Kat’s eyes flicked briefly to Luke and then returned to bore holes into Alexander. Luke watched the silent exchange between his boss and this hot-tempered beautiful young woman. Normally Alexander wanted female companionship with as little friction as possible. Easy and simple. He may say he wanted to talk to Miss Rossi about business, but Luke had the feeling there was an ulterior motive at work.
After a six second stare down, Kat gestured to the full glasses on the table. “Well, I see you already have drinks.” She turned to leave, but Alexander caught her hand, wrapping his fingers lightly around her slender wrist. Kat immediately stiffened, but he released her as quickly as he had touched her.
“Was there something else you needed?” Kat said, the ice in her tone nearly freezing the air around them.
“I had hoped you would join me for a drink.”
Kat scoffed. “I don’t have time, Mr. Petrovsky. I am working in case you didn’t notice.”
Alexander caught Ron’s eye across the room, and motioned him over with a slight incline of his head. “Mr. Branson. I would like Miss Rossi to join me for a drink. Will that be a problem?” His tone suggested there would be bigger problems for Ron if he had a problem with it.
Ron looked way too eager to pimp Kat out as he hurriedly said, “Oh no, of course not. Take as long as you like, Kat.”
Kat rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. Alexander motioned for Kat to take the seat across from him as Luke quietly stood and walked away. Kat watched him walk outside before glaring at the empty chair she was standing next to.
“Please sit, Miss Rossi. I assure you, I do not wish to make you uncomfortable. I would like to discuss a business proposition with you.”
If her glare was cold before, it was downright glacial now. “I am not a prostitute. No matter how much money you throw at me…”
Alexander held up his hands in surrender. “You have misunderstood me, Katya.”
Kat froze at the sound of her full name. Nobody called her that. Nobody. Not even her mother, who had given her the name, had called her Katya.
Slowly she turned back around. “How do you know my name?”
Again Alexander gestured to the chair. “Please, Katya. Sit.” When she hesitated, he lowered his voice. “I assure you, what I have to offer you is strictly of a business nature. I believe I can help you get what you want most.”
Kat narrowed her eyes, which looked more green than blue in this lighting. Her thick black lashes cast shadows on her high cheekbones. Reluctantly she pulled out the chair and perched on the edge, resting her forearms on the table and tilting her head inquisitively.
“How could you possibly know what I want most, Mr. Petrovsky?”
Alexander leaned forward as well and looked straight into her eyes.
“Because, Miss Rossi, I know the hunger for revenge when I see it.”
Kat sat back in her chair and drew a deep breath into her lungs. There were a million reasons why she should get up and walk away. Foremost among those reasons was that Alexander Petrovsky’s picture hung on her closet wall. It hung there because he was powerful enough to do the kinds of things that had been done to her and get away with. Because he was a possible threat.
Sitting across from him, though, Kat did not feel threatened. Intrigued? Definitely. But threatened? No. Her instincts told her to listen to what he had to say. And one thing she had learned over the last few years was to always, always trust her instincts.
“You’ve obviously done your research, Mr. Petrovsky.”
“Please call me Alexander.”
“Hmm. How about Alex? After all, you don’t call me by my preferred name.”
“It’s Alexander,” he stated firmly.
Kat smirked at him, something that no one else besides his sister dared to do. “Or I could go with Al?”
Alexander grimaced.
“So, Alex. What else do you know about me?”
He mirrored her position and relaxed back into his chair, bringing his glass to his mouth. His eyes remained on her as he took a drink of the cheap vodka.
“Now is not the time, and this is most certainly not the place to go into details.” Alexander removed a business card from his jacket and slid it across the table. Kat eyed it warily and made no move to take it. “Please come by my office tomorrow at 4:00 pm to discuss what I can offer you.”
On the surface it sounded like a request, but Kat got the feeling that Mr. Petrovsky did not make requests.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want in return?” Kat asked suspiciously.
“All in due time, Miss Rossi. As you said, you have a job to do. Don’t let me keep you from it any longer.” His posture was relaxed, but his dark eyes missed nothing. He watched as she glanced down at his card still laying on the table. Alexander was in a unique position. In his business dealings, he was never in doubt that the other party would acquiesce to his demands. But with her, he had no idea what she would decide. And now that he had spent a short time with her, he wanted nothing more than for her to agree to see him again. Not because he pressured her, but because she wanted to.
Finally, Kat picked up the card and rose. Alexander’s eyes followed the card as she tucked it inside her bra. He felt the familiar stirrings of arousal, but he reminded himself he had to keep it in check around her. She wasn’t going to go for anything other than a purely business deal. At least for now.
“I’ll think about it. But I’m not making any promises,” Kat stated.
Alexander tipped his head to her. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
With that, she walked away and went directly to the back room. As soon as she was gone, Luke returned to the table. From where he had discreetly watched the exchange, it didn’t appear his boss had gotten what he came for.
“Didn’t go well?” he asked.
Alexander tipped his glass back, swallowing the remainder of his drink. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he replied cryptically.
“Can we at least get out of this hell hole? I feel like I need a shower,” Luke said.
