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“Here, here,” I agree and tap my drink to his. I don’t wait before dropping the bomb of information on him. “Helena’s in the guest house.”
If I had given him the time to take his first sip, he might have spit out his liquor. He sits up quickly and swivels to look at me, waiting for the rest of the information. My consigliere shits into business-mode faster than I can blink.
“Good jobsveryswiftly done, indeed,” Michael answers, his fingers tapping against the glass in his hands.
I hide my triumphant grin behind the brim of my glass and take another swig before continuing. “Turns out she wasn’t as well hidden as we thought she was going to be. She was pretending to be a teacher at Henry’s school of all things. Can you believe it? I took her out for dinner tonight, offered to bring her home and voila.” I shrug.
I don’t need to tell him about all of the rest of it. I could. I could trust Michael with anything. He’s locked down tighter than Fort Knox. No matter how things happened, he won’t judge, but the details of fucking her aren’t something I feel the need to share. Just like if he asks to see her, I will decline because I’m sure she’s still in that bedroom naked and pounding at the bedroom door.
“That’s good, right? When are we turning her over?” Michael asks easily. I know that he would rather not have to deal with the Russians any longer than we need to. He knows why this is a great deal for the family… but he doesn’t like them any more than I do.
I don't respond right away because I haven't figured it out for myself. I'm not sure how I want that to work in practice. If I hand her over while she's still alive, I know exactly what Nikolai will do to her. It would be a mercy if I were the one to kill her... but something inside of me doesn't want to do that either. It's unavoidable that I'll lose her... but I don't have to—yet.
“Boss? Weareturning her over still, right?” I can hear the unspoken, underlying question in Michael’s voice. I know that he will back my choices without question. There is nothing that he would not do if I asked it of him, but I simply don’t have an answer to give him yet.
If I keep her… then what happens? Nikolai will turn on me in an instant. He will do everything in his power to strike me and the entire Colombo line down—which will then put Henry in the line of fire. Above all other things, that cannot happen.
If I choose tonotturn Helena over, then I will need to come up with a plan.
That’s incredibly hard to do when all my blood and good sense keep rushing south.
Perhaps after this conversation I might head back over there anyway to handle the issue.
Michael eases himself back into his pool lounger and rubs a hand over his face. He sighs slowly and then downs the rest of his drink in one large gulp. He sets the glass down on the small table and eases his hands behind his head, scratching at his short hair in contemplation.
“Well, if we don’t have an answer to that particular question soon, Volkovich might be inclined to send some more of his goons this way, boss. The boys found out today that Nikolai’s been in communication with someone, and that he knows Helena is in the area. What they heard heavily implied that we’ve been keeping information from him.” Michael sighed. If he knew who it was or what information had been given, he would have said so.
Fucking Volkovich.
The arrogance of that bastard.
Even if I ran absolutely every lead past him, he would likely accuse me of hiding something anyway. The sheer gall to think that I should be expected to run each of my movements by him; that I should have to report to him every piece of information that I find as if I am a common foot soldier under his command. Absolutely not. I will fulfill my end of the bargain, and I will inform him of things when they are relevant.
“And who is this rat?” I ask through my teeth. I take a long, slow drink from my glass in an attempt to steady my temper.
“Unclear. I have the boys working on decoding those encryptions right now. They have covered half the hospital records you asked for before they found these texts being sent to Nikolai and diverted their attention in that direction.”
It’s not the answer I want to hear. I know that there is no magical solution for things like this. I just wish that there was an easy, convenient way to send a message to Volkovich that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated going forward. Our deal is supposed to work both ways, and I will not stand for being belittled.
“I want them to double and triple check every piece of information that we have been given so far on this. I want everything about Helena’s knowns and unknowns ready for me by morning. If they need to bring in more people, tell them to do it so long as they are all sworn tomybrand of secrecy,” I say simply. It would even make more sense if Nikolai had purposefully given me false information about Helena. “Have them cross reference the information that Volkovich supplied on her as well. Just to be sure.”
“You got it,” Michael pulls his phone from his pocket and starts putting things into motion. It needs to happen quickly if I’m to ensure that all of it gets done exactly the way I want it to.
“Boss,” Michael says while still typing. “We are going to have her out of the picture soon, right?”
I hope that my attraction to her isn’t obvious to him. I don’t want to have to try to explain myself.
I nod. I'm going to have to get over it one way or another. With the smaller families in New York becoming too close for comfort, I don't want to put my plans on hold for too long. That means that, as much as I despise having to do it, I have to make Nikolai happy. Right now, I don't have the luxury of time.
“Don’t worry about that,” I say mostly to convince myself. “She will be taken care of soon.”
Michael doesn’t look convinced but would never question me or my choices. Nonetheless, he sits up on the lounger once he’s finished texting and levels me with a serious look.
“There is one more thing that I wanted to tell you, sir. Something I doubt even Nikolai is aware of.”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Helena
