Mary scurried in after Ty. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Novakovsky. He got around me and your guards."
Yuri leaned to the side and spotted Vasya panting in the open doorway. With a flick of his hand, he sent his staff retreating. "I'll deal with him."
Once the door closed, Ty crossed the room and tossed a flash drive onto Yuri's desk. "That showed up with my morning paper."
Dread chilled him. "Do I even want to ask what's on it?"
"You're not going to be happy." Ty dropped into a chair near his desk. "I thought about taking it to Lena but she would be humiliated if she knew what was on it. I brought it to you because I assumed you have ways of dealing with this kind of blackmail."
Stomach churning, Yuri plugged in the flash drive. The moment it loaded he spotted the video file. Though he had a sinking feeling what the file contained, he clicked it anyway. Twenty seconds into viewing the tryst he'd shared with Lena on the desk in his home office, he closed the window.
Cold with shock and the surge of betrayal, he clicked through the photos on the drive. Someone had taken snapshots of him shaking hands with Lorenzo Guzman and making the exchange for Lena's father.
Yuri cleared his throat. "Who else has seen this?"
"A reporter at the paper received those same pictures of you in Mexico making whatever fucking deal that is with the cartel."
Yuri's gaze snapped to Ty's face. "How do you know?"
"Carson is an old boyfriend of mine. He was an embedded journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan but he's moved to the business beat here. Before he took the job here, he did some time following the cartel violence in Juarez and Sinaloa so he understands what those pictures mean."
"Why didn't he call me first?"
"He recognized Lena immediately. He's worked with her before and he knows that we're friends. He won't run the story because he's afraid it might get people killed. That's not the kind of journalist he is."
"Thank God for that," Yuri murmured. He unplugged the drive. "Do you know who sent this?"
Ty shook his head. "If I had to guess it's an assistant or one of those linebackers you hire to watch your back. The only people who get close enough to you to plant a camera and reveal all those dirty details are the people who work for you and have some level of trust."
Yuri wiped a hand down his face. Mind racing, he asked, "What did they want you to do with them?"
"Embarrass you. I read that you've got your pipeline deal nailed down. I've been following that saga for the last couple of weeks. It was pretty obvious that someone was trying to stall that deal or fuck you over completely. When that didn't succeed, they went for the old standby—personal humiliation."
"I'm not embarrassed to be caught making love to Lena."
"I'm sure you're not but do you think she wants a blown-up screencap of her orgasm-face all over the damn internet? There goes her credibility. Suddenly she's that jumped-up skank from the projects who earned her new business on her knees."
Yuri cringed at the awful way Ty described the situation. He recognized that Ty didn't believe those things but the gossip columnist understood how others would perceive Lena's position. He shoved out of his chair and slammed both hands on this desk. "Fuck."
"Hey," Ty said loudly. "Don't freak out. We'll keep a lid on this."
"We?"
"Me and you."
Yuri narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think I trust you?"
"You don't have to trust me," Ty replied matter-of-factly. "You need me. The first thing I learned in this business is that you always have to have the bigger, uglier secret. There isn't a gossip blog or business journalist who will touch these stories once I make it known that I'm working with you. They know I won't hesitate to take them out at the knees to protect a client."
Yuri's estimation of Ty climbed a few notches. "We don’t have to do anything quite so drastic yet."
"I agree but it's always good to be frank with people."
Yuri couldn't argue with that. "I need to get home and sweep my office. It's apparent from this," he picked up the drive and pocketed it, "that I've been bugged."
"I've got a private investigator on my payroll who knows his way around surveillance. I'd be happy to loan him to you."
"I appreciate the offer but no. I'll handle this on my own."
Yuri gathered up his things and headed for the door. Ty trailed him to the door. "Keep me in the loop."
Yuri wasn't so sure he wanted to tie himself to a man who made his millions with an empire of gossip blogs but there wasn't much of a choice here. He needed Ty's help. "I will."
Out in the lobby, he motioned for Derek and Vasya to follow. "We're going home. Now."
Derek frowned with concern but didn't say anything. Yuri's jaw clenched and unclenched during the elevator ride down to the garage. Safe inside the backseat of the car, he made sure the partition was safely in place and then called Nikolai to quickly relay the situation.
Nikolai cursed obscenely as the news of the attempted blackmail using Lena registered. "We have to find this man. Now."
"I agree. Do you have any leads?"
"I'm waiting to hear back from a friend I keep in contact with but it doesn't seem promising. Ivan swears that Pasha talked about a kid of his own but I don't remember it."
"A boy?"
"Ivan says it was a girl named Katya. He remembered seeing her once in the old man's office at the orphanage. She had dark hair."
"A dark-haired Russian girl named Katya? That narrows it down," he grumbled.
"Don't be an asshole, Yuri. It doesn't suit you."
He grunted and picked at his jacket. "I don't know what to do anymore. I never feel lost or out of control like this."
"That's the point. The person doing this wants us to feel helpless. It's part of the thrill."
He ran his fingers through his hair and scratched at his head. "I can't live like this, Nikolai. I don't know how you do it. How you can stand the constant checking over your shoulder."
"I don't check."
Yuri heard the coldness edging into Nikolai's voice. "You're a braver man than me."
"You have something to lose. I don't."
Yuri understood what his friend meant. If he was the only one at risk, it would be easier to take all of this in stride but he wasn't. It was the thought of Lena being caught in the crosshairs, of Lena being hurt, that sickened him and filled him with dread and fear.
Nikolai's decision to keep everyone at arm's length seemed smart now. The life Nikolai had chosen entailed a great deal of risk and collateral damage. Keeping the people he loved at a safe distance was the only way he could ensure that his choices wouldn't hurt others.
But it had to be a lonely life.
Yuri thought of the way Lena had brightened and filled his life. It was the same for Dimitri and Ivan—but Nikolai?
Whether it was right or wrong, Nikolai had obviously fallen in love with sweet Vivian over the last few years. Yuri remembered that evening in his office when they'd scared the piss out of Jonah Krause and forced him to sell his retail development as punishment for trying to kill Benny and Dimitri. What had Nikolai said? That someday Vivian would make a very nice man a good wife.