Merciless Vows by Faith Summers

27

Lucca

Jon and I sit side by side, staring at the profiles of the three men on the computer.

We’re at the office in the garage, where we have special systems set up to check people out.

What we’re looking at, though, doesn’t tell us anything useful.

The two Italians are James Denozzo and Michael Francisco; both are government officials in Italy comparable to Raphael. The Mexican guy is Ignacio Perez. He, too, is a government official but in Mexico.

Again like Raphael.

There’s no dirt, nothing I can use to say shit about Raphael’s extracurricular activities, and worse of all, I don’t know if either of them were the undisclosed recipient.

Jon hacked their everything he could. From their phones to their email accounts: personal and business, and couldn’t find anything. Not a damn thing about the organ trade, or even the charity.

Everything is clean. Too fucking clean, which always means they’re hiding something. Those types of people always have something to hide. And right now, we can't fucking find it.

For all the hours we’ve spent investigating, all we know is government officials wouldn’t be meeting at two in the morning for anything legit and not in a seedy place like the fucking docks.

That means there's nothing for us to work with.

I contemplated just handing this information over to Grigori, but I know I need more. I need something more concrete to attack with, like the whole truth of what Raphael is up to.

Even without my vendetta against him, as the Obshchak and leader of the enforcement squad, it's my job to find out what's happening.

“Lucca, if these guys are government types like Raphael, it makes sense that nothing is going to pop straight away,” Jon points out, and I bite the inside of my lip. “Look how long it took us to find shit on Raphael, and we were just lucky. Anything else we know about him is because we’re from the Bratva.”

“I know, but it’s odd we can’t find anything useful. They must all have different accounts we can’t access. Maybe something they use solely for their deals.”

“Perhaps, or maybe we need more information and skill. I don’t know if I’m being blocked from looking further. I sense that I am, although the system didn’t pick any rigid firewalls. This is the same thing that happened when I tried to locate the IP address. I couldn’t, though.”

“Let me try something else.”

I reach for my phone and call Hector. He must know more. There has to be more.

Hector answers his phone on the first ring. “Hi, Lucca.”

“I need more information. I can’t find anything on the men Raphael met with tonight.”

“I already told you everything, Lucca. What I told you is all I got, and there’s a reason for that. I don’t take names, and that's the reason people meet at my place. It’s so everything is kept top secret.”

There’s no point pushing him. I feel we’re at a dead-end again. “Alright.”

“Hey, the fact they met tonight means shit’s about to be arranged somewhere. Just because you don’t see doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. What you need is just not on paper.”

I nod at that, although he can’t see me. “Thanks for the help. You keep an eye out for me.”

“Yeah.” He hangs up.

“Anything useful?” Jon asks.

“Just what we already know. Right, I’m gonna call in Gibbs. I’ll get him to look into this while we focus on our duties.”

“I think that’s a good idea. I think we might need his expertise, and I’m man enough to accept when I can’t take you any further.”

“Thanks for what you’ve done so far. You know we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without you.”

“I know, don’t worry about that.”

“I don’t want to piss off Grigori. The longer it takes to find Ivy, the more obvious it will become that our time is split.” Although I want to get Raphael’s ass, delegation is the right thing to do. My patience is wearing thin, however. It’s been years. I need to do this properly, though. I glance at my watch. It’s seven a.m. “I’ll speak to Gibbs, then see Grigori after. I think he needs a face-to-face visit.” That’s more for me to gauge his reaction.

“Good luck.”

I’ll need it.

* * *

Although I’ve never had any issue with Pasha, I’ve always sensed he never really liked his father picking me to be the Obshchak. I also heard he was the only person not to vote for me when the time came to do so.

Grigori overruled him, and that’s how I got the title.

In situations like these, not that I’ve had many challenges of this nature in the last two years, I always think he’s scrutinizing me, and I would have preferred if he wasn’t here right now.

I’d just had rotten luck at picking a time to come by when he was also visiting his father. And since any Bratva business is his business, he sat in my meeting and listened to me confess that I still haven’t been able to locate Ivy.

Both of them look at me as I finish explaining our recent findings about Ivy being protected by Stephano Ricci.

Grigori leans forward, resting his elbow on the edge of his desk while Pasha sits back. There’s tension on his face which is weird since I would have expected that from his father, not him.

“I can assure you I have my men looking everywhere with a fine-toothed comb,” I say. “I will find her and make her and anyone hiding her pay for what she’s done.”

“I don’t doubt that. What worries me now is the distance she might have covered.”

