“I don’t care about your iceberg, I care about my sister!”
Justin shook his head. “Unfortunately, in this case, one leads to the other.”
Grudgingly, Flynn unlocked his arms, reached out for Pink and pulled her into the protective circle of his arms. He didn’t give a damn that Justin and Maddox’s eyebrows shot to their hairlines. If it wasn’t obvious that she was dressed in his clothes and that they were a couple, then both men needed to go back to the academy.
Looking down into her trusting eyes, Flynn’s heart lurched. With his fingertips, he smoothed her bangs away from her face and said, “You know my position on going back to the club. That being said, Justin’s reasoning is solid. There isn’t much to know, Isa, except that there is a high probability she’s alive. Only by wringing Sorlov and Bushnik dry will we get the info we need.”
She nodded, and turning in his arms, she said, “What exactly can you tell me about tonight?”
“Pink,” Flynn said. “Why don’t I take your bag up to the bedroom so you can change. You’re too damn distracting dressed the way you are. I’ll fix you some breakfast and while you’re eating, we can discuss strategy.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt and shorts.”
Clearing his throat, Flynn said, “I don’t mind.” He looked over her head and scowled at Justin and Maddox. From their grins, they didn’t mind either.
“I can take my bag up,” Pink said. Before she did, she took her phone off his charger. Flynn had noticed her notification light flashing and heard the phone chirping regularly. It had taken an enormous amount of restraint not to look. Not that he didn’t trust her, but he had a strong suspicion it was Andre.
Eyebrows creased, Pink scrolled through her texts. “Crazy ass Russian,” she said shaking her head.
“What is it?” Flynn asked.
“Andre. Screaming and yelling at me, but also begging me to come to work tonight.”
Justin held out his hand. “May I?”
Pink shrugged and handed him the phone. His face broke out into a smile as he scrolled through the numerous texts. “Perfect.” He looked at Pink and said, “I’d like to hear the voice mails he said he left.”
Pink took the phone and tapped the voice mail icon, put her phone on speaker and hit Play. “Vilde Style in big trouble with Andre. Call back, now,” he shouted.
The second one: “You don’t call me back now, I come find you.” His voice had lowered considerably. To menacing.
The third message: “Okay, little girl, forget last night. Mr. Bushnik come back tonight and you dance for him. Private. Please, little girl. You dance. We live.”
His texts were more of the same.
Flynn swiped his hand through his hair and shook his head. He didn’t like it. Not one fucking bit.
“Talk amongst yourselves, gentlemen, while I get dressed,” Pink said, then twinkled out of the room.
Once she was gone, Flynn slammed his hand down on the counter. “She’s not dancing for that asshole.”
“Flynn,” Maddox said, “all we need her to do is give Sorlov the drive.”
Jamming his fingers through his hair again, Flynn gave them one way in and one way out. His way. “She calls the giant when she comes back down, demands a meeting with Sorlov at the club, prior to her clocking in. Once she hands over the drive, she makes her exit and does not return under any circumstance.”
Justin looked at Maddox who nodded, then back to Flynn. “We can live with that.”
“Good, because that’s all you’re going to get. That goes without saying that the place will be crammed inside and out with UCs.”
“Of course,” Maddox said. “I’ll be inside and close.”
Justin smiled like the cat that just swallowed the canary. “When she calls Andre, she tells him you roughed her up and that she’s afraid to come to work. He’ll promise extra security. She agrees. Face-to-face with Sorlov, she tells him that in exchange for the video, he has to tell her what happened to her sister. Of course he’ll agree. She hands over the drive; he watches it with her there to be sure he has something. Thinking he has a gold mine, he’ll feed Miss Fuentes a line of bullshit. She’ll act appeased, then offer to make another video of one of your friends for some serious cash. If we can get him to agree, we’ll have him on intent alone, but it’ll be weak. Regardless, she makes her exit. Then we wait for him to make the call to you, Flynn. And pray he makes you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“We wire her up to keep tabs on her in case something goes awry,” Flynn insisted.
“Done,” Justin said.
“What if none of it goes according to plan?” Flynn asked.
“We’ll punt.”
“Not with her as the football you won’t.”
“He’s not going to hurt her. If anything, he’ll arrange to hand her off like he most likely did the sister, but we’ll be one step ahead of him.”
“If he does, I want to go with it,” Pink said striding back into the kitchen. “I want to ride this out all of the way to the end.”
Clamping his jaw, Flynn rubbed his suddenly throbbing temples. He was doomed. Unless he physically restrained her, she was going through with this dangerous charade.
God help them all.
Chapter Thirty-seven
“Hello, Andre,” Izzy chirped.
“Oh, little girl, so happy you call!” Andre said, relief heavy in his voice.
“I wasn’t going to call you. I still haven’t decided if I’m coming back to work.”
“Please, you must!”
“I want a raise.”
“How much raise?”
“Twenty an hour and seventy percent of my tips.”
“Seventy percent! I cannot do.”
Izzy hit the end icon.
Maddox and Justin jumped out of their chairs. Flynn just smiled.
Her phone rang. “My percentage just went up five percent, Andre. Tell me no again and it goes up another five.”
“You are bitch.”
“And you hurt me, Andre! How could you do that?”
He sighed. “Under much pressure. I apologize. I won’t hurt again.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, little girl, I promise. Now, you come to work tonight. Important mens coming.”
“Do you agree to my pay increases?”
“Yes.”
“Is Boris coming in tonight?”
“Why you want to know?” he asked suspiciously.
“My phone was turned in at my gym. I downloaded the video onto a flash drive. I want to personally put it into Boris’s hand.”
“Give me drive and I give to him.”
“My hand to his. Not negotiable, Andre.”
“It no work that way.”
She hung up again.
Flynn grinned. He wanted to hug her. She was playing it so cool. And so damn hard.
Her phone rang again.
“Andre, stop calling me.” She hung up.
“Isadora, please” Maddox pleaded. “You’re killing me.”
The phone rang again.
She answered and before she could say a word, Andre said, “Okay, yes, Boris coming!”
“Aww, thank you. You know, for a grumpy giant you have your moments. I want to meet Boris at eight. At the club is fine. I’m not due to hit the floor until nine.”
“Where is boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. Even though he acts like it. Do you know what he did to me last night? He put his hands on me when I told him to disappear. I have a few bruises, but I can hide them with makeup. I want your promise that if he shows up tonight, you’ll handle him.”