Unbearable Passion - Total Abandonment: Billionaire Erotica Romance (Unbearable Passion series Book 4) (8 page)

Misty looks in the direction of a young guy who can’t be more than twenty-one. “Richard’s been digging deep. He’s found some incredible information and we got confirmation on all this about twenty-five minutes ago. We are definitely close.”

“Richard, you’re the man of the hour. Fill me in, my friend.”

“Well, Mr. Van Der Linden—”

“Richard, how long have you been working here?” Bryce interrupts.

“I’ve only been here three months, sir.”

“Then you should know by now that it’s Bryce and not Mr. Van Der Linden.”

The entire room laughs at Bryce’s mockery.

“Of course. I’m sorry. Well, Bryce and Ms. Herrera”—Richard pauses to make sure he hasn’t made a mistake by calling me Ms. Herrera before continuing—“I’ve been tracking the money trail and it’s a long one that runs deep and it runs internationally.”

All of a sudden the twenty-one-year-old nerd transforms in front of our eyes into a confident speaker. Obviously, Richard loves what he does for a living.

“This guy has been operating under the name of Brad Keller, but his real name is Vladislav Ershova-Kamenev. He was born in the Chechen Republic and he’s thirty-nine years old. He definitely looks younger than his age. He’s been operating under numerous aliases, all American. Thanks to the help of the NYPD, we were able to find out a few important facts—Vladislav isn’t a killer, he’s not involved with prostitution, smuggling or drugs. His vice of choice is extortion and embezzlement.”

“I guess he can still make a lot of money via these crimes and still remain under the radar.” Bryce is fully invested in this story and I feel reassured that things might turn out okay, although this story has taken a scary twist.

“Exactly, Bryce.” Richard flashes Bryce a smile as he readjusts his glasses before continuing. “Extortion and embezzlement are perfect crimes because either the victim has something to hide or they are too embarrassed to report the crime. We would never have known of the connection between Brad Keller and Vladislav Ershova-Kamenev had our Russian bad guy not been blackmailing Rocco Belyakov, one of Russia’s highest-paid soccer players.”

“This story is connected to soccer now?”

“Wait, Bryce. It gets better. It seems like Belyakov had a penchant for the finer things in life—he’s a lover of elaborate parties, fast women, designer drugs and sports cars. He once famously split a four-hundred-thousand-dollar custom Maserati in half in an accident in Germany and lived to tell about it.”

“Impressive. It pisses me off when I hear about professional athletes who burn through money so foolishly. I guess money comes way easy for them.” Bryce is obviously annoyed by these stories of wasted money.

“Belyakov also had a thing for very young girls.”

“How young?”

“From my research, Belyakov has had sexual relationships with girls as young as thirteen. His supplier was one of Vladislav’s mobster friends who also happens to be living in Brighton Beach, aka Little Russia.”

“I can’t believe these scumbags.”

The entire room agrees with Bryce’s statement.

“Ershova-Kamenev knew of this and in fact had arranged with his mobster friend to photograph Belyakov in the act. When Ershova-Kamenev started putting pressure on Belyakov to get more and more money, Belyakov hired investigators who contacted the NYPD for help. That’s the first connection we have between Ershova-Kamenev and extortion. We contacted Rocco Belyakov’s contact in Russia and he was happy to talk on behalf of his client. He’s the one who tipped us off to the fact that the federal agents had been keeping a very close eye on our friendly Russian bad guy.”

“What do you mean federal agents? What do they have to do with a story like this, since it doesn’t involve a U.S. resident? I mean, Rocco Belyakov is Russian and still living there.”

“Yes, but there’s a lot more to Vladislav Ershova-Kamenev than meets the eye.”

“It’s sounding like it.”

“He also had an affair with Amaliya Chashnik, a Russian spy nabbed by U.S. authorities in 2010 who has since become a pinup in Russia. Since the U.S. authorities had been tracking Chashnik for several months, they had photos of her whereabouts on American soil. They were tracking her from dusk until the middle of the night. It was a twenty-four-hours-a-day job because she had highly sensitive information that could put the country at risk if she ever talked. On some of those photos we recognized a familiar face, but the kicker was the license plate on the guy’s vehicle. Since Brad Keller never conducted his personal life under his American name, he was careless. We matched the license plate to Vladislav and we were able to open up a Pandora’s box of nastiness.”

