Page 170 of Marrying the Savage

Grigori stops by the door. “Irina is sorry.”

“I heard her.”

“She’s scared.”

“So is everyone.”

He comes farther into the room. “She should not have said it like that.”

“No.”

“But she is not the only one thinking it.”

I look at him.

He holds my gaze. “You have stopped everything for Sofia. I’m not saying you are wrong. I’m saying you should admit what that means before you find her.”

“And what does it mean?”

“It means she is not just a responsibility.”

I say nothing.

Maksim shifts in his arms and mumbles something. Grigori rubs his back until he settles again.

“He thinks she promised to finish their game.”

“She did?”

“I don’t know. He says she did.”

I look at the child. “Then she will.”

Grigori studies me for a moment. “You really believe that?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He exhales. “Because I may have something.”

Every part of me goes still. “What?”

“There is a man in the city. Arman Chekonov.”

I know the name. He owns a club, but that is not why people use him. Arman moves things. Cars. Documents. packages. People, when the job requires it. He handles deliveries for men who don’t want their own names attached to the work. He’s not loyal to one family, which is why several families still use him. Men like that hear things, even when they are not involved.

“What makes you think he knows anything?” I ask.

“I don’t know that he does,” Grigori says. “But someone moved Sofia out of the building efficiently without us being any wiser, there’s a good chance someone had to arrange the route, the vehicle, the plates, or the handoff. Arman deals with those kinds of arrangements.”

“That doesn’t mean he touched this.”

“No,” Grigori says. “But it means he may have heard who did.”

I say nothing. For three days, we have chased cameras, plates, doctors, Dmitri’s men, Sergei’s movements, and every obvious trail. None of it has brought Sofia back. If the men who took her used outside help, someone like Arman may have some knowledge about it.

“And you think Arman will talk?”

Grigori gives me a dry look. “Not because you ask nicely.”