The detective straightened his back and regarded me with narrowed eyes. “We’ll need an official statement from you, Mr. Keller. Please, follow me.” He led us down the hall to a small room containing only a table and a couple of chairs. “Would you like an attorney present?” His gaze flickered between Bryce and me.
I considered his offer for a moment before shaking my head. “No, my answers will be the same regardless, and I’m confident that you’ll see my company’s innocence in all this.”
Hours passed as they questioned me relentlessly. Why had I been to the factory earlier in the week? Was that when I had hidden the drugs there for later distribution? They enquired about my involvement with the day-to-day running of the factory. The company’s drug policies, how they were enforced. They wanted to know details about the business and my employees. I answered every single question.
I was furious at this latest development—I needed to get back to the estate. I was worried about Liza, so was my wolf, who was pushing me to return home to my mate. The memory of her sitting on the floor with her head in her hands was killing me inside. She’d looked so lost.
Then there was Maximus. I was itching to spend some more time with that fucking bastard. The beating I had given him was just the tip of the iceberg—there was much more to come. I needed to know exactly with whom he’d shared information about Liza.
The room was hot and stuffy, and the detective was being a jerk. They kept drilling me with the same questions, trying tocatch me in a lie or a contradiction. I felt like I was being put through a test of endurance and mental strength.
I told them I believed someone had deliberately sabotaged our warehouse in an attempt to incriminate me. “What about the building inspector who visited this morning? Have you questioned him?”
Their faces remained impassive. “We don’t know who he is, and we have no way of tracking him down, as the manager at your factory didn’t ask for his name or ID.”
Fucking manager. The disgruntled employee had a point. The management at that factory sucked. I’d deal with him later. “Look through our security camera footage from the factory.” I was desperate to clear our name, and surely the police could identify the fucker if he was caught on tape.
“We’ve already done that.” There was a slight hint of impatience in his voice, obviously tired of going round and round in damn circles and getting nowhere with me. “The guy kept his head at an angle so the cameras didn’t pick up on his face.”
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “He knew exactly what he was doing. Can’t you see how obvious this is? Someone posed as a building inspector and planted drugs in my facility. What might look like him retrieving the drugs could have very well been him pretending to take the tape of them. Please tell me you’re going to look into this.” I squeezed the bridge of my nose, hoping to the gods that they’d take my words into consideration without automatically placing the blame on the Keller name.
When they finally dismissed me, I left the station with my head held high. I had done everything in my power to clear my name, and the detective said he’d be in touch. Surely, if he thought I was guilty, he wouldn’t just let me walk free. If they believed me, I would have succeeded in clearing our name.
When Bryce and I walked out of the police station, a car screeched into the parking lot. To my shock, Isaiah emerged from the vehicle, sprinting toward us. My initial surprise quickly turned to anger.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I demanded, my fists clenching at my sides.
“Ty, I’m so sorry,” Isaiah panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. “I swear I’m going to explain everything. I called my assistant to arrange a meeting with you. He told me about Maximus going after Liza, and the police coming to the estate, and he told me where to find you. When the warehouse parking lot was empty, I assumed you’d come here. Thank fuck I found you. I have some important information that needs to be delivered in person. I couldn’t risk calling you in case someone’s tapping into your cell phone.”
“Start talking. Explain yourself, and do it fast.” I crossed my arms and glared at my informant, who had been gone for days with no word. He’d forced me to reach out to Nico. It made me look like I had no control over my employees. It didn’t make me look good, and I wasn’t happy about it. Whatever information Isaiah had, it had better be fucking well worth it. I was not in the mood for this shit,
Isaiah took a deep breath before dropping the bombshell. “Liam is not a man to be fucked with. Liam Russell could not be found because Liam Russell no longer exists. At some point, he legally changed his name from Liam Russel to Mika Liam Petrov. Petrov is his biological mother’s maiden name. He buried it deep. When I started to uncover the link to Petrov, I had to go blackout. That’s why I couldn’t risk contacting you.”
The moment the name Petrov left Isaiah’s lips, alarm bells went off in my head. I was very aware of the Petrov empire and their dirty dealings.
“Holy fucking shit.” I tried to wrap my mind around this new information. Suddenly, the drugs in the factory made sense. Liam Russell, as the prospective buyer, had a right to send in a commercial inspector to assess the property before purchasing, which meant he could set me up by using the inspector to plant the drugs for the inspector to ‘find’—if the fucker had even been a true inspector.
My body vibrated with rage as the truth washed over me. Liza’s brother had set me up.
“Fucking hell.”
“I read the file you gave me on the Wylde pack, and it appears Liam is following in his biological father’s footsteps.” Isaiah rested his hands on his hips. “This is much more serious than we ever imagined.”
“I know the types of deals Petrov is involved with. He’s not a man I’m interested in getting involved with. Any business transactions with him could only lead to trouble… much like Dad did with Liam and Liza’s father.
“Let’s move.” I quietly motioned for Isaiah and Bryce to step aside as a few police officers exited the station. We required privacy to continue our conversation. The last thing I needed right now was an officer overhearing the dark shit we were discussing. So we walked down from the station to the far corner of the parking lot.
“All right, Isaiah. Tell me everything you’ve been doing, and it better be damn good.”
Isaiah glanced around to ensure no one was within earshot. “Getting information on Mika Petrov wasn’t easy. It was clear he didn’t want anyone to find the connection between him and Liam Russell.”
My wolf growled in frustration at the situation we found ourselves in. I clenched my fists, struggling to maintain control. “Go on.”
“Essentially, the paper trails don’t connect. The Russell empire is being run by a man named Deacon Wallace who’s never even met Liam. It’s Deacon who sends Isabel her yearly dividends, but this was all set up as a trust before Wallace started. He’s been left to run the company with no input from Russell. When Liam disappeared, he left the bank account in his name open. It’s been unused, until Liza made her appearance on TV, and we can only assume Petrov saw the report and discovered she was alive, because...” Isaiah paused, his expression grave. “Just after Liza’s appearance, Deacon got a call from Liam. It was short and to the point. Deposit money into the old account, which belonged to his father. The one Liza now has control of.”
“Other than that?” I prompted, my mind racing with the implications of this information.
“Other than that, Liam was a ghost. But Mika... Mika was making a name for himself in the world.” Isaiah’s eyes filled with concern. “He’s dangerous, Ty.”