“Sofia, are you okay? I know it’s a lot to handle and I’m sure none of this is making you feel comfortable, but at least you now know who Brad Keller really was.”

“I’m shocked by what Richard has been sharing so far,” I say, dumbfounded.

“There’s unfortunately more, Ms. Herrera.”

“Keep going, Richard.”

“Thanks, Bryce. As I’ve said earlier, the money trail runs deep. This guy was raking in money each and every week from his victims. Brad Keller had a number of accounts in the Cayman Islands, Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland. All his accounts were quite full which suggests Ms. Herrera was not the only person he was swindled.”

“So what next?”

“Well, as I was saying to Misty earlier, we need to block his access to his funds in order to seize all those millions. We also need to find the origin of the transactions in order to track the people he embezzled or blackmailed.”

“All right. Great job, gang! That was some serious thinking on your part, Richard, to put all of this together. I’ll get the necessary papers to get Brad Keller, aka Vladislav Ershova-Kamenev, back in America and I need the rest of the team to focus on tracking anyone he’s stolen from who would be willing to talk to us. We need as much data as possible to find this creep.”

“We’ll get on it immediately and I’ll work with Richard and a few others to track more foreign accounts.”

Misty is already headed for the door with her team and they’re all eager to keep digging to find more incriminating evidence against Brad Keller. Bryce waits for everyone to leave the room before he approaches me and takes me in his arms. “Are you okay?”

“No, Bryce, I really am not. This story is bigger than me and bigger than any help Ciara could have provided. Brad Keller is a mobster. He could have killed me or he could have had me killed by one of his mobster friends.”

“I understand why you’d feel this way, but in general, these types of thieves don’t have the balls to kill. They are looking for fast money and easy victims.”

“Oh, I’m an easy victim now?”

“Sofia, you’re a good and kind person. For a shark like Keller, you
are
an easy victim. Don’t take it the wrong way. You have a generous heart and I love that about you.”

“I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to help me. This is a very scary situation for me and what’s scarier is the fact that I was in a partnership with the Russian mob.”

“We’re going to put this story behind us very soon.”

I love the way he says
us
. I feel so protected and safe with Bryce.

Bryce’s phone startles me. I’m afraid it’s going to be more bad news.

“Liam. Thanks for getting back to me. As you must imagine, I wouldn’t be calling if this wasn’t extremely important.”

Bryce looks tense and I can only imagine how difficult this conversation must be for him. It’s true that most of my boyfriends have fallen head over heels for Ciara, but although she could have had her pick, she always sent them packing. She’d never sleep with a man I was dating. I know I’ve always been insecure about Ciara and men, but she’s told me many times that we don’t share the same taste in men and she’d never waste her time sleeping with a guy who couldn’t keep up with her. I guess it’s her way of saying she’d never betray our sacred sisterly trust. The fact that Liam was willing to sleep with Bryce’s wife is beyond me. That’s betrayal at its deepest core.

“Sure. We can come over for five today. No, it’s not a problem and I do understand you have kids and can’t meet too late. Is it okay if I come by with Sofia? She’s the person who’s in the middle of this nasty story. I can explain everything to you when I get to your place, but I’ll get Misty, the project supervisor on this affair, to call you and email you a briefing document so you understand the urgency of the matter. All right, we’ll see you later today.”

He hangs up the phone, places it on the conference room table and sits on one of the chairs.

“I can’t believe I have to face my brother and ex-wife.”

“Once again, Bryce, I’m so sorry you have to do this on my behalf.”

“Don’t be sorry. You’re not the one who betrayed me.”

“Still, I can’t help but feel your pain. There’s a bond between siblings and Liam’s selfish actions destroyed your relationship forever. There’s a lot I can say about Ciara, but she’d never cross that line. I’m certain of it.”

“You’re right about Ciara.”

His answer surprises me. “What do you mean?”

“Do you remember when I met her for breakfast before I took her to the office so she could assess how she was going to help transform our work space?”

“It’s impossible for me to forget that morning.”

“The night before she showed up at the restaurant looking ravishing. I’m not going to lie. My eyes popped out of my sockets when I saw her.”

“Great. You find my sister ravishing.”

