Dark Mafia Kings by Penelope Wylde
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sevastyan turned to their unexpected guest.
Like a storm of energetic chaos, a thin woman pushed into his office.
Long chocolate hair hung past her shoulders and swayed with each step. Green eyes stood out from her oval face, but it was her full lips pressed into a thin line that caught his attention. Tonight just took a turn for the worse.
“Detective Vicente. Welcome to Haven. I had no idea cops held such late hours. You make house calls at three in the morning?”
“When necessary. I can’t seem to catch you otherwise.”
Sevastyan rounded his desk, hand out. “My partners.” He held a hand out toward Lucian and Matteo, who had taken a seat on the couch.
She nodded. “Gentlemen.”
“Your reputation has a way of making the rounds, Detective. It’s nice to meet the woman behind the drug bust that made the papers last month.” He rolled his shoulders and canted his head in a sign of respect.
Having one of Chicago’s finest detectives in his office brought about a rational irritation but he kept it buttoned down tight. He didn’t have time for niceties or social calls, but he knew what brought her to his doorstep.
“Your reputation has gotten around too. Bad men doing bad things and people like to talk.”
He held her gaze, unflinching. “What bad things brought you to Haven?” He gestured for her to take a seat. When she refused he remained standing.
“You know about the missing persons case that involves two of your clients, yes?”
“Not easy to forget. My clients’ protection while within these walls is taken seriously as I’ve explained to the detective assigned to the case when it happened.”
Among other things, this woman gave as much away in her expression as a slab of cold cement. All but a tiny tic in her jaw that told him she was working something out and since her attention landed on him, he was the center of her focus.
“I’m the leaddetective on this case now. The missing persons case has been reassigned to me, and I thought I would drop by and introduce myself. I’ve read over the reports and statements given by your staff and yourselves.” In her hands was a leather-bound file from which she produced a picture as she spoke. Then she flipped it around to face him.
Son of a bitch.
It seemed everyone wanted a piece of Rhia.
“Which brings me to this girl. Have you seen her?” She turned and faced Lucian and Matteo, showing them the blurred black and white picture, which looked like it was taken off a security camera. But there was no mistaking the beautiful curls and regal neckline of the little hellcat. Whatever she was up to caught the eye of the authorities.
She nodded. “Of course you know her.”
He leaned into the picture for an unnecessary closer look.
“Rhia Crowne has been seen coming into this establishment. You know her as—”
“Seraphina Carmichael. You’re right. We know her,” Sevastyan stated coolly, cutting her off. No use in hiding that fact. “She came in looking for a job as a hostess a few weeks ago and is now my assistant. We recently discovered her dual identity.”
“That’s one hell of a climb up the ladder, Mr. Volkov. Does she know you know? Mind telling me how she got this job so quickly and without you knowing of her deception sooner?” Sincere puzzlement crossed her face and pinched another perfect brow line into a peak.
Older than Rhia by a year, two at the most, Sevastyan could appreciate the fact the woman climbed the ranks within her division to make detective at an early age. Not an easy feat, he knew. Dressed in black jeans and a white t-shirt with a pullover jacket that allowed easy access to her weapon, Sevastyan held a certain respect for her. He saw the same tenacity in her as he did Rhia.
“That’s an easy answer,” Lucian cut in. He pushed up from the couch and came to stand beside the detective, laptop keyed up. “Here’s her resumé. When we hired Ms. Crowne, it was for trial purposes, to see how well she fit into this line of work. As you can see, all her paperwork is in order and with the years of college she had more experience and worth to Haven in an office working as an executive assistant than serving drinks to clientele. We didn’t see the need to dig too deep. No national security clearance needed to serve drinks or shuffle paperwork.”
Sevastyan watched Lucian work a bit of his charm on her with a pull of his lips into an easy grin. It worked. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction, and she didn’t look like she wanted to see them ten feet under the local jail.
Her expression turned less than stone cold and he dared say slightly less formidable.
From behind her on the coach Matteo rolled his eyes slightly in a sign of frustration and impatience. He wanted to get out of here and head to Rhia’s. He knew the man too well to think he would stay away from their little hellcat.
The detective took a seat on the edge of a nearby chair. Lucian joined her in the opposite and Sevastyan took his. Matteo opted for the window.
Sevastyan handed back the snapshot of Rhia. “If you already knew all of this, then why are you here?”
