I rubbed my face, groaned when there was a knock on the door, and prayed with every fiber of my being it wasn’t Judge—or if it was that I could simply ignore it. After a second and third knock the door finally opened.
I straightened in my chair, ready to hold my ground, when the person stepped in, and relief washed through me at the sight of River Demchenko, my old colleague and friend.
“Why didn’t you answer?” River asked, shutting the door. He looked as amazing as always in an expensive silver suit with a burgundy tie. His short dark locks were brushed off his forehead, and if I had to guess his shiny black shoes were about the price of my stupid car.
“I thought you were someone else,” I murmured.
River frowned but didn’t say anything as he moved to sit in the chair on the other side of the desk. He crossed his legs and leaned back, looking every bit the model he should’ve been. Guilt cramped my stomach as he pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose while studying me.
“How’s Jayce?” I asked, referring to his handsome cop boyfriend. They’d been together for a while now, and even before Chris and I had broken up I’d been jealous of their relationship. They seemed togeteach other in ways we hadn’t, as though they were perfectly coordinated on every level. It had nearly been painful to see how happy River was with his new man.
“Oh, he’s fine.” River cleared his throat as a flush spread across his cheeks.
“And Madden?” I grinned. Madden worked for River and I liked him, but he was a handful and drove the stoic River crazy on his best days.
“Next question.” He grunted, but I didn’t miss the small smile that crossed his lips.
“Okay, how can I help you?” I laughed.
“Can’t I visit an old friend?” he asked, far too innocently.
“No, because you’re too busy for a random visit to my shabby office.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my desk and wincing when it groaned slightly. Everything in here was old, and while the college always promised to update the furniture, it never happened.
“Fine.” He cleared his throat and sat forward, the foot he’d rested on his knee dropping to the floor. “I need help. I’m working with a couple of people who are trying, and failing, to locate and rescue a man involved in a sex trafficking ring. The cops aren’t interested in the case because we don’t have a full name for the victim. The leads are about as solid as quicksand, but we don’t want to give up. I remember you telling me about your cousin, the former Navy SEAL. You said he works as a private mercenary now? This seems like it would be right up his alley.”
I blinked. I couldn’t remember when I’d told him about Griff, but I nodded. “Yeah. Rich guys pay him to do their dirty work. That is all I know, though.”
“What if I could pay him and a few of his men handsomely to get a job done for me?” River pursed his lips.
“What kind of job? You just said there were no good leads.” I rolled my seat forward until my gut pressed against the desk.
“Remember when I was drugged? I told you about the guy who was being forced to be there, Dima?”
I nodded, breath stuck in my throat. River had blurted out the story over drinks one night, and I’d lain awake worrying about him until the early hours.
“We finally got a good tip-off, but we need guys to go in and extract people when it’s time. I want to help Dima and the others get out of that life for good.”
“Can’t you tell the cops now that you have something better?” I whispered, though I didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if anyone could hear us.
“They won’t do a damned thing, Flynn.” He glared at the desk. “And while Jayce and his PI coworkers can investigate, we need someone with more military expertise for this. Jayce was a marine and currently works as a policeman, but the others were never in the armed forces and have been out of the cop life for a while. Hell, sometimes they even take Madden with them when they’re on a case, and we all know his mouth qualifies as a danger to himself and others. That’s one strike against them already. I don’t want my Sir getting hurt because he’s trying to do something dangerous with the wrong support.”
I let out a deep breath and opened the middle desk drawer, pulling out an old-school pocket-sized address book. Brandt always teased me for keeping around paper copies of everything, but sometimes it came in handy. It was Griff’s idea to keep his number in the book rather than in my phone—he barely trusted technology and only used phones when he had no choice. I thought it all came down to his past tours overseas.
“You can’t give this number to anyone,” I said, staring intently at him as I got a piece of paper and ripped the corner. River nodded while I wrote Griff’s number as small as possible. “Griff might kill me for even giving it to you. He’s secretive.”
“I won’t.” He took the number from me and slid it inside a pocket of his suit jacket, patting it as though promising to keep it safe. “Thanks.”
“No problem, anything to help those poor people.” I shuddered at the thought of being stuck in a sex trafficking ring. It was unimaginable.
“How are things with you?” He asked the question carefully, and I glared because this wasn’t the River I knew. He didn’t dance around subjects; he tackled life head-on.
“My longtime partner left me for a stunning, much younger man and is gallivanting around the globe with him, spending my money.”
“What do you mean?” River’s expression turned fierce as he straightened.
I didn’t want to air my dirty laundry, but it needed to be done. Maybe, in some lucky way, River could help. “He cashed out our stocks and took off with all the money. Half of the investment was supposed to be in my very boring retirement fund.” I gritted my teeth to stop from feeling anything overly emotional, but it wasn’t working. Tears of frustration pooled in my eyes. I wanted to scream and kick something. “He told me we’d put everything in his name because we weren’t married, and it would be easier if he handled it because he knew more about stocks. He got tips from his friend Corey. Chris... sold it all and left me with nothing. What can I do?”
“Sue his fucking ass,” River snapped, shoving to his feet. He slammed his hands on the desk, making it wobble. “You know better. You’re too involved in this. What would you tell anyone else? Use your head! You might not have been married, Flynn, but half of everything he owns is yours. Marriage doesn’t matter anymore. You were partners for a long fucking time, which means he owes you. That fucker.”
