Free An Obsession with Vengeance (Wanted Men Book 3) by Nancy Haviland

she’d unloaded all I sent her within forty-eight hours. Even my people would struggle to pull that off.”
    A sinking feeling played in Maks’s gut and he was relieved when Vasily gave him a subtle nod to join in. He did. “Why do you think she refused to sell to him? Maybe he was already tanked, and she was attempting to avoid trouble in her club.”
    “Oh, she didn’t just refuse to sell to him.” Luiz’s tone was still mildly pleasant, but an edge had crept in to show he was more bothered by the situation than he was letting on. And Maks understood why. If Sydney had played him and Luiz had fallen for it . . . Shit. What the hell was she thinking? “She’s refused to sell to every other buyer I’ve sent in over the past weeks. And I’ve sent in the gamut—men, women, black, white, Asian. She’s no racist, since none have come out happy. She just isn’t selling at all.” Another pause. “This is why I don’t normally go into deals such as this. But my brother had a personal interest in Ms. Martin’s request, so I acquiesced as a favor to him.” He indicated the goon staring around the club through stringy black hair. Was the guy aware that by standing so close to Luiz he was impeding any quick exit the drug lord might need to make? Three other men stood a few yards away; one of them was paying more attention to the way one of Maksim’s dancers bent at the waist at that perfect angle than to the meeting that could go horribly wrong at any moment.
    “And you’re assuming what in this situation, Luiz?” Vasily asked, coming back into the conversation. “You think she’s been buying large amounts of product from you and . . . destroying it? Why not selling it elsewhere?”
    “Nothing has shown up on the streets in or around her neighborhood. And even if that’s what she’s doing, that wasn’t the deal we made.”
    Doing his best to hide the fact that the size of Sydney’s balls impressed him, Maks tried again. “Maybe she’s exporting.”
    Vasily nodded at the suggestion. It was a possibility. Morales seemed to think so, too. “I hadn’t thought of that,” the dealer said, clearly thinking it now. After a few tense seconds, he shrugged. “But, again, that wasn’t our deal. In which case you must see a punishment for her gall is warranted. Do I have clearance to proceed?”
    Maks had been rubbing hard at the worn metal key he’d carried around with him since he was fourteen, but the motion stopped with that question. Punish Sydney? His tiny Aussie? That had better be met with a resounding not-on-your-fucking-life.
    “I’m sure you understand why I can’t give you an answer immediately. I’ll need a day or two to look into this.” Vasily got to his feet, signifying the end of the meeting. “I’ll get back to you before the weekend with a solution I’m sure we can all live with.”
    Luiz stood, as well. “I don’t see the point in you doing a separate investigation, Vasily. I’ve been quite thorough—believe me. When it comes to business, I don’t do things halfway. Regardless what she is doing with my product, this woman reneged on our very magnanimous deal, and I feel I have every right to show her the error of her ways.”
    Feeling brutally impotent, Maksim looked to his Pakhan and waited for another negative to be handed off. No fucking way would Vasily allow this degenerate drug peddler anywhere near Sydney. Jesus Christ, all he could think was what if Morales hadn’t approached them before going after her? What if they’d simply snatched her? Maksim never would have seen her again. Even in his mind he couldn’t go anywhere near what might have been done to her before they eventually killed her.
    “Who initiated between the two of you?” he asked, needing as many facts as he could get directly from the source.
    Luiz looked to him, his expression clearing somewhat, as though sensing an ally. Idiot.
    “She did. She traveled the proper channels—went through a