But now that he had proof his investigation was on the right track, he could kick it into high gear. It sounded like Morgan had found money discrepancies. She might not know the full extent of what was going on inside her club, but Ty was certain that with just a little more digging he and his men could uncover the whole scheme.
The easy thing to do would be to take Morgan in and reveal the whole plan to her. It was obvious that she disliked the Bratva’s presence in her club. Ty was fairly certain, with the right coercion, he could get her turn state’s evidence. It wouldn’t take much convincing on his part to get her to see it was the best way for her to protect the people she cared for. Until Barinov was out of business, no one around Morgan would be safe.
But he couldn’t. Not yet. After last night, the Bratva had to be watching Morgan. They’d know if he took her in. And then they’d destroy the evidence he was after.
Morgan had her suspicions, and she was on the right trail, but she had no idea what she was getting into.
But Ty could build on what she knew. He was close. A few more days—a week at the most—and the case would be strong enough for him to get a search warrant.
He had little doubt now that one good sweep of Gregg Kincaid’s office would give him everything he needed to take Barinov down.
Until then, Ty would just have to stay by Morgan’s side as much as he could and make sure that she didn’t get herself into any more trouble.
He’d had worse details.
Much worse.
Ty gave himself a mental shake as Morgan jumped down from the bar. Bright red pigtails bobbed at the side of her face.
For someone who was so sharp, she was wrong about one thing.
He wasn’t the one who was adorable.
She was.
She walked up to him, not stopping until she was so close that he had to tilt his head down to look into her sweet brown eyes.
“Promise me,” she said.
“Promise you what?”
“That you’ll stop playing the White Knight and start minding your own business.”
Ty couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corner of his lips.
“Only if you promise me that you won’t do anything stupid,” he said.
“Deal,” she said, and put out her hand.
“Deal.” Ty slid his palm against hers. Her fingers were soft and warm against his skin. He held on to her for a second too long.
She laughed, a sweet, low sound that traveled right through him, making his heart pound a little faster.
“You can stop looking at me like that now,” she said.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re into me.”
“Excuse me?”
A gentle blush lit up her cheeks. She glanced down for a second, making him think that whatever she was talking about, it wasn’t completely unwelcome.
“The soulful stare. The lingering touch. It’s the same bit you gave me the day of your interview, but the audition was over days ago.” She kept talking as she walked away. “Let me give you some advice. Don’t waste your Grade A material on me. Save it for the girls who tip.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ty called out. Except, deep down, he had a terrible feeling that he did.
Chapter Six
Morgan was making the stupidest mistake of her life. She knew it as she crouched down in front of her brother’s office door and slipped the thin metal rod into the lock.
She fiddled with the pin in her hand until she felt it click into place. At least, she thought that she did. She couldn’t be sure. What the hell did she know about lock picking? Everything a couple of hours watching video tutorials on the internet could teach her. Which was to say, not very much. It seemed this was a skill that took a lot of time to master.
Too bad she didn’t have a lot of time.
She had ten minutes…fifteen tops.
The club was busy again tonight. She’d sent everyone out on the floor, some with bogus jobs. But that would only keep the staff busy for so long. Eventually, someone was going to come into the backroom.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about Gregg. His Russian buddies had come in about a thirty minutes ago. Which meant that her brother would be cozying up to them at their booth for the next few hours.
Morgan pulled the second pick from her mouth. Well, it was a straightened paper clip, technically. But the guy in the video had said it would work in a pinch. And this here was the very definition of a pinch.
She needed to get into her brother’s office and fast. She knew that whatever was going on between her brother and the Bratva, the proof was inside Gregg’s office.
Morgan knew her brother too well. There was no way that Gregg wouldn’t keep the books. If there was one thing her brother loved more than expensive toys and powerful friends, it was neat, orderly rows of numbers that all lined up.
There had to be a true ledger.
She was pretty sure that it’s what he’d been working on when she’d confronted him that evening. Now, she could only hope that he had left it out on the desk and not tucked it back into his secret wall safe…the one everyone knew about.