Gedeon wanted these men to see her as an equal partner. To take her seriously. And, most of all, to know that he would hold them accountable if anything happened to her. They knew him and they knew he wouldn’t just have a woman talk for the two of them. If she was speaking, it was because he respected every word that came out of her mouth, and he expected they would as well.
Fyodor, Timur, Gedeon and Meiling met in Fyodor’s office. It wasn’t behind the double doors that led to the kitchen, but rather down the hall, past where Evangeline and Ashe made the coffee. A nursery had been set up just behind the bakery, and on the other side of that was Fyodor’s office. There was access to the kitchen from his office and to the nursery as well.
It was a sweet setup for Timur. He could get to the children, to the women and to his main responsibility, Fyodor, any number of ways in under a second. He had multiple ways of extracting the family should there be an attack on them. Gedeon didn’t know who had designed the interior suite of rooms, but it was brilliant. He hadn’t seen all of them, and he would bet there were hidden ways to get to the roof or to the basement. Timur wouldn’t take any chances with his family.
Meiling looked straight at Timur, not in the least intimidated, even though she was half his size. “Timur, we need someone fast. When I say fast, he has to be fast enough to stop a woman from sending a text in a crowded public place. She’s leopard and she’ll have someone looking out for her. It might be a woman he knows. He can’t think he can get to her. He has to know he can. If he misses, that little girl will die. Do you have anyone that fast?”
Timur nodded slowly, keeping his gaze fixed on her face.
“At the same time, before we can make a move on any of them, we have to find whoever is watching out for the woman. I believe her backup will be either of these two men.” Meiling showed Timur photographs of Alan Cano and Caleb Basco she had on her phone. “In any case, both men are most likely involved.”
Gedeon watched Timur’s face closely, and then Fyodor’s as Timur passed Meiling’s phone to his brother. Both men had to know the two shifters Meiling was all but accusing of being in a conspiracy to abduct a small child.
“Do you have proof?” Fyodor asked.
“If I had proof, Gedeon and I would be slitting their throats instead of sitting here talking to you,” Meiling said. “Timur offered help. He said anything. I know I can get the evidence. We asked for proof of life. If I’m right, this woman”—she took the phone and showed him the photograph of Lola Morales—“will be handing off instructions to Georgi Chaban.” She swiped the photograph of Lola to one side and replaced it with a picture of Georgi. “It will happen this morning.”
“You’re aware all four of the people you suspect are a part of the Lospostos lair?” Fyodor asked, his voice mild. Gedeon instantly went on alert. So much so that he signaled to Meiling to put some distance between her and the Amurov brothers.
“Generations of their families,” Fyodor continued, “have lived their entire lives in the Lospostos lair and served them with honor.”
Meiling shrugged her shoulders and wandered over to the window to look out on the street. “I am certain what you say is the truth. I’m also certain I’m right that Lola Morales had a very long affair with Fredrick Atwater after he lost his wife. She believed he would marry her and take her for his mate. The woman Atwater lost was his true mate and he was never going to replace her. Lola didn’t understand that because Atwater didn’t bother to explain it to her, not until she realized he had several other lovers.”
Fyodor held up his hand to stop her explanation. “Atwater confirmed this?”
“Harold, his right-hand man, confirmed he had an eighteen-month-long relationship with Morales and that he regularly takes advantage of the women working in his home. Morales still works there and is aware of Atwater’s sexual practices and appears not to care. She was the one to end the relationship. Atwater expressed a fondness for her and would have fired the women he was having sex with, although he made it clear to her he wouldn’t marry her or have children with her.”
“If he was willing to get rid of all the other women for her,” Timur argued, “that was saying something about the way he felt about her. She was special to him.”
Meiling glanced at her watch. “She wasn’t his only. She wasn’t the one he would have children with. Build his life around. Be the center of his world. He had cheated on her regularly with her right there in the house. She didn’t mean enough to him to stop using other women. He was everything to her, but she didn’t mean the same to him. In any case, gentlemen, we asked for your help. If we’re not going to get it, we have to come up with another plan. Lola is going to go to work this morning and find out that her boss has collapsed under the pressure of his child being kidnapped and money being siphoned from his businesses along with the fear of Lospostos’s retaliation.”