“I know. That’s my worry too. I have our associates at Interpol and the police on alert, so they know to call me.” Those are people on our books who know to contact me and bring her in if she tries to leave the country.

The problem is it won’t stop her.

“I appreciate that. I just fear she got a heads up.”

“Don’t worry, Pakhan, at least knowing about Stephano means we know what we’re up against,” I assure him. “I’m searching through those I know have allied with him in the past in any sort of way.”

Grigori nods. “Alright, well, I know you will find her, Merciless.”

“I promise you I will. Thank you for your faith in me.” I dip my head respectfully.

His phone rings and he reaches for it. “I have to take this.”

“Sure, I’ll report back with any details.”

“A word outside, please, Lucca,” Pasha says cocking his head to the side.

“Of course,” I answer, always and ever showing respect.

We walk out of the office and stop by the potted plants.

“I appreciate what you’re doing. I know Beleric would too,” he begins, but I know he didn’t call me out here to tell me that.

“Thank you.”

“I just hope your pretty little fiancée isn’t deterring you too much from your duties.”

That’s an odd thing to say to me, and when did he meet Aria?

To my knowledge, none of them should have met her. Raphael kept her away from the business like all the other men like us who deal with the devil. He said it himself. That was one reason Grigori asked if I was taking her to his birthday party.

We don’t tend to meet each other’s counterparts until you’re married or talk of marriage is in order.

I narrow my eyes at him, deciding against asking him when he would have met her. Although I owe no one any explanation of my actions, this man is Grigori’s son, and in his absence, he’s the closest to the Pakhan. My duty is to assure him of my diligence.

“Pasha, I assure you my personal life will never get in the way of my work. Not even for my pretty fiancée.”

He nods. “Okay, because I would hate that. I would hate for you to grow soft on us and not be able to do the job we trust you with. This woman killed one of our own. Shot him multiple times, then got her people to try and get rid of him by dumping his body. That’s not something any of us can forgive.”

“No, it’s not.”

“I just hope you remember that.”

“Don’t worry, I do.”

He dips his head, and I do the same before I leave.

As I walk to my car, though, I feel his eyes on me.

The weight of his stare is so strong I know deep down he is seething and still questioning me. I don’t have time for his shit, though. He doesn’t realize I only show respect because I have to. Who I respect is his father.

I drive away and sigh with frustration when my phone rings, and I see it’s fucking Raphael.

Given the mood I’m in, he’s the last person I want to speak to. I hardly want to speak to him anyway.

I put him on the speakerphone to hear what shit this asshole wants to talk to me about.

“What the fuck do you want?” I growl, and my voice reverberates around me in my car.

“You fucking dog. Dr. Pelchant has just informed me that you’ve changed doctors. Why the hell did you do that?” he growls back.

“What I do with Aria is none of your concern. If I want to change doctors, then I’m fucking doing it, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

“You are one nasty piece of work. How dare you do this? That is a doctor she’s had since her accident. Nearly three years, and you blow in like the fucker you are and change up her life.”

I fail to see how if she’s had the fucking doctor for nearly three years and nothing is happening, it means something needs to change.

“I can assure you, my doctor is the best.” I won’t go into details about how good Dr. Belmont is because he doesn’t need to know. I know the best people for everything, and it’s because of who I am and the connections I make. So I don’t want him interfering anymore with anything.

“I want to see my daughter,” he demands. “I want to see how she is. She’s already shaken up enough by what’s happened. You didn’t need to do this as well.”

“And you don’t need to see her.”

“Lucca, have a fucking heart. I’m her father.”

“Yes, I’m fucking aware of that. You make yourself sound like the doting father, but the way you hit her when you last saw each other hasn’t left my mind.”

“I acted out of impulse. I didn’t mean to do it, and I don’t give a fuck if you believe me or not. I want to see her. She lost her mother, and I’m the only parent she has left. Have a fucking heart and allow me to see my daughter. That is all I am asking. She still needs me.”

Damn it to fuck. He got me on that last part. She needs him. I might not want him anywhere near her, but I’m reminded again that she doesn’t know who he really is, and she can’t know yet. No one can know yet.

I remember how she ran to him that morning when I took her. Ran to him, calling for him the way a child would for their parent.

She does still need him because he is her father.

And that’s another reason why I mustn’t get close.

It’s another reason to heed Damien’s words of wisdom about loyalty. He would never want to hurt me, but he can see where this is going.

Aria’s already going to hate me when she finds out the truth and when I kill her father, what do I think is going to happen then?

That will be the moment when my wife-to-be will be my enemy.

“Fine.”