Read Online 3 Bad Guys Get Caught by Marie Astor - Free Book Online

way, but every time she came
near the safe, Anton shooed her away. He didn’t like her being in his “business
room.” Mila strained her ears, waiting for the reassuring sound of Anton’s
raspy snores. He was still asleep. Think, Mila murmured, racking her brain for
numbers that were important to Anton: his birthday, his father’s birthday, his
brother’s birthday. Definitely not her own birthday; despite her artful reminders,
Anton had missed it and didn’t even bother to get her a gift as an apology. He
knew that he needn’t apologize to her: the ties that bound her to him were
strong enough to make her forgive him any offense. The only way to change
things was for her to get into that damn safe and break into Anton’s computer.
    “Mila!” Anton’s hoarse voice erupted
from the bedroom.
    Mila resisted the impulse to spring away
from the safe, and instead tiptoed out of the room.
    “Yes, darling?” she spoke in her sexiest
voice, as she walked into the bedroom.
    “Where did you go? You know I like
waking up with you next to me. I had a dream about you, and then I woke up and
you weren’t here.”
    “Sorry, honey. I couldn’t sleep, but I’m
going to make it up to you.” Mila slid on the bed, sliding her hand over
Anton’s hairy chest.
    “That’s what I like to hear.” Anton
pressed his hands into Mila’s flesh a little too roughly for her taste, but she
knew better than to object. “Come to papa.”
     
    ***
     
    At five o’clock sharp Janet walked
through the door of the Panther restaurant. She exchanged a friendly hello with
the busboy who had let her in, and made her way downstairs to change. Just
then, Roman intercepted her.
    “Hello, sunshine.” Roman smiled at her.
Today he had taken greater care of his appearance, having shaved and put on a
crisp, white shirt and removed the toothpick from his mouth.
    “Hi Roman,” Janet replied, ducking her
head as she tried to pass him.
    “You call that a hello? Where’s my kiss?
It’s the rule here that all the waitresses are supposed to kiss the manager.
Didn’t Mila tell you?”
    Janet stared straight into Roman’s eyes.
Maybe he was kidding, or maybe he was serious; there was no way for her to
know, and the truth was that she really didn’t care. She was here for one
purpose and one purpose only: to learn about Petr Kovar’s connection to Libby.
“Well, I don’t like this rule,” she retorted. “So you’ll just have to settle
for hello.”
    Roman laughed. “Feisty! I like that in a
woman. I’ll see you later, Janet.”
    Her cheeks burning, Janet literally flew
down the stairs. She had enough trouble memorizing Panther’s menu; she didn’t
need the added aggravation of Roman’s harassment.
    She changed quickly and went back
upstairs. Mila was already waiting there for her.
    “Good, you’re on time,” Mila greeted
her. “They really don’t like people being late here. Don’t give Roman an excuse
to chew you out, if you get my drift.”
    “I sure do,” Janet sighed.
    Mila looked at her sharply. “What
happened? Was he coming on to you or something?”
    “Oh, it’s nothing I can’t handle. He’s
just a pest, that’s all.”
    Mila smirked. “A giant cockroach, if you
ask me. He is really the bad apple in the family, but they let him stick around
here and pretend that he’s important.”
    “The family?”
    Mila looked at her as though Janet had
two heads. “The Kovars. Don’t you know that Petr Kovar owns this place?”
    “Does he? I had no idea,” Janet lied.
“Who is Petr Kovar?”
    Mila rolled her eyes. “Only one of the
richest men in Eastern Europe and probably the whole world. Anton and Roman are
his nephews. Anton is the one who really runs the place. Roman’s power only
extends to bossing the waitresses around.”
    Janet nodded. “Now it makes sense.”
    “So even though he’s a cockroach, try to
be nice to Roman, but keep your hands off Anton. He’s spoken for,” Mila added
sharply.
    “I noticed.