Page 123 of Beguiled

“Take another look,” Dimitri suggested.

She did, then shook her head. “He was not nearly as tall. But much more muscular.”

“He could be in disguise,” Kirill suggested. He’d managed to find a photograph of Mikhail after his arrival.

After the bombshell that Saige had provided in remembering the photograph Tawny had taken and with the situation regarding the blackmail list, a dozen precautions had been taken.

The limited arms shipments, which had already dwindled to only one in the next month, had been permanently put on hold.While the idea of taking the company public was an excellent concept for the future, the opportunity for Mikhail to purchase stock and take control of the company was too high.

That was also placed on hold.

With the living room jammed with people, the anger and testosterone levels were high. We were in crisis mode, uncertain what Mikhail had planned next, but decided intellectual steps had to be made and that meant everyone needed to be present.

The bad news had already been broken to Kazimir, who would soon be on a plane headed out of Moscow and on his way to New York. However, we were counting on the fact a deal had been made with Mikhail by Tawny’s father. Now this added a layer of complication, although I still believed a disguise could have been used.

Kirill had arrived in town just an hour before, his timing impeccable. He’d come into a manufactured game to beat any that I’d been involved with.

Dimitri had called in a couple of his computer technicians, including one who was fantastic at discovering information. He’d been tasked to find out if theLady Isabellewas registered to Mikhail as well as being on the hunt for Tawny’s father.

“Then who?” Dimitri was as frustrated as I was.

“I don’t know.” What I did know for certain was that Mikhail was in the middle of the situation. He’d orchestrated the game. So maybe he’d hired someone to play himself, but the yacht’s name being Kazimir and Mikhail’s mother was too coincidental. Plus, Kazimir had mentioned that his father had talked about christening a yacht with his first wife’s name.

“Fuck this.” Dimitri moved toward the bar, pouring himself another drink.

I had a thought, heading to my laptop.

“What are you thinking?” Kirill asked.

“I’m thinking how best to beat one alliance.” I pulled up the internet, hoping I could find what I was looking for.

“A second alliance,” he mused.

It took a couple of minutes, but I finally found what I was looking for. With my laptop in hand, I took it to where Saige was sitting. “Is that him?”

She studied the picture, narrowing her eyes. “Yeah, that’s him. Even the smile is the same.”

“One hundred percent?” I pressed.

“One thousand. Who is he?”

A laugh rolled up from my chest as I showed Kirill and Dimitri the picture. “I think this man’s campaign is being funded by Mikhail. No wonder he’s expected to win by a landslide.”

“Vardan,” Dimitri hissed. “That motherfucker.”

“Makes sense. And how he was lured from Chicago.”

“Money,” my beautiful private dancer said while grabbing her damaged laptop. She was determined to be in the middle of this. Her kitty was curled up near her, currently cleaning her paws. Why did it all seem so normal?

“So let’s get this straight,” Kirill said while nursing a drink. “Vardan along with Mikhail plan on challenging our authority, their alliance potentially equal in power and in wealth to ours.”

“Exactly.” No wonder Vardan had been so accommodating while pretending not to know who Davit was.

Saige had already identified Davit, the hotel employee as following her on the subway. My guess was he’d been the one to toss her apartment. Only she’d known him as Brian, the man Tawny had been dating before breaking off the relationship, likely because her father had insisted.

I had my suspicions about Tawny’s killer being someone hired by Patrick. Mikhail was many things from calculated to a little bit crazy, but he was definitely methodical. He’d want an in with our organization as well as the Irish. Information was key. But I wouldn’t know for certain until I paid Patrick a visit.

As soon as we were finished, we’d be making an impromptu visit to the Strike Zone.