by Dave Daren
“Of course,” I said. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Famished,” she said with a wink as she led me to a back table.
It was across from Hank, and the bodyguard smirked as he watched the gorgeous woman sway her hips.
We ordered our food, and I picked something that looked slightly familiar, while Arielle prattled off a list of changes that she wanted to make to her own dish. She grinned at me when I lifted an eyebrow at her, and then she leaned across the table as the waitress left.
“No one wants to check on the fussy table,” she told me. “They’ll just drop our drinks off and leave us to our conversation.’
“Smart,” I said. “So, tell me about these other investigations.”
The beautiful woman straightened and put her napkin in her lap before she pushed her hair back over her shoulders.
“They’ve all come up to dead-ends,” she said. “We’ve tried to subpoena their records, too, but we’ve never had any information on their US operations. They’re very careful about what they do here so that we don’t have any legitimate reasons to search their files.”
“They’ve done a pretty decent job of that in New York, too,” I said.
I didn’t want to give her too much information about what I’d already found out, but I could agree with her on some things, and if necessary there were a few things that I didn’t mind sharing.
“Then how have you been able to start a RICO case?” the lawyer asked.
“They attacked one of my clients,” I said.
She opened her mouth to ask me more about it, but the waitress came back with our drinks and then our food. Just as Arielle had promised, the server wanted nothing to do with us, especially when my companion frowned and began to pick at her food with her fork. She was an amazing actress, and I watched her carefully to make sure that she wasn’t pretending when she talked to me.
“They attacked someone?” Arielle asked the moment we were alone again.
“Yes,” I said. “But they didn’t do a very good job of it, and my client managed to escape. The men led us right back to the Gryffon company.”
“Were you able to look at their files?” the beautiful woman asked as she leaned across the table in excitement.
“Yes,” I said. “But Vlado Galic made it clear that anything that we needed to find would be here.”
She didn’t need to know that he’d only said they weren’t stateside, and I had no intention of giving her any information about any of my clients. All she needed to know was that the files we needed were on the server in Andorra.
“Another dead-end,” the attorney muttered. “But you at least found another option. My people have begun to give up. Most agencies won’t have anything to do with the Gryffon Company. Though I suspect that has more to do with payoffs and disappearances than because we can’t find anything.”
“Payoffs?” I asked before I took a sip of my water. “You think your people are in on the take?”
“The take?” the Andorran woman asked as she tilted her head. “Some of them have taken the bribes, yes. But, I cannot tell you which ones. That is why I need your help. I have no one else to trust.”
“You can trust me to take down Gryffon,” I promised.
The gorgeous woman broke into a bright smile as she looked at me. She nodded her head in approval, glanced around the room, and then gestured to our food.
“We should at least make it look like we’re eating,” she said. “They have spies everywhere.”
“Right,” I said.
I took a bite of my unpronounceable dinner. I wasn’t impressed with it, but it wasn’t terrible. I couldn’t tell if it was lukewarm because we’d been talking for so long, or if it was just that way naturally. I decided not to ask and just went to work forcing it down. I needed to keep up my strength if I was going to pull this off, and that meant that I needed to eat more than the candy that Gabriele had bought at the corner store.
Hank caught my eye from across the room and lifted an eyebrow as if to question how things were going.
I gave an almost imperceptible nod before I looked back at my dinner date.
“So,” I started. “What other information have you been able to find out about the Gryffon Company?”
The brunette lawyer glanced around the restaurant like she was making sure that no one was near enough to hear her, and then drank some of her Coke. She waited a few seconds as the waitress came and took our plates, left a dessert menu, and then refilled both of our glasses.
“I know what family they’re connected to in Serbia,” Arielle whispered as she leaned across the table.
I nodded as if the information that she gave me wasn’t entirely new.
“Are you sure that it’s not more than one?” I asked.
“Definitely,” the lawyer said. “There are plenty of Serbian families that work for the company, of course, but it all traces back to one in particular. And that family runs the organized crime syndicate.”
“Of course,” I said.
It wasn’t a surprise to know that the family that she’d connected them to was a mob family since I’d already known that, but I was a little shocked that she’d managed to whittle it down to just one. I had looked through all of the names of the Serbian bodyguards that had worked for the Italian families in New York, but most of the names were common, and I hadn’t been able to figure out if they were all related or just happened to have the same last name.
“You knew?” Arielle said. “How?”
She leaned back in her chair and studied me for a moment, and I could tell that she was thinking about the expensive suit that I’d worn earlier in the day, too.
“I had some guesses,” I told her.
“I didn’t ask, but who do you work for?” the beautiful woman asked. “I assume it is for the government. Now I am not so sure.”
“I have private clients,” I said with a shrug. “And the Gryffon Company has targeted them. As their lawyer, I’m doing everything in my power to keep them safe.”
And if I was able to take out some corrupt politicians along the way, that would be the icing on the cake.
