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But I didn’t have a choice.
It was nearly nine, and the sun was gone from the sky. I’d called Annie six times today, each voicemail becoming slightly more manic than the next.
Waiting around for her to come back to my place wasn’t working, so I’d decided to go out and find her myself. But before leaving the house, a package was delivered to my door. Something told me to open it, and when I did, I’d nearly thrown up the three glasses of scotch I’d inhaled before leaving.
Nestled inside of crisp white tissue paper was Annie’s earlobe, still wearing the earrings that she’d put on this morning.
“We should have called the cops,” Marcel said, his foot bouncing up and down in anticipation.
He’d been the first person I called. Mostly, because I knew Marcel would know how to get ahold of Annie’s father. Annie’s father, the Pakhan of the Bratva, and one of the most dangerous men in the city.
“The cops aren’t going to be fast enough.”
Surprisingly, the sight of a bloody earlobe had upset Marcel immensely. For someone who routinely committed white collar crimes, he sure didn’t like getting his hands dirty.
“You need to be done with this girl,” he snapped. “For your own sake.”
I knew what he was implying. He thought that Annie’s ear had been delivered to me because of who her father was, but I was sure that Ivanov had nothing to do with it. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if he knew that she was alive. Annie and I had been out of the press for the past month as things started to fall apart. Plus, I was sure that if he was in her life, I’d know about it.
“The box was sent here,” I said, my voice almost eerily calm. In many ways, I felt as though I were having some sort of out of body experience as I looked at the diamond earring, I had gifted Annie during our first outing. “It’s a message for me.”
“Our circles tend to send the IRS up your ass, not cut off people’s body parts.”
I sighed. “The O’Connors don’t play by our rules,” I told him.
“You think the O’Connors did this?” Marcel asked. The nervous tapping of his leg had finally ceased, thankfully. “Why?”
“That’s what I haven’t been able to put together.” My first thought was that maybe they’d figured out Annie’s identity, and this was their way at getting to her father. But that didn’t make sense. If they knew who Annie was, they would have killed her. Of that, I was sure. And they would have sent her body to Ivanov, not sent me her ear. No, this had something to do with me, and something to do with the campaign. I was sure of it.
My cell chimed, and I glanced down at it. My heart was hammering in my chest as I sent a reply message.
“He’s here,” I said, standing up from the couch.
Marcel paled several shades. Having the mafia in my house was making him nervous. I wondered if it was because Maximoff was one of the most dangerous men in the city, or if it was because Annie’s ear was currently laying in a box on my table.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t have either the time or energy to deal with Marcel’s fear or feel any sort of fear myself.
I walked over to the door and opened it before Maximoff could even knock.
“Ezra Wright?” he asked. He had a slight access, and I couldn’t figure out if it was Russian or New York. It struck me again how deeply I’d fallen for Annie that I hadn’t even thought to push further about her family.
I swallowed my anger as I began thinking about Annie.
“Thank you for coming,” I said, stepping aside.
“You said that you had information on my daughter.”
I nodded, examining Maximoff for a moment. I’d seen the man in photos, but there was something haunting about him up close.
“Annie and I have been…”
“In a relationship,” he said, walking further into the house. “I’m aware.”
My heart stopped for a moment. I had told Marcel that I didn’t think that Annie was involved with her father, but now, it seemed that he was well aware of our relationship – if that was even what anyone would call it.
“I had a private investigator look into what she’s been doing for the last year when I found out she was alive. I wanted to know why all the sudden she had Joseph Rome reach out to me.”
“Rome reached out to you?”
