I’m not shocked when Dimitri shakes his head. Negotiations involving money are rarely recommended. “Tobias approached me a few days after the drop. He said there was a complication securing Audrey.”
That’s not good. Tobias only ever approached a target when things went wrong, but if that’s the case here, why is Dimitri still searching for Audrey? He knows she’s dead, doesn’t he?
My inner monologue fades out when a disturbing thought enters my head. “You’re not searching for Audrey. You’re trying to find your child.”
Dimitri’s eyes almost turn black when they lock with mine. He stares straight at me for several long, heart-breaking seconds before he lifts his chin. “Tobias was supposed to get her out. He assured me she was safe, and that it would be only a matter of time before she was returned to me. Then…”
With words failing him, I take up the slack. “Tobias was killed during the Castro raid?”
Does that mean what I think it does? Was one of the many children seen on the surveillance images at Rimi Castro’s compound Dimitri’s child? If so, that’s fucked. I struggle to keep a rational head when it comes to keeping adults safe, so I can’t imagine what Dimitri is going through.
“When was your daughter last seen?”
I stop hunting for my notepad and pen in the breast pocket of my jacket when Dimitri says, “I didn’t get you out of lockup to investigate my daughter’s disappearance. I did it so you can continue with your ruse to force Castro out of hiding.”
Although shocked by the extent of his knowledge, I won’t be blackmailed. “You can’t use the Bureau to get revenge on Castro.”
Dimitri smiles a killer grin. “I’m not getting revenge on Castro. I’m going to kill him as he did my wife.”
Wife? Fuck. That makes this ten times worse.
Although I understand his objective, I legally can’t help him with this.
When I say that to Dimitri, the evilness of his smile flares through his eyes. “You’ll do as I ask, or I’ll release this to the hounds.” He shows me a dot-point bulletin that looks like it was printed on an ancient printer. The wording is basic, but the prose of the message doesn’t weaken the threat associated with it. If this consignment is activated, there will be a seven-figure payout placed on Melody’s head.
Nothing but fury highlights my tone when I ask, “How do I know you haven’t already released this?”
“She’s still alive, isn’t she? Living it up in a fancy penthouse apartment in New York City with her billionaire boyfriend.” Partway through his reply, he plays a video on his cell phone that shows Melody exiting the building she was photographed leaving earlier today. “Even with a wrong set of photographs attached to her file, the real Melody wasn’t hard to find.”
Dimitri’s words shift to a chuckle when I grip the lapels of his suit jacket to drag him to within an inch of my face. “If you hurt her—”
“You’ll what? Kill me as I want to slay the man who murdered my wife. He cut our daughter out of her stomach, then left her to die! He treated her like fucking scum, so if I have to use your high school sweetheart as bait because your hero-complex wants to stop a war that started long before you joined the Bureau, I fucking will. I’ll do anything it takes to gut Castro as he did me.” After yanking himself out of my grip, he smooths out the crinkles my grab caused to his suit before raising his eyes to mine. “Do want needs to be done to get Castro out of hiding, then leave the rest up to me.” He leans across my body to pop open my door. “And start here as he’ll get your Honey Pot out of lockup even faster than your daddy’s fancy title will.”
Unease spins around me when my eyes drift in the direction Dimitri is facing. We’re outside the office complex the Ravenshoe division the Bureau works out of, but Dimitri’s focus isn’t directed at the single glass entrance door of HQ. He’s peering at Isaac’s nightclub, which is directly across the street from the men and women endeavoring to take him down.
As I slide out of Dimitri’s fortified ride, I consider my next step. I have a few options up my sleeve, but I take none of them when I pop my head back into the cab of Dimitri’s