Focus
man who had CJ. I had long since put the underworld into my past. When I became Asher Sloane, I deliberately left behind everything that was associated with Alexei Pushkin. I still had my contacts, but they were superficial. I really wanted nothing to do with these men and what they did.
    Like it or not, I needed Sophie.
    “How long does she have?” I asked her.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “Knowing the person who has her, I would think that she has less than 72 hours at this point. Not that this person is going to kill her, but I know that he’s looking for girls to ship overseas. Once she’s in that group, you won’t ever know what happened to her. I think that you know this. She’ll end up a courtesan of some Saudi oil man, or become one of his wives.
    “I don’t believe that she’s been captured for white slavery,” I said to Sophie. “I believe that she’s been captured because she’s being used as bait for me. And I think that you’re involved with all of that.”
    “Think what you want. The fact is, I know where she is and who is keeping her.”
    I took a deep breath. Was she bluffing? I knew that she wasn’t. She knew that CJ was missing before I ever said a word to her.
    72 hours. Was Sophie right about that? Did somebody from the Kazakov family end up with CJ in their clutches? That was the only family that Sophie was friendly with, so if CJ was in the hands of a Russian mobster, it probably would have been somebody from that family. Did they really want her for white slavery, or did they want her to trap me?
    At any rate, I knew what I was going to have to do, once I found her. I was simply going to have to make a trade. My life for hers. If it was me they wanted, then they could have me. I would give myself up without hesitation to insure that she was safe.
    Without even a moment’s hesitation.
    “Okay,” I finally said, feeling that giving Sophie what she wanted would be the quickest way of finding out where she was being kept. “Let’s go.”
    She cocked her head. “One night?” she said. “That’s all it will be. I know that you don’t want to be with me for the long term, but one night is all that I ask for right now.”
    I swallowed, hard. Gut check time. She said that she only wanted one night with me. I knew differently. “What else do you want?” I asked her. “I know you, and I don’t think that you will be satisfied with just one night. So, what else do you want?”
    It was her turn to draw in a deep breath. “I’m pregnant,” she said. “It’s not yours, of course. That would be impossible, as we haven’t been intimate in years. But the father is a member of the Kazakov family. A married member of the Kazakov family. Needless to say, I would be erased if this man found out I was carrying his child.”
    I groaned. “You want me to claim that I’m the father. Is that it?”
    “Yes,” she said. “And you can never tell anybody that you’ve done this.” She pointed at Nikolai. “And you, Nikolai, I hope that I don’t have to tell you what might happen if you told anybody the truth about this baby.”
    Nikolai went white and just nodded his head. I could only assume that Sophie had something on him, so I kept quiet.
    “Okay, Sophie,” I said. “So, I guess you and I won’t be having sex tonight after all.” Thank God for that. I couldn’t stand to betray CJ like that, and I was glad that I wasn’t going to have to. “Obviously you need my help as much as I need yours. So, we’re on equal footing here.”
    I actually was kind of loving this position. Sophie was as desperate as me, it turned out.
    She leaned back. “Not so fast. This is actually why I didn’t object to Nikolai being here and listening to all of this. I need some insurance that you will actually do this for me.”
    I looked at Nikolai. “I’m a man of my word, and if I tell you that I’ll do this, then I’ll do this. But I don’t know exactly why Nikolai would be an insurance policy
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