Dark Obsession (Vampire Royals of New York #3) - Sarah Piper Page 0,54
asses, but fortunately, the majority of my father’s executives do not. When the CFO and I found the anomalies, he brought the others in, and we pored over the records until we finally found the connecting point.”
“Chernikov,” Aiden said.
Isabelle nodded. “It took some time to trace, but the shell companies and foreign accounts eventually led back to him. Apparently, he’s been investing cash for years, bribing a few unscrupulous employees to work on his pet projects on company time, leveraging company assets and intellectual property. Security is looking into it, but so far they’ve only identified one of the culprits.”
“But if the sale goes through,” Charlotte said, “will it even matter? Chernikov will own all the assets anyway.”
“That’s exactly right.” Isabelle’s eyes darkened. “And we really, really can’t let that happen.”
“Have you told your brothers about this?” Aiden asked.
“Not yet. The executives and I agreed it was best to hold off until we have more information about the situation. In their rush for a quick sale, my brothers will only confuse matters. And we absolutely don’t want them to burden my father with this.”
“What does a demon like Nikolai Chernikov want with your father’s company?” Dorian asked. “As far as I know, none of Chernikov’s business interests—legitimate or otherwise—have anything to do with illusion technology.”
“He isn’t interested in the business applications.” Isabelle retrieved a tablet from her attache case and pulled something up on the screen, then passed it over to Dorian.
They were schematics for what looked like some sort of virtual reality program, but overlaid with something Dorian instantly recognized.
“This is Manhattan,” he said. “The transit system maps, if I’m not mistaken.”
“I wish you were,” Isabelle said, “but that’s precisely what you’re looking at. And those blinking triangles? Cameras.”
He tapped on one positioned at the corner of Broadway and Forty-Fifth Street, right in the heart of Times Square. It brought up the camera’s live feed, giving him a view of the tourist throngs, their faces bathed in the harsh light of the animated billboards. He clicked through a few more cameras, getting a glimpse of a dozen street corners scattered throughout his city—the Upper West Side near the park, where he’d first met Charlotte. Canal Street in Chinatown, home to his favorite place for steamed dumplings. Battery Park City, with its views of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
And the people. So many people—every race, every age, every walk of life. He could almost hear the cacophony—the constant rush of traffic, the car horns, a man hawking his one-dollar umbrellas, a jackhammer, laughter and arguments, snippets of conversations in a dozen different languages. It was the music of New York City, a soundtrack as comforting and familiar to him as his own heartbeat.
“I’m not sure I’m following,” Dorian said, though a cold dread had settled into his stomach. “What does all this have to do with Chernikov?”
“Security brought in a vampire to compel the employee involved,” Isabelle continued. “She hasn’t yet revealed the names of the others, but she did give us some insight about the project. I followed up with a trustworthy dark witch I’m still in contact with, and together we were able to fill in the gaps.” She downed the rest of her drink, then glanced up at Dorian and shook her head, her eyes filling with a fear he’d never before seen in the witch.
In any witch.
The dread inside him turned to alarm. “Isabelle?”
“You should probably sit down for this,” she said.
Dorian did as she asked, taking the chair next to Charlotte, who reached over and squeezed his hand, her touch steadying him.
Isabelle drew in a deep breath, then said, “Chernikov and his allies—including his own demons, the Duchanes vampires, a ragtag assortment of other vampire and shifter defectors, and a large coven of witches who’ve delved so deeply into dark magick they’re practically demons themselves—are plotting to take total control of the city. At first, they were working to bring in more demons through the portals, but they haven’t been able to secure enough vessels to house them all. Same story with the grays—Renault’s witch hasn’t perfected the resurrection spells yet, and there simply aren’t enough existing grays to use in a wide-scale operation.”
“But we found evidence of Jacinda’s work at Estas’ place,” Charlotte said. “Along with two grays they’d been experimenting on. Estas works for Rogozin, not Chernikov.”
“It’s likely the witchcraft items you found were stolen,” Isabelle said. “Estas was probably trying to recreate her spells. With news of the grays spreading,