn't have permission to go. And yeah, well, fuck him.
"Be smart," K cut in before I could really fuck myself by tearing into Reign. "We can't go to Philly until we're sure she's not still around here. What the fuck were you gonna do? Walk every street? Talk to every person? Focus."
