Page 171 of Marrying the Savage

“No one talks because I ask nicely.”

“That is exactly why I’m saying be careful. If you go in like you already know he’s guilty, he will protect himself. If you go in like you need information, he may give you something useful.”

I look at him. He holds my gaze, even with his sleeping son in his arms.

“What else do you know?” I ask.

“His club is open tonight. He usually works from there after midnight. If he’s willing to talk, that is where you’ll find him.”

I take out my phone. I call Mikhail.

He answers immediately. “What is it?”

“We have a lead.”

“Who?”

“We’re going to a club.”

25

SOFIA

Arman’s club looks different when it’s open.

During the day, it felt expensive and quiet, like a place built for secrets. At night, it becomes something sharper. Music moves through the floor, low and heavy. Lights cut across the dark wood and red leather booths. Men in suits talk in corners with women who know exactly how much attention they are worth. Bartenders move fast behind the long bar, and the security men near the exits watch everything without looking like they’re watching everything.

Arman walks beside me like he owns more than the building.

Which, to be fair, he does.

“This is the main floor,” he says. “Public enough to keep people comfortable, private enough to make them reckless.”

I glance around. “That sounds like a business model and a threat.”

“It’s both.”

“At least you’re honest.”

“Only when it benefits me.”

I look at him. He smiles.

I understand why Anya likes him. I also understand why she warned me not to trust him just because she does. Arman is charming in a way that feels practiced but not fake. He’s easy to talk to, but every answer he gives has a locked drawer behind it.

He takes me past the bar, toward a hallway guarded by a man built like a refrigerator with cheekbones.

“Private rooms,” Arman says. “Meetings, drinks, negotiations, affairs, occasionally all four.”

“Busy hallway.”

“Very.”

“Do I want to know what happens if negotiations fail?”

“No.”

“Wonderful. Puts me right at ease over here,” I say drily.