page83 (1/1)

Her eyesso hard in her throat she al to kill Niko, there was no way she was going to open the door and let another witness enter the room, but Please, God, she pleaded in her mind Please don’t let him do this

Niko was still whi for his life, and Andre spared hi his attention back to Juliana and nodding “Let them in, little one I will not kill hi”

Chapter 19

They weren’t able to leave Zakhar that night, after all Niko’s arrest iven statements to the police, until Niko had been safely incarcerated and interrogated, and until his coconspirators had been disclosed and arrested

Niko had talked The threat of a trial for high treason with its gruesouts in an effort to reach a plea agreement that would at least keep hiued vociferously against leniency when he learned of the attempts his own brother had h treason,” he stated flatly to his cousin, “should only have one outcome—even for my brother”

But Andre, with Juliana’s voice pleading with hireed to leniency, providing his cousin confess everything and name the men involved

The conspiracy had been s to Niko Two of the men were already dead—the supposedly “politically motivated” assassination attempts had resulted in the deaths of the would-be assassins Which left fivehi other than es he was ienda Just money

As Lukas had suspected, one of the five—the only A’s Ransom creho’d been seduced into attempted murder by the money that had been waved under his nose He confessed the minute he was arrested

One of the conspirators was a member of the Zakharian National Forces with military clearance and access to the royal helicopter, lured into treason by his own greed He, too, confessed when he was arrested and threw hi’s mercy

The other two conspirators, one of as the driver of the Mercedes-Benz that had tried to run Juliana doere Russians with lengthy cri to Interpol Their participation in the conspiracy was no surprise given Niko’s ability to pay handsomely Andre’s only question had been how his cousin had known these members of the underworld, but that had been explained with one word—drugs The Bratva had been supplying Niko with drugs for years

It was very late by the tio prison where Niko had been taken to give his confession There was still adoould eventually be acoconspirators had been rounded up and were now safely incarcerated in the same prison Andre had left only after Zax assured hi more either of them could do at that point

The two cousins sat silently in the back of the li’s bodyguard, sitting in front with the driver Andre fought off a desire to close his eyes in exhaustion and instead murmured to Zax, “I a in his confession”

Zax shot him a sharp look “You felt that, too? I did not want to say it in front of the others, but there was a ht Niko was about to reveal another nashort of torture will be successful in wringing further information from him at this point Especially if he thinks you are satisfied hat he has already revealed”

Andre’s lips tightened “There are times when I could wish”

“Yes, but you cannot You would not be the man you are if you could Let me deal with my brother—it is the least I can do for you I ork on his fears—ht be shielding That ht yield results”

Both men fell silent Then Zax added quietly, for Andre’s ears alone, “My resignation will be on your desk in the ”