Don’t.
My phone rang, and I welcomed the distraction. It lay face up on the table beside my forgotten plate, and Mat’s name was on the screen. He’d send a text if it wasn’t urgent, but he was calling instead.
I dropped my grip on Tati’s hair, and she shoved her chair back with a harsh intake of breath. “Stay where you are,” I commanded, but grabbed my phone and stepped away. “What?” I answered, my voice sounding like it had been dragged over miles of broken glass.
“We captured someone,” Mat told me without any greeting.
“Someone important? Because this better be important.”
“Aleks and I were interrogating him. He mentioned Grigor Kanatova. That’s your second in command who’s gone missing, right?”
He was talking too loudly in his excitement, and I cut a glance at Tati. She glared balefully at me but stayed in her seat, leaning forward as if trying to hear, but it didn’t look like she caught Grigor’s name. I moved a little further away.
“What else?” I asked.
“Nothing else,” Mat said. “He completely shut up, no matter what we tried. He refuses to speak to anyone but you.”
“Me? By name?”
“Yes. He said he’ll only talk to Konstantin Fokin.”
I told my nephew I was on my way, then swore as I raced toward the door, leaving Tati to finish her meal or sulk in her room. This was big and couldn’t be ignored.
The man had asked for me by name, but no one should know I was in LA. So, who was talking?
Chapter 12 - Tatiana
As soon as Kon’s hand was off me, I shoved back, but he pinned me in place with a dark look and a commanding tone that chilled my blood. He was a monster, and my heart was doing its best to climb up my throat as he stalked a few feet away to answer his phone.
What did I see in his eyes as he forced my head back? I couldn’t explain it, but it had my hands shaking and my breath coming in sharp pants. It was impossible to drag in a full breath when he was still so close. So overwhelmingly close.
As fast as a bullet, and he had me completely under his control. Even now, six feet away, he was totally in charge. Bitter hatred welled up in me as I glared at his back, trying to calm myself down enough to find the courage to slink away to my room.
Not that I’d be safe there. This was his domain. I was his.
I shivered, then went still.
Whoever was on the other side of the call that had saved me said my father’s name. Grigor Kanatova. I heard it as plain as if the man was in the same room as us. I twisted my shaking hands together and leaned forward, freezing when Kon turned and pinned me in place with a suspicious glare. I dropped my gaze, straining to hear anything else as he went back to his conversation.
It wasn’t exactly the most relaxed of dinners, and frustration had come to a head when Kon refused to believe my father might be in trouble. I never believed he would care more about money than the bonds of friendship, but then again, a million dollars wasn’t nothing, and Kon had already told me that there was never enough money in the world for men like him.
I never believed he’d hurt me, either, and I was still reeling from that lightning-fast grab. And the look in his eyes. I still wasn’t completely convinced there was blood on his mind. But whatever was on his mind as he held me had me reeling.
The phone call was a blessing, or maybe a curse. It got him to let go, but as soon as he ended the call, he ignored my questions and flew out of the apartment without a word besides muttered curses.
So something was wrong, but what? Did he know where Papa was now? He had told me he wouldn’t torture my father, but he never once promised he wouldn’t kill him.
All of this was for some lost money and the perceived notion he’d been betrayed.
If his damn pride got my father killed, I would find a way to end him myself, and I wouldn’t be quick and easy about it, either.
Ignoring the dinner dishes, I went out onto the balcony for some fresh air, but the night was muggy and too warm. Traffic noises wafted up, seeming very far away. I was the proverbial princess locked in a tower, but no one was climbing up to rescue me. In Konstantin’s mind, he was the prince who’d already saved me.
From Riku Yoshida. Damn the man, whoever he was or however he was involved in Papa’s disappearance.
Kon wasn’t exactly wrong to keep grilling me, pushing me for information. I wasn’t exactly telling him everything, because why should I when he wasn’t going to help me? He wasn’t on our side. If he found Papa, he’d probably shoot first without asking a single question.
And what I knew was probably inconsequential.