“What’s going on?” I asked, putting distance between us so I wouldn’t be tempted to shove my tongue back down his throat. “And why is your entire department here?”
Nick sank onto the bed. He clasped his hands between his knees as he looked me in the eyes. “Just… promise me you won’t panic.”
“Panic about what?” I asked, already starting to panic.
“An anonymous tip came into the station last night. Someone called in, claiming to be a member of Feliks Zhirov’s inner circle. He said that Feliks is on his way back to the United States.”
“But he just got to Brazil.”
Nick nodded. “I know. And it may be nothing. The tip line gets dozens of calls every day, and most of them are just kids with nothing better to do, or people wanting attention, but…”
“But what?” I pressed.
His hand tightened around my hip, like he was bracing me for something. “Remember the news story that broke last week, about the car that was found burned in a cornfield in Culpeper County?” My skin rippled with goose bumps. He was talking about Ike Grindley’s car. As far as I knew, no one had found Ike’s body, but his car had been set ablaze on a remote stretch of farm. One of his gold teeth had been delivered to me at the academy that same night, letting me know Feliks had made good on his promise, and reminding me that it could just as easily be undone. “The registered owner of the car is a man named Ignacious Grindley. He’s from Pleasantville, New Jersey, about twenty minutes from here. His wife reported him missing two weeks ago. She said he went to Virginia on a business trip and never made it home. According to the detective working the case, Grindley had a pretty long rap sheet, and his wife was a little cagey about the kind of business her husband was involved in.”
“What does this have to do with Feliks?”
“We’re not sure yet. But Culpeper County PD got a call from a gas station a few miles from where Ike’s vehicle was discovered. Grindley’s car was spotted there the night he disappeared, only Grindley wasn’t driving it. The driver filled a gas can, paid cash, and took off. Investigators identified him from camera footage taken inside the store. He’s a known member of the Russian mob, one of Feliks’s thugs. Which means somehow, Feliks and Grindley are connected.”
My mouth went dry. I was the one who’d struck a deal with Feliks’s cleanup crew to dispose of Ike’s body. “I still don’t understand what any of this has to do with why you’re here.”
“Agent Stokes checked into that lead that came through the tip line last night. Turns out a flight plan was registered yesterday morning, by a private charter plane flying out of São Paulo, Brazil. It’s set to arrive at an airstrip in Newark. One of the names on the passenger manifest is a loose variation of an alias Zhirov has used before. Stokes thinks there’s a chance that tip was legit.”
“Newark? But that’s—”
“Less than two hours from here,” Nick finished.
I stood up. “You think Feliks is coming here?”
“We don’t know. He could be meeting someone in New York or catching a connecting flight overseas. For all we know, this could have nothing to do with you. Feliks might not even be on that flight. But you witnessed him try to murder a police officer and Vero can place him at the scene, which makes both of you a threat to him. And given what we know about Grindley’s boss, we have a very compelling reason to believe Zhirov has connections in Atlantic City.”
“Who’s Grindley’s boss?” I asked cautiously.
“According to our contacts in the local PD, Grindley works for a loan shark named Marco Toscano. I don’t know how Feliks and Toscano are connected, but I’d sure like to ask him a few questions and find out.”
My throat closed around the thought. It was me.Iwas the connection. Marco Toscano had probably never even heard the name Feliks Zhirov. They were a Venn diagram of criminal organizations that never should have crossed, but they did, in the thin sliver of a single night, when Marco sent Ike to find us and collect Vero’s debt. I had been the one to link the rings when I’d agreed to let Feliks dispose of Ike’s body for me. Nick just couldn’t see all the pieces to know how the two circles connected yet, but if he went looking for Marco, he was certain to figure it out.
I swallowed. “Aren’t you a little outside of your jurisdiction here?”
“That’s why Agent Stokes agreed to come along. Hopefully he can grease a few wheels for me while I’m in town. That flight isn’t scheduled to land in New Jersey until Sunday afternoon. That gives me plenty of time to talk to Grindley’s wife and track down his boss. If I can figure out why Feliks is coming, maybe I can predict his next move before he gets here. Meanwhile, I don’t plan to let you or Vero out of my sight. Not until I know for a fact he’s not on that plane or the FBI has him in custody.” Nick’s eyes drifted toward the door. “Where is Vero, by the way?”
I groped for an answer. “She… met up with an old friend last night and spent the night at his place.”
Some of the tension left Nick’s shoulders. “Good. Neither of you should be alone for a while. Agent Stokes and I will be at Newark when that charter plane lands. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll arrest Zhirov and haul his ass back to Virginia for trial. Until then, you’re sticking close to me.”
“So you got an anonymous call and some circumstantial evidence about a burned-up car, and you just decided to pack up the entire FCPD and bring them here to babysit me?”
“I’m not here to babysit you,” he said, holding up his hands and lowering his voice. “I’m here because something doesn’t smell right with Grindley’s disappearance, and because I don’t trust Zhirov as far as I can throw him. I know perfectly well you can take care of yourself.” Nick gave the front of my sweatshirt a gentle tug. He pulled me closer, until I was standing between his legs. “But I also know what Feliks is capable of, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t follow my gut on this and something happened to you.” He kissed me, a slow, testing brush of his lips, but I was too distracted to relax into him. How were Vero and I supposed to find Javi and the Aston with Nick clinging to me like a big, sexy shadow?
“What’s wrong?” He cupped my chin, capturing my distracted gaze. “We’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. It’s just…” I cleared my throat, willing myself to just spit it out. “I have something I need to tell you, too.” Nick frowned as he studied my face. I took a deep breath and blurted, “Steven is here. He’s staying with the kids, in the adjoining room. I’m sleeping with my mom. And Vero. Or at least, I would be, if Vero was here.” I shook my head, my confession devolving into babble. “See, it was supposed to be a girls’ trip, but Steven refused to let me take the kids out of the state without him, and he insisted on—”
“I know.” He brushed my hair back from my face.
“You do?” He raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to catch on. Islapped a hand to my forehead. “Georgia told you.” His smirk told me I was right. “I’m sorry,” I said, genuinely remorseful. “I know it should have come from me. I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. Steven and I aren’t even staying in the same room, and if Vero and my mother had their way, we’d have left him on the side of the highway in Pennsylvan—”
Nick shut me up with a kiss. A deep, lingering one that made my heart melt and my toes curl.
