“Anton?” he asks, pretending to be bored.
“You know exactly who the hell it is. Where is she, Illyin? Give her back to me!”
There is a pause. A drawn-out moment of silence. Then a dark chuckle.
“I guess I should have known you’d figure out where she was quite quickly. Yes, I have her, but I’m not letting her go back to you—not ever.”
My heart shatters with panic. I can’t live without seeing her again. Leaning forward, I rest my head on the top of the steering wheel. “Let me see her,” I say, quieter, almost pleading.
“Why should I do that?” he snaps angrily.
“Please, let me just see her. I will come alone. I won’t bring my guards. I just need to see her and hear from her own mouth that she doesn’t want to come back to me,” I beg.
“You’re pathetic, Anton. But fine. I can arrange that. But I swear, if I see one guard, I’ll shoot you in the head right in front of her.”
I clench my jaw to stop myself from telling him how cruel he is. I have one goal right now. I need to see her. I need to tell her I love her.
I can’t believe I never fucking said the words.
Waiting for the right time.
Waiting for the stress to resolve itself.
Waiting for the mess with her brother to end so that I can tell her everything that’s in my heart.
And now I waited so long I have almost lost the chance to ever say the words to her.
No, not yet. You will see her. You will tell her.
“Today,” I demand.
He scoffs. “Fine. I’ll text you an address. Come alone. Be there at eleven this morning.”
He hangs up and I stare at the phone, my hands shaking, my jaw clenched.
It’s nine. I have to get through two hours of agony without her before eleven.
And then what?
What happens after that?
Do I tell her I love her and then never see her again?
But she is my wife. She is my everything!
The two hours between the phone call and the meeting time are both an eternity and over in the blink of an eye. I am in a daze of panic and worry for most of the time, and I can’t sit still or get my body to relax.
At eleven on the dot, I am walking into the address her brother sent me.
I step into the empty warehouse, and the hackles on the back of my neck rise in warning.
“Izabel?” I call out into the open space. “Illyin?”
Laughter comes from behind me, and I spin, wishing I had somehow brought backup.
“Hello, Anton. Good to see you, man. How you been?”
My lips curl back in a snarl. “Gusev Pavel, what the fuck are you doing here?”
