Page 20 of Locked and Loaded

“She was taken in Ibiza?” he asked, wanting to confirm every detail he could.

“Yes. There was a party. Not a party like normal people mean. It was for rich men, connected men, men who wanted things delivered and did not care where those things came from.” Katya rubbed her arms as if she were suddenly cold despite the heat. “I was stupid. I thought I was clever. I thought if I got close enough to money, maybe money would notice me. It did.”

Dragan kept his voice low. “You don’t have to explain why you were there.”

“Yes, I do, because people always decide what kind of victim deserves pity.” Her chin lifted, and for a second, he saw the steel beneath the silk. “I was not innocent. I was hungry. That is different.”

He nodded once. “What happened to Chloe?”

“She was an innocent. One of their spotters invited her and her friends to the party. The friends were drunk, and they stumbled out on their own, never noticing that Chloe had disappeared. I’ve seen it happen before.” She bit her lip at the memory.

“The other girls that they kept were drugged and taken out in vans. I saw some of it because by then Nikolai had already chosen me, so they did not bother hiding everything. Maybe they thought I was too stupid to understand. Maybe they were right because I did nothing.” Her voice frayed at the edges. “Chloe did not go with the other girls. She was upstairs. They dressed her for someone. I heard one of the women say she was perfect, exactly what he asked for.”

“Who?”

She shrugged. “I do not know.”

“Katya.”

“I don’t.” Her eyes flashed. “You think I would not say if I knew? You think I want this woman coming back here, asking questions that could get me beaten…or killed? I told Lennox the same thing. I saw Chloe from a distance when they took her out. There were men around her. Real security, not club boys, not traffickers with guns stuck in their pants. These men knew what they were doing. They took her in a helicopter.”

“A helicopter?” Dragan confirmed. There would be a record of that somewhere.

Katya nodded. “Yes. She was put into a helicopter. I heard one of the men say they needed to reach the airstrip before the storm moved in. That he was waiting in Italy and he was impatient. That is all I know about where they went.”

“Italy is not a small country,” Dragan pointed out.

Katya shrugged. “No, but it is all I know.”

Dragan had no doubt. “Did they say anything about the man that they wanted Chloe for?”

Katya’s gaze dropped to the tiled path between them. “Someone said the Italian man had specific tastes. That Chloe would suit him. He was not at the party. That is all I know. I was scared, and people were shouting, and I was trying to understand whether being chosen by Nikolai meant I was saved or only being moved to a prettier cage.”

Dragan studied her face and decided she was telling the truth, or at least as much of it as she could bear to touch. “Did you hear any names? Any company? Any symbol connected to the people running the party?”

Katya shook her head, then stopped. “There were pins on some of the men. Gold. A crest maybe. I don’t know. Rich people wear symbols for everything. Clubs, schools, families, stupid secret societies. I was not looking at their jewelry. I was looking for a door.”

“Did Lennox ask about the Lock and Key Society?”

“Yes.” Katya frowned. “I told her I did not know what that was.”

“Do you?” he asked.

“No.” She looked genuinely baffled. “Should I?”

“Probably better that you don’t.”

Katya was silent for a moment, then glanced back the way they had come. “The maid is watching me.”

“She’s watching Nikolai too.”

The words seemed to take the air out of her. “What?”

Dragan kept his voice even. “When I mentioned Lennox’s name, she didn’t look to your husband for instruction. She watched his reaction. When you mentioned Ibiza, she reached for her apron pocket, and Nikolai didn’t see it because he was too busy being angry with you.”

Katya swallowed. “I told him. I told him she was not just a maid, but he said I was paranoid because I drink too much champagne and invent enemies.”

“Paranoid people are often wrong. You’re not.”