“Simon!” he snarls.
“I didn’t want you cornering Selene again, okay. I was trying to protect her,” I snap.
Matvei scoffs and shakes his head. “Well done, man. Because you protected her, and now oursisterhas been taken.”
“And mychildren!”I yell at him, my head aching and my neck muscles so tight they might tear.
“Please,” Selene says quietly. “This isn’t helping anything.”
I turn to look at her. Her eyes are swollen and red. Beneath them, there is a shadow so dark it looks like she got punched in the face, but it’s pure exhaustion. Pure worry. Hours of crying.
“I think you need to stay out of it at this point,” Matvei snaps at her.
“Don’t speak to her like that,” I snap back.
“What? What good has she done? She got our sister kidnapped and your children. Tell me what good advice or information she has given us to prevent this!”
I shake my head, furious at my brother, but without the energy to fight him. I need all of my energy to find my family.
I turn my back on Matvei and speak to Adrian. “Did the guys find anything yet?” I ask quietly.
“Nothing. It looks like the Mykros family has made itself disappear.”
“Fuck,” I say under my breath.
I hear Matvei groan.
When I hear footsteps, I turn to see Selene leaving.
I glare at Matvei, and he pushes his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry,” he mutters, embarrassed. “I’m… I’m worried.”
I sigh heavily and shake my head. “So is Selene. Don’t take this out on her. Her father is the one to blame. She is worried sick.”
“I know, man. I… I wasn’t thinking. I’m tired and frustrated. I’m here to help. Ok. Whatever you need. We’re going to find them,” he says.
I step forward and hug him, patting him hard on the back. “We will. We will find them,” I say sternly.
Matvei goes to sit down next to Adrian at our makeshift operations station.
“Ok, what have we got so far?” he asks.
I leave the two of them and head out of the room to find Selene.
I know she is drowning in guilt.
She thinks this is her fault because it’s her family who took our children.
But I think this is my fault because I should never have agreed to the dinner.
I find Selene sitting on the twins’ bed. The room is clean. Reset. The blood is gone, fresh bedding on the bed. But there is a chemical smell of bleach and disinfectant drifting into the room from downstairs, where the big clean-up has been ongoing.
“It smells like death,” she whispers, stroking her fingers over a teddy bear’s face.
“They will be finished soon,” I reassure her, sitting down on the bed next to her.
“What if…” She starts, but stops.
Slip my arm around her waist and pull her closer to me. “This isn’t your fault, Selene. You couldn’t have known what your father had planned,” I say gently.
