“Is named River Meadows, and he’s her younger brother.”
“She told you, huh?”
“She told me, yes. And she might be pretty, very much so, but she isn’t mine.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Looked like she could be to me,” Linus murmured speculatively.
“What else do you have, if anything?” Declan prompted when the other man made no move to end the call after relaying this information. He certainly wasn’t about to get into further conversation about Fawn.
“The thing is…much as I’ve searched, and I really have, I couldn’t find a registration of birth for either the brother or the sister.” Linus sounded deeply puzzled by this anomaly.
Declan recalled Fawn’s remarks from earlier, especially the one about her parents not wanting any “government interference” in their lives. Which, it seemed, had also included registering their children’s births.
“But presumably, they managed to get the necessary paperwork because Fawn works?” Fawn had mentioned that her brother also worked in bars and coffee shops, although both of those businesses could be paying him off the books.
But somehow, Declan didn’t think that would be acceptable to Fawn. She might have loved her parents, but she gave no indication of wanting to live as irresponsibly as they had.
“Brother and sister both applied for a National Insurance number and signed on with a doctor, dentist, etc., when they reached the age of eighteen,” Linus confirmed.
That pretty much tied in with what Fawn had told Declan. To him, this amounted to gross negligence on her parents’ part, but to Fawn, it just seemed normal, probably because it was the only situation she had known growing up.
“What about Koslov?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Still looking for him.”
“Isn’t this taking an unusually long time for you?” Declan knew that Linus was usually able to find whoever he was looking for within hours. Koslov had now been missing for half the afternoon and the whole evening, with Linus apparently no further forward in locating where he was now.
“It happens sometimes, especially if the person I’m looking for is as wily as this guy,” Linus dismissed. “But I will find him, never fear.”
“Maybe ask Nikolai if he’s seen him?” Declan drawled. “He seems to have a way of finding and eliminating any members of the Koslov family who annoy him.”
Lucas gave a snort of laughter. “Already asked and been told, in no uncertain terms, that this member of the Koslov family is of no immediate interest to Nikolai or the bratva.”
As Declan had guessed might be the case. “Did he say when or if it might become so?”
“Nope.” Linus popped the p noisily. “But as Nikolai isn’t one for sharing information, until he decides otherwise, I’m just going to accept his word for now that he hasn’t seen Koslov and keep up my search for him. Let’s face it, he can’t have gone far.”
“Let me know when you find him.”
“Will do.”
“And Linus… Thank you. I appreciate your help on this.”
“Anytime,” the other man assured.
“Thanks,” Declan said again before ending the call.
By which time, his engorged cock had definitely deflated and required absolutely no attention from him!
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next threedays passed without incident. Well…almost without incident.
Fawn got up each morning, gave Declan his medication, fed him breakfast, and checked his wounds before they both got on with the rest of their day.
