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don’t know what kind of connections Sophie has over here?”
    I sighed. “I do know. She has some connections with the Kazakov family, which is one of the most powerful in the city. I would like to think, though, that she wouldn’t go this far to get to me.” I suddenly felt naïve, though, to think that Sophie wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted, which was me. And the guilt I felt by putting CJ in the middle of all of that was overwhelming.
    Why I never saw that putting CJ up to posing as my fiancée, in order to get rid of Sophie, wouldn’t backfire, I didn’t know. It led to disaster, apparently, and I was desperate to do anything to ensure CJ’s safety.
    We finally got to the bar, Rudy’s, and went in. Sophie was sitting in the back, waiting for us with two drinks. She stood up, and Nikolai kissed her on the cheek. “Good to see you again, Sophie,” he said to her. “You’re looking more beautiful than ever.”
    “And you, Nikolai,” she said with an enormous smile. “Asher,” she said to me in greeting. It was a rather cold greeting, but that was to be expected. She wasn’t exactly happy to see me.
    Nikolai chuckled. “Asher. I keep forgetting that Alexei isn’t one of us anymore. He is a legitimate American businessman, with a legitimate American businessman name.”
    Sophie sat down, and the two of us did as well.
    “I got you a scotch neat, Asher,” Sophie said to me sweetly. “I remember how much you love them.”
    I took a deep breath. I wanted to kill this woman more than I have ever wanted to kill anyone. Yet, I couldn’t. I needed her for information.
    “Thank you, Sophie,” I said to her. “I do love my neat scotches.”
    “Okay. Well, I guess we should probably get down to brass tacks here,” she said to me. “Your girlfriend is missing, and I know where she is and who has her.”
    “And you’re behind it?” I asked her.
    “Actually, no, I’m not,” she said.
    I rolled my eyes.
    “I’m not. I know that you don’t believe me, but that’s not really my concern.”
    “Sophie, you hate her. You hate her and you clearly want me. Getting her out of the way would be very advantageous to you, wouldn’t it?”
    “I admit it would. And I almost wish that I had thought of it. But I’m not that evil of a bitch, believe it or not.”
    At that, Nikolai laughed.
    “You can laugh all you want, Nikolai, but I think that you know me better than that. I’m not that girl.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Unlike Asher here, I’ve never been responsible for anybody’s death, and I don’t plan to start now. For that matter, CJ herself has been responsible for more deaths than I have.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Are you never going to let that go? She made a mistake. A tragic mistake. She has paid for that mistake every second of every day of her life. She might be indirectly responsible for what happened to her poor little brother, but only indirectly.”
    “I know all that, Asher,” she said. “Are we going to keep going over this, or do you want information about CJ and where she is?”
    “You know I want that.”
    “Okay. Well, it’s going to cost you, of course.” She raised her eyebrow, and I knew what she was getting at.
    I narrowed my eyes and looked at Nikolai. He was studying Sophie as well, trying to ascertain, as was I, if Sophie was on the level. I assumed that she was, as she knew that CJ was missing before she spoke with me. She probably did know where CJ was.
    “Okay,” I said to her. “What’s your price?”
    She crossed her arms in front of her. “You know what I want, Asher.”
    I took a deep breath. I wanted to tell her to go to hell. To go fuck herself, because I would never fuck her, no matter what she did. No matter how much blackmail she tried.
    I thought better of it, though. CJ’s life was literally at stake, as far as I knew.
    I bit my lip. I wanted to go about this in a different way, but I knew that was fruitless. I didn’t know this