“I had to look you in the eye, Mr. Volkov, and see your answer for myself. As you know this is not the first time my precinct has visited your establishment. We are very familiar with your family.”
“You mean my brother.” He appreciated directness and didn’t stumble over the facts as he saw them. He’d read the news articles that labeled Mikhail nothing better than a glorified pimp. One went as far as calling Mikhail and everyone in the Volkov family criminals of the worst kind and so on and so on.
The truth, but it went deeper than just a few labels. They also accused his brother of running everything from sex slaves to drugs and guns. Only two of those things were true and acceptable to him. The deeper he dug the sicker he became because all the clues pointed to the rumors holding some truth about the trafficking. How much truth he still needed to find out.
But to the outside world, Sevastyan now sat in that same seat as his brother and adopted those twisted labels as his own. Anger boiled to overflowing in the pit of his stomach, and he swallowed it like he did every day he drew air.
“Did you have any proof of anything back then? News articles and the press are not one hundred percent accurate nor can you build a case on hearsay.” He didn’t have to hand her answers and felt no obligation to do so.
He leaned back and leveled a challenging gaze on hers.
“There’s always a level of truth in everything if you dig, a basis for the rumors. But I didn’t come for a verbal sparring match. I get that enough with my captain, I assure you.”
He called bullshit. Lies spread like fungus and infected everything and everyone they touched and often masked themselves as the truth. Hadn’t he depended on that in order to build his cover here? His men relied on lies to mask their true purpose.
“Then why did you come? Any development in the missing persons case? I’ve asked Lucian to keep me abreast of any new developments or if your department needs anything else from us. I’ve offered full cooperation on Haven’s part.”
She turned to Lucian, eyeing him for a long moment, “Yes. Yes. I know. All pretty words.” She waved a hand in the air, dismissing him.
Sevastyan didn’t like the sound of that or what it implied. Nor did Matteo, whose expression turned dark.
“Why don’t you cut to the fucking chase, already and spit out what the fuck you have to say. It’s getting late and I’m sure you still have reports to file or something.” When he turned the dismissive tables on her, he physically saw her spine stiffen. The energy in the room sharpened and grated against his nerves.
The detective’s sly smile told him there was more. She pulled another picture out of her folder and tossed it on the desk between them. This one was blown up to the size of a magazine and crystal clear.
“What does Sevastyan’s deceased brother have to do with any of this?” Matteo snatched the picture off the desk and shoved it back into her hands.
His loyal friend didn’t have the same suave approach he preferred. Matteo was more to the point. Even if it meant pissing others off in the process.
“You should know, before his death, I was building another case on missing persons. There was one suspect on my list for her death for a long time. Your brother.” She nailed Sevastyan with a pointed look and did the same to Matteo.
“When he vanished and a week later turned up dead.My captain issued the missing persons case closed and filed. I did. Until someone started looking into my case again and sending up little red flags for me to follow back to you.”
She tapped Rhia’s picture, confirming Sevastyan’s thoughts.
“Ms. Crowne went looking into your case?” Lucian’s gaze cut to his.
“Like I told your department in the past, Haven is clean. Whatever my brother did in the past is just that, in the past. His past. Let the man rest. As for what Ms. Crowne does while not on Haven property is out of our control.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see about that. Every city has a dark underbelly and every murder holds a secret, gentlemen. I plan to find out with this one holds. I don’t care how long it takes.”
And he fucking believed her.
She paused and looked at each of them before continuing. “As far as theCrowne chick, when I ran a facial recognition to ID who was looking into my case, I was surprised by what I found and why the daughter of the Crowne shipping would be working here. I think you and I can both agree on a girl like her, the shipping princess daddy never seemed to let out of his sight, doesn’t look like she belongs here. Something is going on. I will find out what.”
“We don’t ask people why they need a job. We determine if they can handle the task and move forward from there.”
“So you know nothing of her father’s murder?” She’d done away with playing coy and went straight for the jugular.
About damn time. This dance was getting damn tiresome.
“Not our concern.” Lucian rolled with the lie.
She tossed another photo on his desk.
“How many more photos do you fucking have? And why should I care who this hell this guy is?
“Dominic Dimitris. Known terrorist currently tracked to this very city. Don’t tell me you don’t know who your brother’s silent partner is?”
