Viktor inclined his head and holstered his weapon. “Understood. You have my word the Ivanovitches will not bother you further. Keep the money, give the money away. It’s none of our concern.”
Sejal hesitated, then yanked the flash drive out of her pocket and handed it over to Viktor.
“Thanks. We will be on our way as soon as I figure out how to remove him without calling attention to ourselves.”
“I figured there might be a need for haulaway here.” Rhearelaxed her stance and went to the door. When she came back in again, flanked by Sunil’s guards, she was rolling a laundry cart.
“Good job not letting anyone in, guys,” Krish muttered.
To their credit, the guards looked abashed, but Rhea stepped in front of them. “Don’t be annoyed with them. I called Sunil, and he told them to listen to me.”
Viktor bent down and scooped up Alexei like he was nothing. He ignored his former boss’s groans of pain as he dropped him into the laundry cart and covered him with dirty towels. “Boys, why don’t you make sure this place is cleaned up and our friends leave, as they promised?” Rhea asked sweetly.
Cary nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Sejal averted her gaze from the blood on the floor. “Our room is down the hall.”
When they were safely back in their room, Rhea glanced around. “Do you think there’s some tea here? I could really use a cup.”
“There’s a cart in the corner,” Sejal said.
“How are you doing, Sejal? I know guns are difficult for you,” Rhea said, as she went to the cart.
“I’m okay.” Sejal licked her lips. “Better now that I’m not in that room.”
Krish tucked his own gun into his holster. “How did you know we were here, Rhea?”
“Tracker.”
Sejal leaned against the sofa. “What?”
“There’s a tracker in your earrings.”
Sejal touched her earrings. “Mira gave them to me.”
Rhea gave a stern nod and opened the wooden box full of teas. “She must have been worried about you. She knew I’d look out for you. Smart girl.”
“You’d look out for me,” Sejal repeated, then took a step forward. “You’re the reason I’m in this mess at all!”
Rhea grimaced. She abandoned the teas and leaned against a table. “I’m so sorry, Sejal. I was only, in my clumsy way, trying to do what was right by you and your father.”
“My father! My father started all this by getting greedy and going after Alexei’s password. I have no idea what he was thinking!”
“He was thinking that he wanted to avenge you,” Rhea said gently. “Only he died before he could finish the job.”
“He wanted to avenge me or he wanted millions of dollars?”
“Don’t be foolish, Sejal. If he wanted the money, he would have withdrawn it. Instead, he sat on it. He wanted to give you a gift. Make up for...”
“For being a shitty parent?” Sejal asked pointedly.
Rhea’s lips thinned. “If you must.”
“You accessed Alexei’s fortune, didn’t you?”
“And recently transferred ten million out,” Rhea concluded, her face grave. “I didn’t care about the money. Sejal, I promise, I only wanted to lure Alexei back into the open so the people he double-crossed would find him. I didn’t think he’d go after you, or that if he did, he’d be able to find you. You were doing such a good job of hiding!”
Krish took a step forward. “So you took that money.” He looked at Sejal. “And my brother sold you out. I’m sorry, Sejal.”