“Hear me out, Sofia,” he says, as he wraps his arms around my waist. “You’re equally ravishing as Ciara, but there’s something about the way she carries herself. She walks like she owns the place. I know tons of successful men who don’t have one ounce of your sister’s confidence. In any case, I expected that same enigmatic force the next morning for breakfast. She came in and she was still gorgeous, but she was all business. She didn’t make a move nor did she say anything suggestive. There was something about the way she carried herself during our meeting that clearly stated she knew I belonged to you.”

“You belong to me?” I repeat softly.

“Do you still have to ask? Is it not obvious how I feel about you?”

***

At five o’clock sharp, we arrive at Liam’s classic red-brick brownstone home. A beautiful black woman of medium complexion greets us. She’s impeccably dressed and I can’t stop admiring her jewelry.

“Bryce, come in.”

“Veronica. Thanks for inviting us to your home. I’d like to present Sofia.”

The tension is insupportable. Neither Bryce nor Veronica look at each other. They’ve decided to focus all their attention on me.

“Sofia, welcome to our home. If you’ll follow me, Liam is waiting for us in his office. He received the documents Misty sent over and I took a look at them. Sofia, you’ve been hanging out with some pretty shady characters.”

“Unwillingly. I had no idea this guy was so bad. I made a bad decision and it’s still haunting me today,” I reply, feeling sorry for myself.

“Listen, we all make mistakes that haunt us.” For the first time since we arrived, Veronica and Bryce lock eyes. The discomfort in that exchange is palpable. Bryce doesn’t say a word, he holds her gaze until she turns on her heels and starts climbing the stairs.

Veronica and Liam have a beautiful home and the walls adjacent to the stairs are covered with photos of their three beautiful kids. I’m amazed to see their daughter has the same wild and crazy hair as Ciara.

“Bryce. How are you keeping?”

Liam is waiting for us at the top of the staircase outside of his office. Liam doesn’t look like I imagined. He’s taller than Bryce by a few inches, he has brown eyes and he doesn’t have Bryce’s good looks.

“Sofia. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry about this ordeal you’re going through.”

“It’s a pleasure, Liam. I’m still shaken by all this.”

“Come inside my office. Let’s all sit and talk.”

Liam’s office is massive and the walls are covered with hundreds of books.

“I’ve spent the last hour with Misty and I’ve already made some calls. Your team is amazing. They’ve provided me with so much detailed information, it makes my job much easier. Russians are harder to track. They come to American and they find our system so easy to game—and they do.”

“But this bad guy is one of the smart ones, honey.”

Veronica is so elegant and so beautiful. It’s no surprise Bryce fell head over heels for her.

“You’re right, Veronica. I wasn’t one of the highest-paid attorneys in this city for no good reason. I only go for the kill or I don’t bother getting out of bed. I found a few holes. Our Russian friend was sloppy in many of his dealings and he left a nice trail for your team to follow. When they sent me their findings, I was able to get a few people who have ears in all sorts of mobster hangouts to help fill in the gaps.” 

“So what have you found, Liam?”

“This Russian thief did leave four days ago. He landed at Heathrow in London the next day before boarding another plane in direction of Berlin, Germany. He had barely touched ground in Berlin before he was off to Ankara in Turkey. He stayed there for exactly forty-eight hours before heading to another destination. From the information I got from your team, he didn’t book any hotels in Ankara, which leads me to believe he spent two days at the airport or he has a local contact there. I’ve got someone on it as I speak to confirm any contacts in Turkey. Ten minutes before you arrived, I got a confirmation that he just booked a hotel in Panaji in the state of Goa in India.”

“India? The scumbag selected the perfect place on this planet to get lost and fly under the radar—even if it’s in the country’s smallest state.”

“That’s exactly the conclusion I came to. I’m going to make calls to get extradition papers, but luckily America has a great relationship with India.”

“He’s smart. He’s making it hard for us to track him down. He’s been in five different countries spread over three continents in a matter of days. What makes you think Goa is his final destination?”

While Bryce and Liam are debating Keller’s whereabouts, Veronica peers at me through her perfectly elongated eyelashes. She is obviously sizing me up to find out what kind of woman has replaced her. I finally muster my courage and lift my eyes in her direction and hold her gaze. She stares right at me and finally curls up her lips in a faint smile. She doesn’t like me very much and the feeling is mutual.