Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I can handle this asshole myself.
CHAPTER 6
Braxton
I’m sitting in my car when Charlotte exits the building a few minutes after me… alone. She pulls out her phone and starts quickly typing.
I get out of the car and approach her. She raises her head just as I reach her. Her brown eyes meet mine, and they’re nothing compared to the magnetic blue of Hope’s, which are so striking with her vibrant red hair and porcelain skin.
She clutches her phone tightly to her chest and blurts, “I’m going to try to find the wallet.”
“I should hope so because I’d hate to bring you down to the station,” I tell her, and she pales. The thing with these people is they always think they’re above the law because they can pay to make any problem go away. And although that might be true, if I really wanted to, I’m sure I could find far more to pin them with.
“Charlotte, how long have you known Hope Ivanov?”
“About four years,” she answers.
“How did you meet?”
“We went to high school together, and now we’re attending the same college.”
Interesting. I assumed she had been focusing on her career alone, and though I saw she’d enrolled in college, I thought with her busy schedule there was no way she could balance both. Unless, of course, she does mostly everything online.
I wonder why she felt the need to go to college. Not only are her parents wealthy, but she also earns enough from her sculptures to maintain any sort of lifestyle she wants.
“Would you like to explain to me what you were doing on the night we last met?”
She darts a glance to the car waiting for her. “Umm, we just went clubbing. It’s not usually Hope’s thing, so if there’s too many people, she’ll often drink a lot. I did, too. And then we left, and we, umm… Well, you know the rest.”
I show her a photo of the victim who was murdered at the club. “Do you know this man?”
She studies it. “No? Maybe? I don’t know.”
“Really? Because this camera footage shows you making out with him on the same night.” This makes her a prime suspect, although fortunately for her, he also made out with another two women from the same class, and she was too busy causing mischief, mugging my partner alongside Hope.
She pales as she stares at the photo of the two of them in a lip lock. “Honestly, I had so many drinks that night. I made out with a few guys. It’s kind of my thing. But I swear to God, I didn’t hurt him.”
“Of course not,” I say sarcastically. She goes even paler. I’m not above using intimidation tactics on women; if they’ll crack even just the slightest bit to give me a new lead, I’ll uncover it, no matter what. These two girls are trouble, but only one of them is related to a family of killers.
“There were other people there from the sculpting class that night,” she quickly adds. “Like a bunch of us. They all wanted to hang out with Hope. You know, get pictures and stuff for their social media pages.”
Shallow assholes.
If those are the type of people Hope hangs out with, no wonder she locks herself in a rooftop studio away from the world.
“Can you send me a list of the names of those who attended?” I already have a list of the majority who attended the class, but I can get the names of those who attended their little afterparty event.
“Like their last names and everything? Because I don’t know half of them that well. I can try, though,” she replies. “But you don’t seriously think we’re involved in this, do you? That would be crazy!”
I wonder if Charlotte is aware of her friend’s connections with the underworld.
“Was anyone from Hope’s family there?”
She scrunches up her nose. “No, they’re pretty private. She does have twin cousins we’ve bumped into from time to time. They’re like super-hot and popular, but we don’t hang with them too much. But they weren’t there that night.”
“The Ivanov twins?” I ask. The twins were adopted by Hope’s aunt, Anya Ivanov, and they have strong connections to Eli Monti, the current Mafia boss. From what I’ve gathered, they are his second in command. They certainly wouldn’t be against killing someone.
“Yeah. They’re super-hot and have that bad-boy air about them, you know.” As if realizing she’s rambling, she’s quick to add, “But I don’t think they’re capable of murdering someone. I mean, come on. They’re rich. Why would they have to kill anyone?”
I can’t figure out if she’s playing dumb or if she truly has no idea who her friend is. But my bullshit radar isn’t sounding, so maybe the poor girl really has no idea how close she is to a family full of killers.