Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
The four men glared at him. “You have no right to accuse us of such a thing,” Idris snarled.
Gorya rolled his shoulders in a casual shrug. “I see no reason to get upset over things you know are facts. Haven’t you ever heard of leopard whisperers? I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. One leopard can talk to the other, and the other tells them every memory. Those memories are recorded. They can be entered into evidence. Just today I was walking on the grounds with my woman. We strolled right past the four of you. I found out quite a bit about you, none of it very nice, starting with the things you would like to do to the woman I love. I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy keeping Rogue from ripping the four of you into tiny pieces.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hans snapped. “That can’t possibly be true. No one can really do that.”
Gorya leaned against the wall, crossing his arms against his chest. As always, he kept his voice very low and matter-of-fact. He could have been discussing the weather. “You wanted to repeat the time the four of you were together in Panama with a girl given to you by your mentor. You each raped her in every way possible, together and separately. You made her beg for her life. Crawl to you. You promised you would spare her if she pleased you. You caned her. You called it practicing your technique. Each of you practiced a different type of whip. Idris used a thin razor strap on her. That’s what the four of you wanted to do to my mate.”
The men looked at one another, unease on their faces, then around the room at the disgust plainly showing.
“You tortured Raul, and he made that up,” Liam accused.
“Raul wasn’t there. Jaoa was there, instructing you, mentoring you, ensuring you would learn the right way to be cruel to the women he trafficked.”
Idris glanced toward the door.
Gorya shook his head. “You’d never make it. You came here to recruit for Escabar Velentez. That isn’t going to happen. We don’t like snakes in our midst. Usually, I deal with anyone who threatens my woman, but in this case, Timur and Sevastyan have the prior claim.”
All four men had whipped out their phones.
“Your phones are useless,” Gorya said. He turned and sauntered out the door as the security teams surrounded the four men.
17
Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Mr. Caruso,” Gorya said, holding out his hand. “The matter is extremely urgent, or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”
“No worries, and call me Marzio.” The older man waved him into his office. “Your call intrigued me. Few things intrigue me at my age.” He remained unruffled as Gorya escorted Maya in as well, one hand on her back. Gedeon entered with them.
“This is my fiancée, Maya. And you know Gedeon.” Gorya said.
“Maya, very pleased to meet you. Please take a seat.” He waved his hand toward the comfortable chairs across from his desk. It wasn’t an opulent office by any means. One would never know the man was extremely wealthy. His desk was a beautiful carved cherrywood, the only truly expensive item in the room that Gorya could see. The walls were bare other than professional photographs of Marzio’s wife, Ann, and their four sons. It was the office of a man who loved his family and didn’t mind his business associates knowing he did. That was a rare thing in the world Gorya had grown up in.
Is he clean? If Rogue and Gorya had read the old man correctly, he knew nothing of what the Anwar family was doing on the docks of Houston. He had nothing at all to do with human trafficking, but Gorya needed it confirmed.
Maya inclined her head. Gedeon did as well.
“I’ve come across some very disturbing news that involves your family as well as mine. I thought it best to bring you the reports and have you read them. This isn’t the kind of thing to tell you where it can be overheard or sent over a phone. If you don’t mind, before I proceed, I’d like your permission for Gedeon to sweep your office for bugs.”
Caruso leaned forward in his high-backed leather chair and regarded the trio, his dark eyes suddenly alive with interest. “By all means.”
Gedeon took a few minutes because he was a very thorough man. “It’s clean.”
“Thank you,” Gorya said, putting respect into his tone. There was something to admire about the man. He hadn’t even insisted on having his security with him, and that said a lot about him seeing as how the Amurovs had quite a reputation. They were allies in business, but they were wary of each other.
Gorya took the report Maya had compiled under her alias Teona Kyva. It was extremely detailed. Gorya had included everything, so Caruso could judge for himself the extent and power of the ring. More, it was easy enough to see how the Anwar family set up the Caruso family from the very beginning to take the blame should they ever be caught.