“For someone who studies criminology, it takes a while for your brain to catch up sometimes.”
“Hey!” I call, laughing.
She laughs too.
Ellie is studying forensic linguistics and has a talent for analyzing speech patterns, written threats, anonymous messages, and ransom notes. She’s brilliant, but we havea running joke where we undermine each other’s programs, claiming ours is the best.
She plates my cookies and hands them over. “Here. Eat this. I’ll bring you tea. Go. Go.”
“Thanks, Ellie. You’re the best. For real.”
“Go!” she laughs again.
I wander back into the living room, letting Ellie, her delicious cookies, and the peace of our apartment pull my mind away from the handsome stranger.
Chapter 2 – Konstantin
I watch her go, her eyes darting around the crowded space like she’s searching for me, expecting me to appear again.
When she disappears from sight, I turn and make my way to the car park. My SUV waits, sleek and black, engine humming. I slip inside. Nik, my right-hand man, is already there, leaning back with quiet patience.
The door clicks shut behind me. Nik starts the engine, and after a moment of silence, he asks, “Did you find what you were looking for?”
I nod.
He leans slightly, curious. “Can I ask what it is? You haven’t told me anything.”
I consider it. For this case, I’ve been silent, calculating, letting the shadows carry my information until I’m certain. Now I am.
“Four years ago,” I begin, my voice low and precise, “a man named Nathaniel Hart stumbled across highly sensitive underworld intelligence during an undercover operation. Instead of handing it to the authorities, he hid it, intending to expose a network of corrupt officials and several Bratva factions all at once. But before he could act, he disappeared.”
I watch Nik’s expression, unreadable, as the streets pass by in blurred motion.
“I was assigned by my family to retrieve the stolen data before it leaked into the wrong hands. During my search, I discovered fragments of Hart’s files resurfacing…through a girl. Raelyn. Nathaniel Hart’s daughter. Seminar papers. Metadata. Old school assignments. Digital backups. She’s unknowingly carrying pieces of what I’ve spent years tracking.”
Nik hums, thoughtful. “So…you found her.”
“I didn’t just find her. I found her two years ago. And all this time, I’ve monitored her from afar, watching her habits, her routine, her scholarly patterns, just waiting for confirmation that she unknowingly carries her father’s secrets.”
I slip my hand into the pocket of my coat. “Today’s encounter provided that final proof,” I add. “Her assignment contains linguistic echoes, encryption markers, and pattern structures identical to the FBI documents Hart once compiled.”
Nik leans back, frowning. “Does she know? Is she…an accomplice?”
I don’t answer immediately. I think about the girl—straight ink-black hair falling around her face and down her back, a sharp face, expressive hazel eyes. I don’t let my mind wander to anything else. Like the leather jacket wrapped around a lithe torso. The ripped denim. The slender neck. The elegant hands.
No!
I focus on the fact that she’s walking around with information she could get killed for.
I shake my head. “She doesn’t know. Her father probably shared bits and pieces with her before he disappeared, without telling her how critical it all is.”
Nik’s gaze sharpens. “What’s next?”
I tap the dashboard, cold and precise. “Rival factions are already sniffing around these fragments. That’s a dangerous sign. Her life is at risk. If they reach her before I do, she will be kidnapped…tortured…or killed for what she knows.”
Nik is silent for a moment, the weight of it settling in.
“We can’t let them have her until we take back the data her father stole,” he says finally. “What’s the plan?”