Neal sat in one of the chairs opposite Don Carlo’s desk and Royal sat in the other. Michael stood by the door to the study and held it open as Siobhan walked through. She glided past them and slipped into the high-backed chair behind the desk like she belonged in the seat of power.
And she did.
“We have to make some changes,” Siobhan said.
“That’s pretty broad,” Neal said. “Care to be more specific?”
“We need to keep everything aboveboard until things die down, and legitimate liquor sales aren’t going to get us where we need to be. We either need to pivot or supplement until we can find Dominque and get her to cough up everything we need to know about the funds she stole.”
“What about the money from Ana?” Neal asked. “Are we acting like that never happened?”
“It’s a last resort. Those funds come with conditions, the details of which we’re not completely aware. We’re not desperate enough to strike a deal like that. Not yet anyway.”
“Something’s been bothering me,” Royal said. “Ana Petrov looked very familiar to me.”
“Probably because your fed buddies have shown you a million pictures of their most-wanted list,” Neal said.
Royal shook her head. “Not even. I’ve never seen a photo of Ana Petrov. I always assumed it was because she was camera shy, but it may be that she’s simply more clever than the rest of us and stayed out of the path of cameras on purpose. Maybe it’s my imagination, but everything about the night felt familiar.” Her eyes widened. “Wait a minute.” She pulled out her phone and started scrolling.
“What is it?” Siobhan asked.
Royal held up a hand. “Hang on just one second.” She kept scrolling. “Here we go.” She held out her phone so both Neal and Siobhan could see. “She was at the museum the night of the bomb threat.”
Neal held out her hand. “Let me see.” She took the phone from Royal and blew up the photo. Sure enough, there was Ana standing alone with a champagne flute in her hand. Her dress was different, but otherwise, it was almost an exact replica of the scene from this past Saturday night. “Yeah, that’s her, but so what? She attends social functions. Is that really such a big deal?”
“I’ll tell you why,” Royal said. “She hardly ever appears in public, not where cameras are around, but here she is at a benefit where a bomb threat cleared the entire museum, and she was at the opera for another benefit this weekend. Both of those events had one thing in common.”
Siobhan’s presence was the common theme. Neal’s palms grew sweaty, and a chill ran down her spine as she absorbed the silent judgment behind Royal’s words. She was the bodyguard and twice now her charge had been in the path of danger, and she’d done nothing to protect her. Hell, she hadn’t even been aware of the threat. “It wasn’t my decision to stay behind the night of the museum benefit.”
“She’s right, Royal,” Siobhan said. “I ditched her to spend the evening with you.”
“Fine, but if the Petrovs are trying to kill you, you’d think the people who were hired to protect you would have some intel about it.”
Neal looked over at Michael, seeking an ally because Royal was essentially calling him out too, but he gave her a slight shake of his head. Was she really supposed to sit here and take Royal’s trash talk without defending herself?
“I thought the police never found a bomb,” she said. “Maybe the whole thing was a diversion. For all we know Ana could’ve been the target of whatever was going on.”
“Or the mastermind,” Royal said. “Mikhail may be fearless, but he isn’t very smart. Someone with brains is running his operation.”
She was right, but Neal couldn’t imagine Ana being the ruthless mastermind behind the kind of shady dealings Mikhail was engaged in—prostitution, drugs, and God knows what else. Ana seemed too classy for such pursuits.
You don’t know anything about her.
It was true, but she’d been in this business long enough to have learned how to read people and Ana’s desperate plea for help shedding Mikhail from her life felt genuine, but what if her desperation was more about taking control of the Petrov empire and keeping it the way it was than a desire to be rid of a horrible husband? Was her attraction to Ana clouding her judgment?
“Neal, did you hear what I just said?”
She snapped to attention at Siobhan’s voice. “Sorry, no.”
“You’re the best person to sort this out. She obviously trusts you, and I doubt she trusts many people. Get close to her and find out what you can. It’s possible she’s the one working with Dominique, not Mikhail. If that’s the case, then they will both suffer the same fate.”
