188|Paid In Blood

Since there was nothing Andrei could do about Clarke at this very moment, he decided to focus on the family business. "Where are we with Juan's missing men?" he asked, absently scanning the markets on the Business Insider app on his iPad. "Still no sign of them. They're bound to turn up soon, though," Igor replied. "I've got several crews working in shifts. They won't stop until we find the Mexicans." "Assuming they are still in Rock Castle," Andrei said, finally allowing himself to entertain a niggling thought that had been bothering him since their call with Juan. "They could be anywhere right now. They could be victims of a kidnapping scam. Maybe we should reach out to the Mozambicans—" "And say what?" Igor firmly shut him down. "Hand us the Mexicans, and we all go on our merry way? As if they would ever do that! Besides, we don't even know if they're involved." "They run the kidnapping trade," Andrei argued. "But so far, we don't have anything solid that points to a kidnappi

189|Constant Dread

Raymond had no sooner left than Bastian arrived. He rushed into the room, holding a serious-looking envelope in his hand, with three housekeepers hot on his trail. "Boss, there's an update on De Jager," he said, taking the seat the butler had just vacated. "Take a look at this," he added, handing over the envelope. Andrei peeked inside and waited until the housekeepers had cleared the table and neatened up the room before pulling out a handful of photographs. "What am I looking at?" he asked, scanning the CCTV images of his wife leaving her townhouse the day before. One of the images was the exact copy of the photograph Jaco had sent him. "De Jager didn't get close to Matushka," Bastian explained. "He paid the security guys at her place—" "I'm assuming the same way you did to get these photos?" Bastian nodded. "They couldn't let him through the complex without a valid reason, but he sweet-talked them into giving him the footage." "That bastard!" Andrei violently cursed, utter d

190|Ballet Is A Religion...And A Cult

“Milaya,” Andrei said softly a little over an hour later as he pulled up to the Sandown Mews boom gate, stopping at the security booth. “We’re here,” he continued, gently shaking her awake.“Goodness, did I fall asleep?” Holly asked, blinking at him.“You did,” he replied. She’d fallen asleep halfway into their trip, and as much as driving in silence was no fun—especially when he had so much on his mind—he hadn’t had the heart to wake her.“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked, rubbing her eyes before rummaging through her handbag.“You were tired,” Andrei replied as she handed him her access card. He tapped it on the reader, and a moment later, the gate yawned open.They sped up the quiet, tree-lined street, passing rows and rows of cookie-cutter townhouses. The last time Andrei was here, he’d been on a mission, so he’d barely had time to look around. But now he had plenty, and he found the whole set-up a tad disturbing. On the surface, everything in Sandown Mews looked almost utopi

191|Butterfly Flapping Its Wings

Holly listened to the gentle hum of the car as Andrei drove away, only allowing herself to collapse against the kitchen island when she could no longer hear the roaring sound of the engine. She glanced at the almost-full bin, at all the food she'd just thrown out, and immediately regretted her decision to move out of the townhouse today. There was so much to do, and she reckoned clearing out the kitchen alone would take at least an hour. She didn't even want to think about her bedroom upstairs, or all the clothes in the guest room she'd turned into a walk-in closet. "Best get on with it," she muttered under her breath as she peeled herself away from the counter. She looked through the bottom cupboards, pulling out boxes of unopened appliances—from the pop-up toaster from her parents, to an air-fryer from Liam when she first moved in, to a Keurig from Willow, whose client had been generous enough to give her not one, but two coffee machines. She'd found the gifts totally unnecessary

All Chapters of Reckless Hearts: Chapter 191 - Chapter 194

188|Paid In Blood

189|Constant Dread

190|Ballet Is A Religion...And A Cult

191|Butterfly Flapping Its Wings