“What do your clients do?” the sharp woman asked.
“Does it matter?” I countered. “I want to take down the Gryffon Company. And I have a subpoena that will get both of us the information that we need to do that.”
She crossed her arms and tilted her head as she made her decision, and I took a drink of my water so that I didn’t seem as nervous as I was about her answer.
“It does not matter,” she answered with a shrug as her smile came back onto her full lips. “I will take your help.”
“So what’s the name of this family?” I asked as I tried to get us back on topic.
“Petrovic,” she said.
The name was familiar. Most of the Serbian bodyguards had that name, though a quick Google search told me that it was one of the most popular surnames in Serbia, so I hadn’t been able to tie them to a specific family tree.
“That’s a fairly common name,” I said.
“It is,” Arielle agreed. “That’s why so many people haven’t noticed. They have hidden their family line in a sea of other Serbians. But I can trace the Gryffon Company back to one in particular. And it all starts with Rodavan Petrovic, born in 1906 in Serbia.”
“And you’re sure?” I asked.
“Positive,” the beautiful woman said.
She was distracted as the waitress came back to check on us and ask if we wanted a dessert. The two women talked back and forth about the different options, and I used the opportunity to slip my phone out of my pocket.
I sent Anthony a quick text to let him know about the Petrovics, and Rodavan in particular, and the connection to the Serbians that had integrated themselves into the Italian families. I shoved my phone back in my pocket before Arielle could notice, and then smiled as she decided on something that was supposed to be life-changing.
Hank continued to keep wat
ch in the opposite corner, but the waitress seemed to have taken an interest in him despite his surly face, and I almost laughed as he tried to blow her off unsuccessfully. I had to give it to the woman, she was persistent, though my bodyguard was fairly single-minded when it came to my protection.
“So… Hunter,” Arielle said after our chocolatey dessert was delivered. “Do you have a girlfriend back in the US?”
I grinned as the beautiful woman leaned seductively against the table.
“I don’t,” I said.
“That’s surprising,” she purred. “I’d imagine women would be falling all over themselves to be in your bed.”
I grinned as I met her light-blue eyes and saw a familiar hunger that I knew exactly how to satisfy.
“What about you?” I asked. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not for a long time.”
She dragged her fork over the icing on our shared slice of chocolate cake and then licked it off lazily.
“That’s a shame,” I said. “You’re a beautiful woman. I can’t imagine that any man would turn you down.”
I certainly wouldn’t, especially as she ran her tongue over her plush lips.
“What can I say?” she said as she shrugged her one bare shoulder. “I’m selective.”
“That is important,” I responded with a nod of my head.
The gorgeous lawyer knew exactly what she was doing as she reached her hand across the table to run a finger down my forearm.
“It is,” she agreed. “Maybe you’d like to talk about it more over a nightcap? My condo isn’t far.”
I played my part and smiled at the woman across from me, and I hoped Galic’s contacts were enjoying the show. Because in a few days’ time, their boss wouldn’t be around anymore.
Chapter 11
“I could go for a nightcap,” I said with a grin.
“Perfect,” she said.
Arielle looked around to find the waitress and saw her in the back corner flirting with Hank. The government attorney rolled her eyes and then turned back to me.
“It looks like she may be a while,” she said.
Hank saw that I was looking their way, said something to the waitress, and then handed the woman some money before she sighed and made her way back toward us. The bodyguard took his leave before Arielle noticed him, but I knew that my human shadow wouldn’t go too far away.
“I hope you enjoyed everything,” the waitress said.
She gave Arielle a withering look as if she dared her to say something negative, but my date just smiled.
I pulled out my wallet and paid for our dinner, stood, and then offered my arm to the beautiful brunette.
“I hope you like red wine,” the attorney said as she led me out of the side door and onto the street. “I don’t have much else in my liquor cabinet right now.”
“That happens to be one of my favorite things to drink as a nightcap,” I said.
I hadn’t had much experience with wine before I started working for Anthony, but his mother, Gulia, had taken my education personally, and since then I’d had every wine that her family produced.
The night air was colder than it was in New York City since we were so high in the Pyrenees, and my breath fogged every time I breathed out. There were plenty of people still out on the street, and I wondered if the city had an underground nightlife hidden beneath the tourist attractions.
I looked around for my bodyguard as casually as I could, and I found him on the corner with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his cell phone like he wasn’t paying attention to me at all. I still didn’t understand how he could blend into the background so well when he wanted to yet still seem menacing enough that the other people on the sidewalk dodged around him.
“I’m glad,” Arielle said. “My condo is only a block away. It has an amazing view of the mountains at sunrise.”
She tugged me in the opposite direction of my protection, and my hotel, but I wasn’t worried about her intentions. She licked her lips and winked at me as she strolled down the street. Her shirt slipped down her bare shoulder, and my height gave me the perfect vantage point to see her black lace bra.
