Free How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks Page A

he was a vampire. She wouldn’t want to implant his tooth. She’d react like Eliza and want to bury a stake in his heart.
    Chapter 5
     
    “Tell me you found Shanna Whelan.” Ivan Petrovsky glared at four of the best thugs the Russian mafia had to offer.
    They avoided looking him in the eye. Cowards, all of them. Ivan had insisted on staying close to the dental clinic in case Shanna Whelan was hiding nearby. These four men had completed their search of nearby alleys and come up empty-handed.
    Three blocks away, police cars screeched to a halt in front of the ransacked clinic. Their flashing lights bounced off nearby buildings, waking the inhabitants. Mortals ventured onto the street, hoping to see something exciting. Like a dead body.
    It was a thrill Ivan was usually happy to supply, but tonight, Stesha’s thugs had screwed up. Incompetent cowards.
    Ivan strode toward the two black sedans they had moved away from the crime scene before the police could arrive. “She couldn’t have just disappeared. She’s only a mortal.”
    The four thugs followed him. A blond giant with a square jaw replied, “We didn’t see her go out the front or the back.”
    Ivan breathed in the blond Neanderthal’s scent. O positive. Too bland. Too damned stupid. “So, you think she did disappear?”
    No answer. They watched their feet as they shuffled along.
    “We did see the back door swing open,” a thug finally confessed, his face stippled with acne scars.
    “And?” Ivan waited impatiently.
    “I thought I saw two people.” Acne Face frowned. “But when we ran to the door, there was no one there.”
    “I thought I heard something. Like a swoosh,” a third thug offered.
    “A swoosh?” Ivan clenched his fists. “Is that all you can tell me?” Tension coursed through him, zeroing in on the muscles in his upper spine. With a sudden tilt of his head, he snapped his neck and felt a small measure of relief.
    The four mortals winced.
    Stesha Bratsk, the local Russian mafia boss, had insisted his own men take part in the Shanna Whelan assignment. A big mistake. Ivan’s fingers itched to encircle their thick bull necks and squeeze the life out of them. If only he had used his own vampires. Then the Whelan girl would be dead, and he’d be receiving the bounty money of two hundred and fifty grand.
    He was going to get that money one way or another. He thought back, recalling the interior of the dental clinic. No sign of the girl anywhere. The only interesting thing he had found was an uneaten pizza with the name of a deli emblazoned on the box in red and green letters. “Where is Carlo’s Deli?”
    “Little Italy,” the blond thug replied. “Great pizza.”
    “I like their lasagna better,” Acne Face said.
    “You idiots!” Ivan glowered at them. “How will you explain your failure to Stesha tonight? His cousin in Boston is serving a life sentence, all because that little bitch testified against him in court.”
    They shifted from one foot to another.
    Ivan took a deep breath. He didn’t care what happened to Stesha or his family. They were mortals, after all. But these guys worked for them, so they needed to show more loyalty. And less stupidity. “From now on, I use my own men at night. During the day, you watch the deli and the Whelan girl’s apartment. If you find her, follow her. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, sir,” they mumbled in unison.
    Unfortunately, Ivan didn’t have much hope for their success. His own vampires would prove much more capable at finding the missing Shanna Whelan. The only problem was they could work only at night. He needed these damned mortals to carry on the mission during the day.
    A third black sedan pulled up beside the other two cars, and two more of Stesha’s employees got out.
    “Well? Did you find her?” Ivan asked.
    A bearded thug with a shaved head came forward. “We spotted another car a block north of here. A green Honda. Two men. Pavel thinks he saw a woman.”
    “I did,”