Alexander glanced back on his way out the door and took one more look at Kat as she came out of the back room and went behind the bar. He might need a shower as well, but for entirely different reasons.
Chapter Five
Luke scrolled through his e-mails on his phone on the ride back to The Onyx. Beside him in the backseat of the limo, Alexander sat gazing out the window deep in thought. Having worked side by side with him for many years, Luke knew Alexander’s moods almost as well as his own. The mood tonight was pensive and restless. If Luke didn’t know any better he would have said that Alexander was nervous about whether the cocktail waitress would accept his proposal.
The shrill sound of Alexander’s cell broke through the companionable silence. Putting the phone to his ear, Alexander said, “Natasha. How are you?”
Luke’s whole body went on high alert at the mention of her name. Just as it always did, at least the last few years since Natasha had come back into his life - all grown up.
While Alexander carried on a conversation with his sister, Luke let his mind run through the images he had of Natasha Petrovsky. When he had first met Alexander, she had been a child. A bright eyed, adorable child with dark hair always pulled back into pigtails. Because Alexander had raised her almost since birth, he assumed more of a fatherly role. Sending her to the best boarding schools, giving her anything she desired, Alexander had downright spoiled the girl.
“Yes, Natasha. I’m well aware of the American traditions of turning twenty one. That doesn’t mean I will allow you to participate in a drunken bar hop,” Alexander said.
Jesus. Was she twenty one already? Luke had gone years without seeing her while she was in boarding school. But he clearly remembered the day she had moved to Las Vegas to attend UNLV. Alexander had wanted her to go to an Ivy League school, for the main reason of keeping her away from his business dealings. As far as Natasha knew, her brother was the o
wner of The Onyx and that was all.
Natasha was incredibly stubborn, just like her brother, and she had insisted on moving to Las Vegas. The moment Luke saw an eighteen year old Natasha walk off the plane was ingrained in his mind forever. She was everything pure and fresh that he wasn’t. And she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And…she was only eighteen, almost ten years younger than him. Not to mention that Alexander would have cut off his balls himself if he knew the thoughts Luke had about his sister.
Over the last few years, Luke had gone out of his way to avoid being in the same room as Natasha. He didn’t trust himself not to let his feelings show - to her or to Alexander. Now that she was older, and it could be argued old enough for him, he still had no plans of making a move. Alexander was the closest thing he had to family, and he wasn’t going to fuck that up for anything.
Having been thrown into the foster system at an early age, Luke had reveled in the friendship he and Alexander had forged nearly seventeen years earlier. It was the only stable thing in his life. Luke would lay down his own life for Alexander, and not just because it was in his job description.
Clearing thoughts of her from his head, Luke focused on the heated conversation Alexander was having with his sister. No doubt she was pulling out all the stops, because Alexander was massaging his temple like he had the world’s worst migraine.
“Fine,” he barked into the phone. “You may plan a birthday celebration, but only at the clubs within The Onyx. And Luke will accompany you and your friends.”
Luke shrank back against the leather seat, farther into the darkness, so Alexander couldn’t see the stark terror in his eyes.
After a few more words were exchanged, Alexander put away his phone. “Natasha would like to go out for her birthday on Saturday evening. I have agreed only on the condition that you will accompany her. I will be attending the charity gala with Katya, so that should work out fine.”
Luke nodded his assent as he didn’t trust his voice to come out clearly. As he stared into the darkness broken up by the blinding lights of the strip, he almost laughed at the irony. He was over six feet of solid muscle with combat training learned on the streets, and he was scared shitless of a girl who barely topped 5 feet 3 inches and weighed a buck ten soaking wet. But her weapons weren’t like any others he had faced, and the worst part was she didn’t even know what she did to him.
When they arrived back at The Onyx, Alexander went to his office while Luke headed straight for the sports bar off the vast lobby. Nodding to the hostess, he took his usual seat at the end of the bar. Less than a minute later his usual drink of Jack Daniels appeared in front of him.
“How’s it going tonight, Luke?” the bartender, Maura, asked.
“It’s going,” Luke muttered before tossing back his drink and pushing the empty glass back across the bar.
“Ah, it’s that kind of night,” Maura laughed as she refilled his glass. “I get off in an hour if you need to blow off some steam.”
Luke closed his eyes as he nodded. Maura was everything that Natasha wasn’t. Tall, blonde, closer to thirty than twenty. And most important of all - available. So, why wasn’t he the least bit interested?
Across town in the Las Vegas FBI offices, Colin pushed away from his desk and stalked to the window that looked out over downtown. Tugging at his tie, he pulled it loose enough so it didn’t feel like he was being strangled. He hated being chained to his desk, but he had three reports he needed to finish up. Even though he was the lead investigator on the Petrovsky case, he couldn’t spend all his time trailing that mother fucker.
As it was he spent more time than he should on surveillance of Petrovsky. It wasn’t his only case, but it was the only one he cared about. All day Colin had been sitting in front of his fucking computer, dealing with overdue paperwork. And another team was watching Petrovsky’s every move. He just didn’t trust anyone else to do the job and do it right.
