Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“The cashier’s office.”
“Yes. I started focusing on people who handled the money coming in and out. I found some irregularities, and most of them—all of the big ones—could be traced to one employee, so I looked deeper into him.”
“All of this is there for anyone to see?” Rafe pointed at the screen.
“Not anyone. Someone with skills.”
“But you’re not some cybercop.”
“No, but I’ve picked up plenty of techniques over the years.”
Rafe huffed. “Tell me more.”
“He worked his way into places in the system he shouldn’t be. He’s been shifting funds around, putting them into a private account he created in your name.”
“What the fuck?”
“He’s setting you up, making it look like you’re embezzling from the casino. I think that’s how they were going to try to bring you down or—”
“Bribe me. Get me to work for them, launder their money, get them contacts in the New Orleans crime world again. Fuck. Ivanov really thought I would do it. He thought I would fall for that shit, and my brothers would assume I’d betrayed them.”
I frowned. “Would they?”
Rafe shook his head. “No. They might think I was stupid, but they know I would never steal from the family. They probably wouldn’t think I could do the math to set the shit up, but if Remington did think that…” The horror on his face made my chest tighten. “Where is the bastard?”
Rafe extracted a gun from his desk drawer and started toward the door.
I grabbed his arm, yanking him back. “Listen. We can’t—”
“Tell me where he is.”
“We need to move carefully.”
“I don’t care about any of your fucking government rules. I need to move fast.”
“No.” I hauled him back against me. “He’s working the night shift now. We don’t want to tip off anyone else that we’re onto him, so no storming into his office. After he gets off work, we’ll go after him at home, where we’ll have a quiet place to interrogate him.”
Rafe pulled free of my hold and turned to face me. “What if he already knows?”
“He doesn’t. He won’t have any idea about my investigation. I know how to cover my tracks.”
Rafe blew out a long breath. “Are you absolutely sure he’s the one?”
Now he was questioning me? “I’m as sure as I can be. If Ivanov didn’t send him, then we need to know why he’s diverting money to a secret account.”
“I can’t fuck this up.”
Would someone in his family actually hurt him over this? I would kill them if they did. “I can’t fuck up either.”
“You’ll just get another assignment. You’ll—”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
He frowned. “What does that mean?”
“I’ve ignored a lot of those government rules you think I want to follow. I hate rules, and I rarely follow orders. I’m a problem, and I’m on my last strike. I shouldn’t even have this assignment, but my boss fought for me to keep it. If I don’t bring Ivanov down, I’m out.”
“Would it be so bad to be free to make other choices?”
I looked up at him, and our eyes met. The tension between us was so strong I could feel it. Would it be that bad? No, but could I say that to Rafe? Would it imply I wanted something more, that I wanted to quit so being with a mobster wouldn’t get me fired? “Maybe not, but I want to quit on my own terms, when I’m ready.”
“And when will that be?”
I wasn’t going to make any promises. Even if—and it was a big if—Rafe wanted to keep seeing me after we eliminated Ivanov, it wasn’t like we could really be together. I’d still be a former agent, and he would still be who he was. The playboy face of the Theriots’ semi-legal empire.
What were the chances he’d want me on normal terms anyway. He might think he did now while the sex was new and hot, but he wasn’t going to want only me when he had the entire New Orleans club world of men and women at his beck and call, and I didn’t share.
“I’ll leave when I get tired of the work. That hasn’t happened yet.” I lied all the fucking time; why did it make me queasy to lie to Rafe?
His expression hardened. I’d hurt him. I wanted to take the words back. I wanted to remind him how much he wanted me to fuck him over his desk. He deserved a reward, but I didn’t say anything.
Rafe checked his gun. “I can get LeBlanc now and be discreet.”
No way in hell was I going to let him go off angry like this. “No. Before we kill him, we need a plan for how to proceed after he’s dead. Once he’s gone, the dominos start to fall. He’s communicating with someone, even if he doesn’t talk to Ivanov directly. Once it becomes obvious that he’s gone, the news will head right up the chain.”