The building that she stopped in front of was four stories high with arched windows. Each apartment had its own balcony that the residents could access through an arched glass doorway. The entryway was a turquoise-painted wooden door that had been decorated with carved swirls and finished with a brass door handle. The beige bricks had chipped in some places, and plaster had been applied to cover the damage.
The sexy woman led me up two flights of stairs, and her hips swayed enticingly with each step. She pulled her keys out of her purse while I waited, and then tugged me inside of her apartment. She pushed me up against the door as soon as it was shut, and all thoughts of a nightcap were forgotten as she led me into her bedroom.
We spent the next few hours enjoying each other’s company. We did take a break for our nightcap, but then found ourselves back between her sheets. When we had finally worn ourselves out, she laid in my arms while I ran my fingers through her hair, and she stared out of the window toward the mountains in the distance.
“I’m glad that you are here,” Arielle said right before I started to drift off. “I was about to give up hope that I’d ever be able to take Gryffon down.”
“I’m happy to oblige,” I said.
“There’s just so much red tape,” she huffed. “They’ve paid off all of the people that can help me to get a subpoena. And everyone has been scared off. A few people have gotten close, but they’ve disappeared.”
“I have my own subpoena,” I said. “All we have to do is find someone that will help us serve it. Hopefully before they get wind of me being in the country. I don’t want to give them time to shift around their records.”
Arielle sighed as she climbed out of bed. She walked over to a brass hook on the wall and pulled down a blue silk robe with red and pink roses. She pulled her long hair over her shoulder and began to braid it as she strolled over to the window.
“No one will help you,” she said. “It’s just us. Even if you have a subpoena, they won’t honor it.”
I sat up and scooted back against the headboard. I had hoped that the government attorney would be able to help me. I still wanted to do things the legal way, but it was starting to seem like that wasn’t going to be possible.
“So what are we supposed to do?” I asked. “I need to get their records.”
The beautiful woman ran her hands up and down her arms like she was cold, and I thought I saw her shiver as she stared at the mountains. She turned back from the window a moment later to look at me and offered me a smile that made my heart skip a beat despite my growing frustration. She padded across the worn hardwood floor and knelt on the bed next to me.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she leaned over to give me a quick kiss. “I don’t have any idea what to do next.”
I ran a hand over my face as I processed what she’d just said. I didn’t have any other normal lawyer solutions if Arielle couldn’t help me. I had been dismissed by the magistrate, and if she was right, and no one else could be persuaded, then I was going to have to go to plan B. And I couldn’t bring her into that, especially because there was no guarantee that it would work or that we wouldn’t be caught by the gun-wielding sociopaths.
“I was really hoping that you could help,” I said with a shrug before I forced a smile. “But dinner was fantastic.”
“I know,” she said with a light blush on her cheeks as she met my gaze. “I admit I mostly wanted to have dinner with you… and to enjoy your company.”
“It was wonderful,” I told her before I pulled her in for another kiss. “But I think I need to leave. I need to figure out what I’m going to do.”
I had learned more information about the Serbians, but I needed to go back to the hotel and let Gabriele know that he should get started on his backup plan.
I
tossed the thin comforter off and stood as I looked around for my boxers. I hadn’t paid much attention to where I’d tossed them in my haste to get them off, and the only light in the bedroom was from the streetlights below and the stars above.
“Are you going to call your boss?” Arielle asked as she slid off of the bed.
The movement pulled open her silk robe to show off her shapely thighs. She strolled over to the dresser and pulled my shirt off of the top of it.
“Maybe,” I hedged.
Her pale m-blue eyes looked me up and down as she smirked at me. She licked her lips as I tugged the t-shirt over my head, and her attention darted over to the bed in a tempting invitation.
“I have a confession,” she said as her smile slipped.
I gritted my teeth as I took a step back and searched for my shoes. I didn’t think that she worked for Gryffon, her hatred for them seemed too genuine, but she’d already misled me once about the subpoena. I grabbed my phone and pulled up Hank’s number, just in case, and then looked at the beautiful woman.
She was effortlessly sexy in the short robe that brushed the tops of her thighs and revealed the sides of her ample breasts. She had her braid pulled over her shoulder, and the thick strands draped temptingly over her right nipple.
“What is it?” I asked as my thumb hovered over the dial button on my cell phone.
“I looked you up before our dinner,” she said.
She reached up to tug on the end of her braid while she took a few tentative steps closer.
“Okay,” I said. “And what did you find?”
“I know who you work for,” the government attorney said. “Anthony Febbo, heir apparent to the Febbo Family. I did some research and found that they were part of the Italian mob.”
I frowned down at the woman and looked around the apartment as if there were cops hiding in the shadows. I didn’t find anyone, and she walked away to sit on the bed as she gave me some space. I watched as guilt and determination warred on her face.
“Anthony is one of my clients,” I confirmed.
It was part of public record, and the attorney would be familiar enough with her own court systems that she’d be able to figure ours out.