All those years I believed I was better off not giving my heart to another man because every man who was important to me had left me, never bothering to contact me again.
And now I know why.
They’d never been given a chance.
I pull away from Landon. “Why?” I croak to no one in particular. “Why were they murdered?”
“We have no motive at this point,” Agent Foden says, “but based on the autopsy, it’s highly probable the same individual was responsible for each of their deaths, even though they took place over two decades.”
Whiskey sees my wet face and whimpers. He then tries to scramble onto the couch. I don’t have the energy to pick him up. Ava does that for me.
The little bundle of fuzz licks my hand and climbs onto my lap. I absently stroke his fur, letting the action semi-ground me.
“Chloe,” Landon says, his arm still holding me. “Agents Foden and Ramsey need to ask you some questions. They’re hoping it might answer why the men were killed and who was responsible.”
I nod. The same questions are burning in my head…along with a new one.
Is Nikolai involved with the FBI? Is that why the two agents are with Liam, Adam, and Landon, as though that’s a regular occurrence?
Okay, that’s two questions.
Instead of waiting for theirs, I voice one of my own.
“Where’s Nikolai?”
Landon stiffens next to me, but it happens so quickly, I’m not sure if I imagined it.
“We don’t know,” Agent Foden says. “That’s one of the things we’re hoping you can help us with.”
“I haven’t seen or heard from him in years, after I left my family because of their…”They already know, Chloe. They already know your grandfather was the head of the mafia crime family. “Because of their criminal activities. I wanted none of that.”
“And he hasn’t tried to contact you since?”
“He used to send me birthday and Christmas cards, but that was about it. I didn’t even know if he was still with the family or if he had stepped away from it. He wanted to be a cop when he was a kid. I thought maybe there was a chance he’d done exactly that but decided not to contact me because things were too complicated.”
It was my favorite story I told myself whenever I’d missed Nikolai.
“I can guarantee he’s not with any police forces,” Agent Ramsey says. “Your grandfather was shaping him to be the new mafia boss. And that’s exactly what we believe he’s doing. He took over your grandfather’s role after Vadik Orlov was arrested. But he went underground.”
“We’re hoping you know something that will help us locate him,” Agent Foden says. “Or if he tries to contact you, we can attempt to flush him out.”
We’re hoping you know something that will help us locate him…
His words echo in my head like the bells of Notre Dame. They repeat themselves again and again and again until they fade away.
I look at Liam and Adam and Landon in turn and feel a frown forming on my brow. “But you’ve spoken with him recently.”
I catch the slight wince on Landon’s face.
The FBI has no idea Landon and his colleagues are helping Nikolai, that they’re the ones in contact with my cousin, not me.
They never wanted the FBI involved, but that’s precisely what happened.
Does this mean they could go to jail?
It’s Landon who answers my unspoken questions. “We haven’t spoken to him. We were hired to track him down through you.”
“Hired? Who hired you?”
