Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            There was a pause and then a creak of his chair. “Well, this is unexpected. May I ask why?”

            “I might not be quite ready to leave America yet.” He made a noncommittal noise, so she rushed forward. “I will always be so grateful that you were willing to take a chance on me.”

            “Well, it was the least I could do for your father. But can I be honest? I’m kind of relieved.”

            She laughed. “You are?”

            “Now I don’t have to worry about you.” Another creak of his chair, and she pictured him standing. “What are your plans, then?”

            “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made any plans. I met with an immigration attorney, though, and she at least gave me some things to think about.”

            “Good for you.”

            “Yev, thank you so much for understanding.”

            “Of course. You’re like family, Elena. You know that.”

            “I do. And it means a lot.”

            “You’ll let me know if you need anything else?”

            Elena held her breath. “There actually is one thing.”

            “Name it.”

            “I sort of lied to you before.”

            He paused. Then, “I’m listening.”

            “When you asked if I was looking into my father’s disappearance—”

            “Oh shit, Elena. What have you been doing?”

            “I’ve been trying to finish his story. I’ve been doing my own investigation, as much as I could from here.”

            Silence, then, “And did you find anything interesting?”

            “A lot of false leads and dead ends.”

            “Well, that’s not surprising.”

            “There’s one thing I wonder if maybe you’ll look into for me.”

            His sigh could have powered a steamboat. “Elena, you know how dangerous this is.”

            “I know. And I’m sorry if I’m putting you on the spot.”

            “What is it you want me to look at?”

            “Nikolei 1122.”

            Silence again. Then, “Where did you hear that?”

            Her heart hammered at his tone. “Does it mean something?”

            “Not immediately, no. But it could be part of a classification for a police report. The name of the officer and the date, but it could mean anything. Where did you hear that?”

            “I have a source inside one of Strazh’s clubs.”

            He let out a string of curse words that had her pulling the phone away from her ear. “Yevgeny—”

            “This is madness, Elena. Please tell me you’re lying.”

            “I need to know what happened to him. Don’t you want to know?”

            He swore under his breath. “Does Vlad know what you’re working on?”

            Cold seeped down her spine. “Not yet.”

            Seconds ticked by when all she could hear were the sounds of the newsroom in the background and his angry breathing into the phone. “Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

            “Thank you—”

            “But if I can’t find anything, you have to promise me that you’ll drop this and move on with your life.”

            “I promise,” she breathed.

            Yevgeny hung up without saying goodbye. Elena tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and rested her forehead against the steering wheel. She waited for the panic to set in. She’d just turned down the job she’d always wanted. A job that would have given her everything she thought she needed, everything she’d been working toward. A chance to honor her father’s legacy. Access to the information and people who could help her figure out what really happened to him. A chance to save women like Marta.