She should be thrilled to get such a big assignment immediately after becoming made, but dread filled Neal at the prospect of taking Ana down with the rest of the Petrovs.
* * *
Ana stood in her bedroom with her ear pressed against the door. Mikhail had been on a tear with the staff all morning, and she hoped the sudden silence meant he’d finally left to go to visit one of his many seedy brothels where he maintained backroom offices.
She eased open the door and gasped when she found Katia standing only inches away. “What are you doing here?”
Katia gave her a curious look. “We have a fitting at Francine’s. Did you forget?”
She had. She’d forgotten everything since Saturday night’s disaster at the opera, and she hadn’t left her suite since the embarrassing foray. A dress fitting seemed like a silly way to end her self-imposed exile. “I can’t go.”
“You’ve been cooped up for days. Surely, you’re feeling better by now.”
“What?”
“Mikhail said you weren’t feeling well. He asked me to stay away.”
Leave it to him to make excuses for her absence that had nothing to do with the real reason she’d gone into seclusion, but she was relieved not to have to explain. Add to that she was still stewing because she was certain Katia was the one who’d told Mikhail where she was the night of the opera benefit. She considered confronting her but decided it would be more strategic to let Katia think she was still a trusted confidant. “I am better, but I’m not sure shopping is in the cards for me today.”
“You have something better planned?”
She didn’t, but not for lack of trying. She’d been thinking of ways to get a message to Neal, but no solutions had come to mind since she’d been under Mikhail’s watchful eyes the past few days. Perhaps an outing would inspire some opportunity. She summoned fortitude she didn’t feel, determined to find a way to make the trip downtown pay off. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Katia grinned. “Excellent. I already made reservations for tea at the Adolphus after. Go put on something fabulous and I’ll meet you downstairs.” She dashed off before Ana could protest an afternoon of mindless materialism followed by a decadent high tea, but maybe it was exactly what she needed to shake her malaise.
Fifteen minutes later, they were both in the back of a car chauffeured by one of Mikhail’s men headed to Francine’s. The small dress shop was known for catering to the wealthy elite of Dallas, but their inventory wasn’t limited to dresses only. They also sourced other creature comforts designed to give their patrons the very best experience. She’d partaken in the past, but she wasn’t in the mood for a tryst with a stranger today.
If Neal were here, you would indulge.
Totally different and no I wouldn’t.
“Did you say something?” Katia asked.
“No.” Ana bit her lip and banished those kinds of thoughts about Neal from her mind. Neal was a means to an end, and she couldn’t let her become a distraction, but perhaps taking advantage of one of the private rooms might afford her an opportunity to get in touch with her. For business and no more. She touched the slim phone in her pocket, her fingers itching to send a text or make a call to reestablish their connection, but she shouldn’t risk it until she knew she was completely alone, safe from the listening ears of the staff at the house or even Katia.
Francine, the owner, was on hand to greet them effusively. Ana wasn’t impressed. Yes, she was a regular, but if she didn’t spend lavishly, the woman would ignore her in favor of others who frequented her salon. No matter how much champagne she poured or private recreation she made available, Francine was all business and the perks were a means to an end. Ana respected her approach.
The dresses she’d ordered several weeks ago required little tailoring and her fitting was complete in less than thirty minutes. Katia, on the other hand, had a much harder time, and while she stood stock-still as the tailor jabbed her frocks with pins, Ana signaled to Francine she was interested in exploring something other than dresses. Francine complied by leading her to one of the private rooms.
She’d been in this room a few times and she favored the midnight blue furnishings and soft lighting. While she waited for her company, she pulled out the phone and sent a quick text to Neal.
Downtown. Adolphus. An hour.
An hour should be plenty of time for whatever was about to happen. She’d barely tucked away the phone when she heard a light knock on the door. “Come in.”
She recognized Lauren from a past visit. Francine had likely assumed she’d want the comfort of a familiar face, and normally she’d be right, but in this moment, Ana wished a complete stranger had walked through the door. It would be easier then to explain she was more interested in company than sex.
“It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you too.”
