Page 72 of The Wrong Monster

“That’s because Beaumont was an idiot. He was ready to throw you to the wolves and wash his hands of you.”

Mikhail picks at a hangnail, clearly trying to tamp down anger as he sneers at the mention of Beaumont’s name. “You think they’ll agree?”

“I think I’m very good at making judges uncomfortable with sloppy police work.”

That earns the smallest smile. I continue before he can respond.

“I’m going to file a motion to suppress the evidence. The prosecution will fight it, obviously. They’ll argue the warrant was reasonable and that the records are relevant to the charges.”

“And you?”

“I’ll argue that relevance isn’t the same thing as legality.” I sit back, watching him absorb it. “If I win, some of the financial records they’re relying on become inadmissible. That doesn’t make the case disappear, but it weakens it.”

“Considerably?”

“Potentially.”

Mikhail shifts in his chair, the lines around his mouth and forehead softening. Just a bit, but I recognize it for what it is: relief. I’ve seen it on dozens of faces before, clients who sit across from me and realize that maybe the tide could turn in their favor.

That relief ought to feel routine. Instead, I realize how badly I wanted to see it on his face.

This is what I’m good at. Finding the weak point. Building an argument around it. Making the other side regret underestimating me.

“I have other angles, too,” I tell him. “The subcontractor records. The payment trail. The two versions of that vendor invoice. My expert needs the contemporaneous approvals so we can establish what you were actually authorizing, and what changed afterward.”

Mikhail’s expression tightens. “You’re starting to understand.”

“I’m starting to.”

I close the file. That’s the part I don’t know what to do with.

Because I came into this resenting him before we’d spoken. He worked for the man who took me, and I wanted to keep that anger between us. Do the job, get out, forget everyone involved.

Now I’m sitting across from him, explaining exactly how I’m going to fight to keep him out of prison.

And I don’t feel conflicted about it.

I feel like his lawyer. A damn good one. The fact that I care about him as well is what bothers me most.

If I can sit here and see Mikhail as a person instead of a criminal, what happens when I start doing the same thing with Vasily?

Chapter 20

Vasily

The construction site looks almost peaceful from up here. Almost.

I stand on the slight ridge above the property, hands tucked into the pockets of my coat, watching men move equipment into position below. Nothing has been built yet. No walls, no roof, just surveyed earth, stacks of lumber, machinery waiting to be put to work, and temporary fencing cutting clean lines through the dirt.

From this distance, it looks like possibility. Up close, it will become another Deep Waters property; a collection of ski-in, ski-out condominiums that we’ll manage as rentals.

Another legitimate piece of an empire that has never been entirely legitimate.

Because under the surface here, we’ll be organizing clandestine meetings. This is where powerful, wealthy men will come to negotiate and dictate the state of the world, or at the very least, the East Coast.

I hear footsteps behind me.

“Found you.”