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Seemingly vacant of all patience then, Erasmo crossed the space between us and reeled his hand back. Pain split through my cheek in time with the ear-shattering smack of his palm against my skin, and I was immediately stunned.
Head whipping to the side from the impact, I couldn’t even reach up to feel my cheek or to try and ease that sting. Tears pricked in my eyes, and I only looked at him in pure shock.
Anger flared in his eyes. “Nik is scum—nothing more. I trusted him, but it seems he let a Levov whore cloud his judgment, and now you will face the consequences. Soon enough, I’ll get my revenge, and that will be it.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I tried my hardest to keep my composure.
Given my family’s track record, I had no reason to believe they wouldn’t succeed in finding me and putting an end to Erasmo’s tirade once and for all, but concern was growing within me.
I hated the idea of anyone getting hurt trying to rescue me, and I didn’t want Erasmo to succeed even remotely.
As the two men prepared to move me as their boss directed, I silently hoped that Nik would know where to find me, and that I wouldn’t have to be stuck with Erasmo and his goons for much longer.
Chapter 27 - Nik
Even after everything was said and done, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking.
Adrenaline seemed to enter my system at a constant drip, keeping me wired and trembling at the thought of Anastasia being taken by Erasmo and his men. There wasn’t any space left in my head to consider anything else, not while it was crowded by panicked thoughts of my wife’s fate.
Those darker, heavier worst-case scenarios were difficult to dispel, no matter how hard I tried to force them away. I didn’t want to assume Erasmo would exact his revenge on Anastasia instead of me, but I couldn’t put it past him.
As I had warned her before, he was capable of committing to whatever might better his standing in the city and grow his business. Even hurting another man’s wife was on the table.
I could hardly keep it together as Andrei and Aristarkh came up with the game plan. Everything happened around me in a blur, and I couldn’t come to terms with it.
My fury seemed to have no end the longer I stood there amid the debris while Andrei and the others were barking orders through their phones. I was pissed that Erasmo had the gall to take her from me, but beyond that, I was angrier at myself for putting her in that position. For making a target out of her by bringing her back into my life.
If it weren’t for me and my selfishness, she wouldn’t have been in this position. She would’ve been out in the city living her normal life and pursuing her dream career while people like Erasmo didn’t know anything about her.
She worked hard to distance herself from the crime underbelly her family ruled, which meant she had never really been in the game in the first place. Before me, she wasn’t used for blackmail or striking up trades. Anastasia had the ability to live as she wanted without a care in the world, and I singlehandedly ruined that for her.
I ruined a lot of things for her, and I didn’t think I would ever forgive myself for that.
My desperation and near obsession with Anastasia put her in harm’s way, and no matter how I twisted my reasoning in the past, none of it seemed justifiable.
I deserved whatever fate was coming to me, and so long as I managed to save her from the same thing, I was more than willing to accept that punishment.
My pulse rang in my ears, blocking out everything around me. I could only think about finding her and getting her back, but the shock of it all had me glued in place.
“Nik, did you hear me?”
Blinking through my haze, I found Dimitri looking back at me, recalling his name from the club. I didn’t register his hand on my shoulder until that moment. “What?”
“I asked if this is Erasmo’s place,” he said, turning his phone screen for me to see a map of the city, along with a red pin indicating something. “It’s a good thing Anastasia has her phone again. We managed to track it down to this place. It seems the old man wasn’t keen enough to take her cell.”
“You found her,” I managed, letting that realization settle in. That glimmer of hope shattered my tunnel vision at last.
Dimitri nodded. “We’re sending our teams out, and we’ll be going soon, too. I take it you’d like to be there.”
Resolve rushed through my system at once, but better judgment came through with it. “Of course, more than anything. But Erasmo would never keep Anastasia at his place for long. He doesn’t like having work matters around his family.”
“You’re saying he’ll likely have a second location for her?”
“He has more than one. If he manages to take her to any of his safe houses, she’ll be guarded better than any high-risk prison, and I can only imagine what he’d have planned,” I warned him, urgency coursing through me.
“Then we need to leave now. Ride with Ari. He won’t mind the chance to get to know you better,” he said with a clap on my shoulder before he informed the others we had to act sooner rather than later.
While whoever I went with seemed irrelevant at that moment, my stomach dropped anyway as Ari quickly motioned for me to follow. “You’re my navigator.”
