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Sasha sits back in his chair and pokes his stomach with a frown. “You’re not wrong, kid. I’ve softened a bit. Owning a restaurant is no help, but Josie seems to like me this way, so who am I to argue? What the women want, they get, right?”
Lilyana is still texting. She’s making out like some guy is hitting on her and she’s enjoying it.
Whatever you say, tsvetok. You’re in your safe little space, not out there letting another man get close. Pull that shit for real and see what happens.
I send her a few messages, letting her believe I’m mad. If it were truly happening, I would lose my ever-loving shit, but it isn’t, so I’ll derive great satisfaction in two minutes when I catch her out.
“Sasha, since you asked, the reason I chose this particular shithole is because the girls are here.”
“Our girls?” Vlas asks, baffled. “There was talk of face masks and Maid in Manhattan. Now you tell me they’re out on the town?”
Timur points at me. “This psycho got Lili a diamond necklace with a microcamera in it. He’s been watching them for ages on his special stalking app.”
“Let’s go find them,” Sasha says. “I’m not okay with them wandering around a dump like this; anything could happen.”
I’m no longer listening. I stare at my phone screen, realizing everyone is staring at me, but I don’t care.
Lilyana is on the move. What am I seeing here? Whose car is that?
Oh fuck, no.
I leap to my feet, sending the table toppling over. Vlad and the others call after me in confusion, but I don’t waste my breath explaining.
There’s no time. Lilyana needs me.
I’m outside in less than ten seconds, and the scene is chaos.
Morgana, Josie, and Heidi huddle together, seized with panic, as a man tries to drag Lilyana into his car. No one else has noticed yet; it’s all happening too fast.
I hurl myself at the attacker, and my weight takes his feet out from under him. Lilyana rolls away into the street, and Morgana goes after her, shouting her name. The man tries to shove me away, but I’m stronger, and I hold him down by the throat, my breathing harsh and rapid as I smash my knuckles into the man’s face over and over again.
Vicious words pour from my mouth. “You’re gonna die tonight, you fuck,” I say. “How dare you put your hands on her? You fucking scumbag piece of—”
Sasha and Avel grab one of my shoulders each and drag me off him. Despite their size and strength, it takes both of them to hold me.
“Enough!” Vlad shakes me. “Stop, Arman. We gotta talk to this guy and find out who he’s working for.”
I glance at Lilyana. She’s leaning on Morgana, pallid with shock, her eyes darting. The hunted look on her face reminds me of something, and I have to turn away.
I hold my hands in the air in surrender. Vlad and Sasha cautiously let me go, and I push my hair back with both hands. It’s only then that I realize they’re caked in blood.
“Sasha, order some cars and take everyone to my home,” Vlad says. “Have mine delivered here while you’re at it—Arman, Timur, and I will take this prick for a drive.”
“I don’t know, I swear!”
Fuck’s sake. Half an hour of persuasive intervention has gleaned only the idiot’s name and nothing more. He calls himself Marco and insists he has no idea who hired him to abduct Lilyana.
“Listen,” he says, spitting blood onto the concrete floor of the warehouse, “I got debts, okay? This guy calls me from nowhere. He says he’ll pay me twenty grand to grab the girl and dump her on my way out of the city. That’s all I had to do.”
Timur bends down to look into Marco’s face. “Comfortable, are you? I assume you like being duct taped to chairs and beaten because otherwise, you’d give us something useful.”
Vlad’s expression is opaque; he doesn’t want our captive to get a read on him. “Why would you agree to do this for so little return?” he asks. “It’s not a lot of money.”
Marco throws Vlad a dirty look with his good eye. The other one met with the butt of my gun and has swollen so much already that he can’t see out of it. “Maybe it’s not a lot of money to you, but I needed it. The guy assured me the girl wouldn’t be hurt; it was just a game. He said he likes to fuck with people.”
“Do you have family?” Timur asks. “People you care about?”
A flash of distilled rage crosses Marco’s mangled features. “Yes, I do. I did it for them so that we could escape. A new start.”
