LIAM
The flight to Manhattan, although technically short, feels interminably long. Niall is sitting across from me on the private plane, his face set and emotionless. Still, I know what he’s thinking—that I haven’t agreed to the marriage yet, that Saoirse and her family will be at the wedding as well, that I’m neglecting my responsibilities. And the worst of it is that I know he’s right. Iamputting my near-obsessive worry for Ana ahead of everything Ishouldbe worrying about back in Boston. But I can’t shake it.
Since our last conversation, Niall has mostly kept silent about it. Heismy employee, after all, at the end of the day, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t know what he’s thinking anyway. I can read the disapproval on him, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. We’ve been close for far too long.
All of the major families will be at this wedding, which is as much a reaffirmation of Viktor and Caterina’s bond as a sign of the new peace between the Russians, Italians, and Irish. It’s meant to be for them, a symbol of a commitment that was once arranged and now is chosen, but it’s also about something more—a peace like none of our families have seen in decades.
The fact that two of the bloodiest families in the Northeast are the ones orchestrating it is nothing short of a miracle.
I should be thinking of how I can use this to my advantage, how the Kings can rise in their fortunes along with the Andreyevs and the Romanos, along with all of the families beneath them. But instead, I’m thinking about the meeting I have with Viktor this afternoon, before the wedding tomorrow.
A driver is waiting for Niall and me at the hangar. He takes us directly to Viktor’s offices downtown, where Viktor and Levin are waiting for me. Viktor gets up from his desk as soon as I walk in, a pleasant smile on his face. I hold out my hand to shake his, but he pulls me into a strong, one-armed hug instead, grasping my forearm as he embraces me.
“I’m glad you’re here, Liam,” he says firmly, once he steps back. “Tomorrow is an important day for our families. That you will be a part of it, as well as the other Kings, is a huge step forward.”
Especially after your father’s treachery.
That Viktor doesn’t say it aloud is a testament to how far we’ve come, I know that. The mistrust that existed between us earlier on has eased, and the fact that there are boxes of files around the office, waiting for me to pore through them, is a further sign of his trust. There’s a great deal of personal information in those boxes that Viktor Andreyev is entrusting me with.
It’s for Ana’s sake, I know, to ease his own guilt and for the sake of his wife and Sofia Romano as well, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is huge.
“It will take time to go through the files,” Viktor says, gesturing towards the boxes. “I’ve already pored over some of them, as has Levin. So far, we’ve found nothing helpful.”
“Did Caterina or Sofia mention anything else that might give us a clue?” I frown. “Sasha, maybe?”
“Only that he spoke French and that he dressed very eccentrically.” Viktor rubs one hand over his mouth as Niall and Levin move another stack of boxes closer to where we stand. “Caterina also mentioned that he paid a huge sum for Ana. He seemed to like that she was—flawed.”
I can’t help but seethe inwardly at the use of the wordflawedto describe Ana—I don’t think of her as such. Wounded, perhaps. In need of care and tenderness, certainly. Butflawedis the last word I would use for the beautiful, delicate former ballerina.
“How much?” I ask as I reach to open one of the boxes. That in and of itself could be a clue if we could find a pattern of a client who spent a similar amount each time if it were notable in some way.
“A hundred million,” Viktor says, and I freeze in place.
“Excuse me?” I turn slowly, looking at him with disbelief. Behind me, I can see that Niall and Levin have gone very still as well. “A hundred thousand, you mean.” A low price, but maybe fitting, considering Ana’s injuries and mental health. Alexei probably wouldn’t have been able to fetch a high price for her—
“No.” Viktor shakes his head. “I couldn’t believe it at first either, but Caterina was very firm that she’d heard correctly. Sasha and Sofia backed up the information as well. Apparently, there was some argument between Alexei and this Frenchman over it. Alexei didn’t want to be seen as fleecing the Frenchman by selling him a girl for a price so over her value. But the man insisted on it. He seemed quite convinced that Ana was worth the sum.”
I grit my teeth, a flood of conflicting emotions washing over me. On the one hand, a man who would pay that high of a price for Ana might treat her well, meaning she could be safer than I had expected until she can be found and rescued. On the other, the fact that he had paid so high a price could mean he had specific plans for her—which could encompass things I can barely stand to think about.
“So we’re looking for a high roller.” I force the speculation out of my head in an effort to focus on what we know. “French, obscenely rich, eccentric. It’s not much to go on.”
“It’s not,” Viktor agrees. “And I’ve rarely had dealings with French clients that I know of. Some don’t contact me directly, it’s true, and their bank accounts are always offshore. Sometimes they go to lengths to conceal information such as their actual nationality, names, etcetera. Understandably.”
“Of course. We have clients who do the same.” No matter how detestable I might find Viktor’s former trade, it’s true that illegal goods are illegal goods, no matter what is being dealt with or to whom. The Irish have long trafficked in weapons, and there have been plenty of clients who have made sure to conceal anything that could be used to give away their identity. “That makes it more difficult, though.”
“Exactly.” Viktor frowns. “The files might give us some clue, but we’re unlikely to find a clear match.”
“We’ll start with the clients you’ve dealt with that you know are French,” I say decisively. “And then go through the anonymous ones looking for a pattern of high sales or large amounts spent.”
If my thoughts had been full of Ana before, they’re even more so as we comb through Viktor’s files. With each name, each list of women purchased, and dollar amount spent, all I can think of is her—somewhere in the world, in a country that I can’t put my finger on, with someone whose face I can’t picture, being…what, exactly? Hurt? Tortured? Violated? Kept locked in a room or chained in a basement? My forehead creases tightly as I flip through page after page, my teeth gritted so tightly that my jaw begins to ache.
“I know you’re concerned for her,” Viktor says gently as I set another file down, letting out a sharp sigh of frustration. “We all are. I harbor a great deal of guilt that she was lost before we could rescue her. Luca does as well. But if it helps—” he hesitates. “The men who purchased from me in the past rarely are cruel. Some have their predilections, of course, and I can’t say that I followed up on the women after they changed hands. But men who spend such a high sum rarely treat their acquisitions poorly. Whatever terrible things you’re imagining, Ana is likely not enduring them.”
“She’s a possession,” I grind out, slamming down another file. “A woman sold for the purpose of satisfying a man. It doesn’t matter if she’s clothed in silks and eating caviar with a palace of her own; another man is forcing himself on her. Another man owns her. And that alone is intolerable.”
“I understand.” Viktor nods to Levin, who takes away a stack of boxes that we’ve deemed unusable. “I thought it might help to know that at the very least, she’s likely not in pain or suffering privations.”
“It helps,” I tell him, not meeting his eyes as I open another file. “But not enough.”