Chapter 7 - Leon

Not once in my life has a woman snuck out on me in the morning after a night of fucking.

Not until Natalie happened a week ago.

She left before she was supposed to. She cut our time short. Her audacity. Natalie stole one more fuck from us, from me. And she did it without saying a word. She just left.

I stare at the files before me, but the numbers and letters are blurred.

Right now, I should comb through the PLs and make sure the numbers match if I ever get audited. The FBI doesn't need a trail to find the millions of dollars I move through my combined companies.

Instead, I can only think about the morning I woke up alone. My hands curl into fists.

Natalie should have been in my bed that morning. She should have been lying naked beside me in the white silk sheets, like an angel come to earth, completely exhausted from riding my cock all night.

It was the way she looked when I slipped out of bed and into the shower shortly after I had bent her body to my will. When I returned to bed, she was still there, fast asleep.

In the morning, she was gone.

Somehow, she snuck out without my security guard seeing her. She slipped out before the sun came up, leaving the other side of my bed cold.

It's the first and the last time she will ever get the opportunity to do that. She had no right to treat me like I was a cheap fuck. When I finally get my hands on her, she will pay for thinking she could run from me.

"Everything alright, boss?" Boris asks as he walks into the room with another file tucked under his arm.

"Fine." I hold my hand out for the file. "Is this the report from the laundromats?"

He nods. "There are a few numbers to look at more closely, but at first glance, everything I saw seemed to be in order. Denis is fixing a few machines in some of the laundromats today. I've instructed him to keep an eye out for anything useful."

"Good."

I open the folder and skim through the numbers before adding it to the growing stack of work I have to comb through later.

Boris clears his throat. "Boss?"

"Yes?"

"I've been trying to talk to you for the last few minutes, but you keep staring at the files and not saying anything."

I groan and scrub a hand over my face. "What were you saying?"

"I was trying to tell you that Carlo has been spotted at one of your clubs in Yonkers."

Humming, I lean forward at my desk, grab the mouse, and pull up the CCTV footage from the morning Natalie left.

"He didn't stay long, and as far as we know, he didn't ask any questions. One of the dancers thinks he was there to meet someone, but she lost sight of him."

"Oh."

"And then he opened fire on the entire club, killing several people inside it. Denis says that he's still overseeing the bloody cleanup. What a fucking mess."

"Sounds like a mess." I click around until I find the camera pointing at the elevator on the first floor.

Boris sighs as he rounds the desk and stands behind me. "You're still not listening. I wanted to know what you think I should do when Carlo and the Italians show their faces at Vesuvius."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" he repeats like a parrot. "They were in your club, staged a fucking disaster, and you"re just going to sit back and let it happen?"

"It doesn't matter who they wanted to meet there. Ivan has agreed to my plan, and we must stick to it. I can't let you go rogue and ruin it for us."

Boris crosses his arms but nods. "Alright. I'll make sure the others know not to strike out on their own either."

"See that you do. I don't want to get hauled in front of the Pakhan because my men are stupid or ignorant."

Boris sighs. "You know that it would only be Denis."

"Yes, but he is a good kid. He's still learning and will be a better asset to us in time. Most dancers trust him right now, and no one thinks twice when they see him at the laundromat. We need men like him who can blend in under the radar."

"I am hard on him in this matter. He was almost foaming at the mouth at the thought of pursuing Carlo. I'll make sure he sticks to his guns."

"See that you do. No fuck ups. If he sees Carlo, he must report it to us."

I scroll through the footage, looking for the perfect image.

I stop at a still of Natalie's face as she leaves the apartment. "Look closely at her face."

He leans over my shoulder, looking at her before hitting a couple of keys and sending the picture to himself. "What do you want me to do?"

"Find the woman. Her name is Natalie. She could live on Franklin Street, but that could be a lie."

The more I think about it, the more I'm sure she lied.

I thought she was just nervous and trying to protect herself at the time, but now I'm no longer convinced. She"s hiding something. And she"s clever, street smart. That"s how you become, I guess when you grow up in Russia.

Chuckling, he shakes his head and takes a step back. "And who is this mystery woman?"

I lean back in my chair and clasp my hands behind my head. "I don't know. I met her the other day in the restaurant where we had our meeting with Ivan. She was there with some poor excuse for a man."

"So, you swooped in on her date and took her home with you." Boris laughs even louder and shakes his head. "You really know how to have a good time, don't you? I would have thought you would have learned to avoid the complicated women by now."

"What can I say?" I shrug and stare at the screen as her gaze flicks to the camera. "I like a challenge; unfortunately, only the complicated women are challenging."

"You know, the men in your family are settling down. You should take a leaf out of their book."

Snorting, I drop my hands, stand up, walk to the other side of my office, and grab one of the packs of cigarettes from the golden box on the shelf. I pull one out, light it up, inhale, and banish the restless feeling that has plagued me since I woke up alone.

Boris shakes his head when I offer him one. "So, what happened with this woman, and why do you want me to hunt her down?"

"Beyond sneaking out the morning after we fucked for most of the night?"

His eyes widen, and a raucous laugh erupts from his chest. "She snuck out on you. I find it hard to believe you would allow a woman to do such a thing."

"I didn't. I woke up in the morning; she was gone." I snarl, annoyed with being this morning's entertainment for Boris.

Boris drops into one of the armchairs near the window, putting his feet on the ottoman. "And you had no idea that she was going to run?"

I sit down in the armchair opposite him. "None. She's young, and I thought she"d like the morning cuddles and all that shit those young girls usually like. And for fuck"s sake, I"ve been giving it to her all night."

"Does she have any idea who you are?"

"No. I've told her my name, but it meant nothing to her. And she"s from Russia but speaks English like her first language." I take another drag from my cigarette.

"Russia, huh, interesting. Did she steal anything?"

"Not that I had noticed. She didn't seem the type either. She might have been eager to get fucked, but she didn't seem interested in anything else."

He nods and glances at the picture of her on my screen. "I hope it's not a trap. Have you made any enemies in Russia lately? What should I do if I find her?"

"Call me." My mind races, and I try to remember my last interactions with people in Russia, but nothing comes to mind.

Boris gets to his feet. "I'll try to find her, but it won"t be easy without a last name."

"I don't care whether it's easy or not. I want her found. She was young. Twenty, almost twenty-one."

"She could be in one of the universities."

I flick the ash off the end of the cigarette. "No. She didn't mention college or anything like that. She said she was an artist. She definitely knows her art. Start with the studios in the Tribeca area."

He nods and leaves while I get up and return to my desk.

As I sit down behind it and take another folder from the pile of work to be done, my eyes fall on Natalie's picture again.

I'm going to hunt you down one way or another, solnyshko.