“No.” Callum folded his arms over his black shirt. “Too risky. We stick with the original plan.”
Megan relaxed in Dimitri’s arms. The rage leached from her eyes leaving behind hopeless dejection. He didn’t relax his hold on her, although now it was for a different reason than self-preservation—he was offering her comfort.
“But,” Megan said, “if we hit him personally, rather than through his business, and we hit him hard, surely he’ll get the message and leave Claire alone? Plus we’d still have the information we need to find Katrina. And the authorities would still have what they needed to take down the whole organisation in one fell swoop. We’d all get what we want.”
Rachel nodded, surprising everyone by taking Megan’s side—again. “I agree. From everything we know about Abramovich, I don’t see why a personal message wouldn’t work on him. It makes sense that Claire’s family would strike out at him to make him back off. I don’t see how that would have repercussions for a police investigation.”
Callum ignored Rachel and addressed Megan. “I know you want this to end for your sister. You need to trust me that that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It will just take a little longer than we envisioned.”
“And in that time, Claire gets to worry about Rudi coming for her while she’s pregnant. We can’t watch her every single minute of every day. The risk is too high. If we don’t make it clear that Rudi needs to back off now, we take a risk with the lives of Claire and her baby.”
“You have to trust us. We know what we’re doing.” Callum would not be moved on this point. “Hurting Rudi, because that’s what you’re talking about here, will only make him suspicious. It could jeopardise the whole plan. It’s a risk we can’t take.”
Megan wriggled in Dimitri’s arms before turning to him. “Let me go. I won’t hit anyone.”
He didn’t want to, but he opened his arms. Megan pulled up a chair and sat right beside him, her thigh touching his as though needing the warmth to ground her. Dimitri placed a hand low on her back and rubbed his thumb to soothe her. She relaxed a fraction more, but didn’t acknowledge his touch in any other way.
“I really don’t see how it could jeopardise the police side of things,” Rachel said. “There is no way to connect Dimitri and Megan to the police. If they should warn him off Claire, while they have their meeting with him, it would only come across as a personal response by a family member to a personal threat. I don’t see how he could connect it to his business in any way.”
“We can’t take that risk,” Callum said again. “Getting his business records and getting out in one piece is more important than anything else.” He looked at Megan. “That’s if you’re still on board.”
Dimitri wanted to smack Callum for asking the question. It showed how little he knew of the woman. He felt her stiffen under his hand. Her chin shot up and her eyes were dark.
“I’ll do my part. Unlike some people in this room, I keep my word.” She stood, her posture rigid as though she was clinging to her control by sheer will.
Callum nodded. “I had to ask.”
“No, you really didn’t.” Megan shook her head in disgust and left the room.
“You’re making a mistake,” Rachel said to Callum once Megan was gone. “You should trust her, trust your team to pull this off without jeopardising future arrests.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rachel.”
Dimitri winced at Callum’s words. He saw Rachel’s lips thin and her eyes narrow. The temperature in the room seemed to drop by several degrees. And Dimitri wondered if they’d made a terrible mistake by tying Megan’s hands. He, more than anyone else in the room, knew exactly how far a person would go to protect someone they loved. And he knew Megan was nowhere near her limit.
Chapter Fourteen
“This isn’t going to work,” Megan complained for the thousandth time since Julia had suggested they head across London to Rachel’s flat for a private girl meeting. Her anger had worn off and now all she was left with was a sickening sense of betrayal that made her want to vomit. “She hates me. She won’t help.”
“Have some faith,” said the woman who hid behind office plants.
“Either way, it should be entertaining,” Elle added, as she adjusted the yellow headband she’d pulled from her bag. It matched her skater dress perfectly and made her look like a punk Doris Day.
They entered the lobby of Rachel’s swanky apartment building on Hyde Park Corner and approached the concierge desk.
“We’re here to see Rachel Ford-Talbot,” Megan said, mainly because Julia was pretending to be invisible again and Elle was too busy checking out the decor.
“One moment, madam,” the guy in the tailored suit said as he reached for the phone. “Whom shall I say is calling?”
“Her nemesis, her pet hacker and the invisible office manager,” Megan said.
Julia poked her in the back. Megan rolled her eyes. “Megan Donaldson, Elle Roberts and Julia Collins.”
“Very well.” He dialled Rachel’s apartment.
“Ms Ford-Talbot, you have guests here to see you. A Ms Megan Donaldson, Ms Elle Roberts and a Ms Julia Collins.”
There was a moment’s silence while the guy listened to Rachel. Megan tried to work out Rachel’s end of the conversation from the completely blank look on his face, but she didn’t get very far.