Lauren stepped closer and ran a hand down her arm. “You’re all dressed. I hoped to catch you in between outfits.”
It wasn’t next-level flirting, but it had done the trick in the past. But she’d felt more desperate in the past, like there was no way out and these backroom trysts were all that was available to her. Now, she was starting to see a way out and basic flirting and clandestine sex seemed like a waste of time and energy when she could be so close to having much, much more. She reached for Lauren’s hand and removed it from her arm. “I need something different from you today.”
Lauren gave her a pout, but she knew it wasn’t real, a fact borne out when she reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of large bills. She dangled the money in front of Lauren and enjoyed the way she perked up in response.
“Whatever you need.”
Ana described what she had in mind while Lauren nodded in response. It might not be the smartest move to trust a fit model/sex worker with her spying, but the circle of people she could trust grew smaller by the day. Everything about what she had planned involved taking chances, and in the scheme of things, it seemed low risk since Mikhail was unlikely to ever encounter one of the models at this little dress shop. Enough with the ruminations. It was time to act. “I need you to deliver a message.”
* * *
Neal’s phone buzzed in her pocket, but her hands were too full to answer. She’d been working with the guys in the stockroom at Valentino’s, relocating the liquor bottles Ana had sent over to a more secure location. A couple of them commented on how light the boxes were, but it was doubtful they suspected the specific reason why.
When the bottles were all stowed away, she reached for her phone to check her messages. The persistent caller hadn’t left a voice message, but there was a text on the screen and though it was a different number than before, she instantly knew it was from Ana.
Downtown. Adolphus. An hour.
An hour? She checked the time now and the time of the text. She had thirty minutes if she wanted to make it on time. It would be tight, but she could do it. Her fingers hovered over the phone for a few minutes while she agonized about what to say, but finally she settled on the only answer that made sense. See you there.
She arrived at the hotel with ten minutes to spare, but with no street parking in sight, she reluctantly pulled up to the valet stand and handed over her keys. The bellman who opened the door for her didn’t flinch at her dusty boots and rumpled shirt, probably because the SUV she was driving was worth more than he made in several years’ salary, but she wished she’d taken a moment to change before charging over here since Ana would likely be decked out as usual.
Neal walked through the lobby, doing her best to act casual, while keeping a watchful eye for Ana to arrive, but after twenty minutes of loitering, she grew antsy. Where are you?
She fired off the text and almost immediately received a response.
Delayed. Wait for me?
Damn. Was Ana jerking her around? Short of hanging out at the bar she’d run out of ways to act like she belonged, and while a midday drink sounded like a good idea, she wanted to remain sharp. She walked back toward the door to the valet stand and scanned the few people checking in. No sign of Ana, but the one clerk at the front desk with no line gave her an idea.
“May I help you?” the woman asked.
Neal reached for her wallet. “Yes, I need a room.”
“Excellent. How long will you be staying with us?”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure. Can we make it open-ended?”
The woman smiled. “Absolutely.” She explained the cancellation policy and started typing on her computer. “I have a nice king room on the third floor or if you’d prefer, the terrace suite is available and it has a lovely view.”
She listened to the woman give a full description of the suite. She only needed the room since the primary purpose of the booking was to give her a place to hang out until Ana arrived and to give them some privacy to talk on neutral ground. But the suite would be even more private, and a bold gesture designed to impress Ana. Besides it was the kind of indulgence she rarely let herself enjoy. “I’ll take it.” She pulled a fake ID and a stack of hundred-dollar bills from her wallet, inwardly smiling at the irony of paying for the room with some of the money Ana had delivered to Valentino’s.
The suite was everything the woman had promised. She checked her phone again, but there was no new message from Ana. She typed in the room number and clicked send, then kicked off her boots and settled onto the couch. She should be out looking for Dominique or checking in with Michael who was doing the same, but she hadn’t slept in days and the idea of a few minutes on the couch was too appealing to resist. She checked her phone one more time before she closed her eyes, but still no response from Ana. She’d give her an hour. She wasn’t sure what would happen after that, but a few minutes of rest would hopefully give her a plan.