A sharp knock on his door brought his head around. His supervisor, Agent Waldron, stood in the doorway.
“What’s up, boss?” Colin asked.
“We’ve got a body out in the desert. I need you to head out there with me.”
Colin frowned. “A homicide? Why aren’t the LVPD handling it?”
Waldron shoved his glasses up farther on his nose. “It’s the second one in as many months. Same victimology. Same MO.”
Colin rubbed his hand over the back of his neck where the muscles were already tensing up. “You do remember I’m on organized crime, right? I don’t hunt serial killers.”
“Yeah, I know,” Waldron replied wearily. “But you’re the only schmuck here at this hour that can stomach this one. We just have to babysit the locals until the task force decides if this is worth sending out a team.”
Colin sighed as he rolled down his sleeves and picked up his jacket. “Fine.” He closed his laptop and tightened his tie back up as he followed Waldron to the elevators. The office was nearly deserted at this hour, but Colin had nowhere else to be. His thoughts drifted to Kat, who was probably at work. If he had someone to come home to maybe he wouldn’t spend fourteen hours a day on the job.
“You driving?” Colin asked.
Waldron scoffed. “Fuck no. I’ve earned the right to be driven around after thirty years in this job.”
Colin laughed. “Thirty years. Jesus, how have you made it that long?”
Waldron pulled up the address on his phone and directed Colin to a remote location far outside of the city. The drive out to the desert location took almost thirty minutes. Colin followed the GPS until he could see the flashing lights from a mile away. He had to park a fair distance away due to the sheer number of cop cars surrounding the crime scene.
Flashing their badges, Colin and Waldron made their way past the crime scene tape to where three uniforms and the medical examiner surrounded a body lying on the ground. Waldron stepped in close, his eyes sweeping over the body and the surrounding area. Colin hung back.
“What do we have?” Waldron asked the medical examiner, a middle aged woman with dark hair pulled back into a bun and glasses. She stood and pulled off the latex gloves on her hands. When she stepped back, Colin got his first look at the victim. And despite having seen it all before, he had to look away.
“Female in her late teens or early twenties. Based on the body temperature and extent of rigor, she’s been dead for at least twelve hours. There are ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and the cause of death appears to be strangulation. I won’t know if she has been sexually assaulted until I get her back for an autopsy.”
“She’s been raped,” Colin murmured, almost to himself.
The medical examiner looked over at him, and Waldron raised an eyebrow.
Colin’s gaze swept over the body. “I’ve seen this before.” He was looking at the young woman lying on the ground, but he was seeing Kat at sixteen years old. With the same type of clothing, the same dirty blonde hair, the same marks on her wrists and ankles.
“You all right, Lewis?” Waldron asked.
“Yeah,” Colin muttered. “Just brings up some bad memories.” He shook his head to clear it of the past so he could focus on the present. “Who found the body all the way out here?” he asked the closest LVPD officer.
“A couple of teenagers out for a joyride through the desert,” he replied, pointing to a pair of lanky teenage boys with eyes the size of saucers.
“Make sure you get their statements and info,” Waldron instructed the officer. He turned back to study the victim as the CSI unit began processing the crime scene and taking photos from every angle.
“She was obviously held somewhere for some length of time, and probably killed there too. Dumped out here where traffic is scarce,” Waldron commented, rubbing his chin. “The position of the body indicates remorse on the part of the killer.”
Colin cocked his head. “How do you know that?”
Waldron smiled ruefully. “Thirty years, remember?” Pointing to
the positioning of the body, he said, “See how she’s been carefully arranged with her arms at her sides and her hair fanned out around her shoulders. She wasn’t just dumped. She was placed here with care.”
The medical examiner came back over. “We’re ready to transport the body back to the morgue. Do you need anything else?”
Waldron waved her off. “Nope. We’ll talk to the kids who found the body and wait for your report.”
She walked off to supervise the removal of the body by ambulance.
Waldron clapped Colin on the shoulder. “Remind you of the Rossi girl?”
It wasn’t a secret that Colin had maintained a relationship with Kat, but he was surprised his supervisor knew about it since he hadn’t been with the bureau then.
“Yeah.”
“A lot of similarities,” Waldron commented.
“Too many.”
Chapter Six
Luke looked out over the Strip while he waited for Alexander’s response to his question about the plans for a new casino in Atlantic City. When no answer came, Luke turned around to find Alexander intently staring at the flat panel computer screen that was mounted on the wall. The website pulled up was a local news station, and Alexander’s attention was focused on an article about a dead girl found in the desert.
“Alexander?” Luke prompted.
Ignoring Luke’s original question completely, Alexander pointed the remote at the screen. “Do you remember this? Apparently this is the second body found recently.”
Luke was used to Alexander’s laser like focus, so he gave up hope of continuing their previous conversation. “No, I don’t watch the news. Too depressing.”
Alexander drummed his fingers on his desk as he read the rest of the article. “Hmm,” he murmured.
Luke waited patiently until Alexander turned his attention back to business.
“I gave the go ahead on the plans for the new casino. Construction should begin by the end of the summer with an opening set for the following spring.”
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