Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“According to the extraction team, every time they asked about her mate, she became hysterical. She would cry and talk about guns and poachers and everyone being dead.”
“Others escaped the massacre because at least nine other strawberry leopards were caught on separate cameras in various areas, isn’t that correct?” Ania asked.
“Yes,” Flambé said. “As far as I know, the teams are trying to find them. You know as well as I do, shifters are notoriously difficult to find when they don’t want to be tracked.”
“How does it work on your end?” Sevastyan asked. “You don’t use your private cell phone. You said someone at National Geographic gave you the heads-up. How?”
“I was working at the club when the call came in. There are only two of us who can answer that phone. Blaise Brodeur, my foreman, or me. He’s worked for us for years. My father brought him over years ago, when I was starting into my teens. He went to college, really excelled and came back to work with my father. He loves the landscaping business the way we do. My father gave him enough money to start his own business, but he wanted to stay on as the foreman and has. No one else has been there that long and knows both sides, the rescue and the landscaping.”
“So, Blaise took the original call and he set the investigators to work,” Sevastyan said.
“Yes, right away. He called me as well. I told him to alert the extraction team and put them in the field as they might have to track the leopards and get to them very fast. We didn’t know what was happening. Blaise called me back a few minutes later and told me about Shanty and the children. At that time, we didn’t know her name. He just said the contact at National Geographic had her picture and a location and she was separated from the others.”
Sevastyan exchanged a long look with his brother over Flambé’s head. He didn’t like the way this was beginning to shape up.
“Sevastyan?” Flambé’s voice sounded tired and worn. Hurt and betrayed. “Do you remember the day we were working on the property and I was talking with Rory, Etienne and Blaise? You came up behind me? That was when Flamme was really showing herself.”
“I remember.” He kept his voice strictly neutral.
“They were all looking at a picture of Shanty. Blaise acted as if he’d never seen her photograph, but he had to have. He was the first one to take the call. There was no way he didn’t see the photo and know the location. He had to send it to the investigation and extraction teams.”
“Blaise is a strawberry leopard.” Mitya made it a statement.
Ania looked at him, clearly puzzled, but she didn’t say anything.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re really quite beautiful, Flambé,” Mitya said. “You don’t seem to realize that you are. You also own a very successful business. Your father gave Brodeur the start-up money for a new business, but it would be nothing in comparison to what your business makes. In his mind, he paid his dues. He hung in there, worked hard, did what he was supposed to do and he should have gotten it all. You and the business.”
Sevastyan was extremely glad he wasn’t the one to have to point out to her that Blaise Brodeur was most likely the man who had betrayed her. He knew why Mitya was the one taking that chance. Once again, he was protecting his little brother, risking bringing Flambé’s wrath down on him rather than Sevastyan for even suggesting that Blaise might betray her.
She shook her head. “That makes no sense. He asked me out a couple of times, but after I turned him down, he stopped. He’s never made a move after that. And this entire thing, the poachers, the setup, all of it, the cost would be prohibitive. No way would it be Blaise.”
She didn’t want it to be someone she knew. Sevastyan tightened his arms around her, wishing he was alone with her and they were upstairs in their master bedroom where he could tie her with his rope. Arms and rope, more ties to comfort her. She was beginning to shiver again because she already knew the truth. She looked up at Sevastyan and there was despair in her eyes. Hurt. Tears swimming.
“He isn’t the one behind it all,” Sevastyan said softly. “You know that already, Flambé, but he took the money. He’s angry and he took the money.”
19
I DON’T like this, Flambé,” Blaise said, looking around. “It feels too open here. You’ve always met the clients in a safe house.”
“It’s the best I could do. You know my leopard’s in heat. I can’t exactly go out into the public, Blaise,” Flambé snapped. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. She makes me very moody. This came at such a bad time for everyone. I tried to get out of meeting Shanty. I was going to have you handle it, but she was very insistent. I told you, she would have preferred I meet her in South Africa. There was no way with my leopard so close to emerging.”