“I’m sorry,boss. If I thought for a second that she was going to run, I wouldn’t have let her go to the restroom…”
Antonio’s apology trails off as he huffs a heavy sigh on the other end of the line.
“Is something wrong?” Lucky asks me, instantly on alert.
We’re driving back into the city together, while Priest and Saint work on other shit at the casino. I hold up a hand, signaling that he should wait while I handle this.
“Do you have any idea where she went?” I ask Antonio.
“I tracked her location to the subway, but I assume she hopped on a train before I could get to her. From there, she must have ended her location services before turning off the phone. There’s been no update, but I searched everywhere for her and she’s not there, and when I call, it goes straight to voice mail.”
Fuck. My. Life.
I just spent the last few hours defending Katya to my brothers, and now she’s disappeared on me. What the hell is she up to, and why?
This has Mikhail Sidorov’s greasy fucking fingerprints all over it.
“Keep looking for her,” I direct Antonio. “If anything comes up, give me a call. I’m headed back into the city now.”
“You got it, boss.”
The call ends, and I quickly try tracing Katya myself to double-check Antonio. There’s no location update. A call to the phone I gave her dumps me right into an auto attendant.
“Cazzo.” I throw my phone to the floor of the G-Wagon Priest’s driver, Rocco, is navigating through the traffic-laden bridge into the city.
We’ve been stop-go, stop-go for the last hour, and there’s no sign of the stalemate breaking up any time soon. An accident has closed down two lanes of traffic, and we have no way to make a U-turn and retrace our steps.
I’ve never felt more helpless.
I need to get to Katya, to find her. To know she’s safe.
“You going to fill me in,fratello?” Lucky asks from the other side of the G-Wagon.
I don’t want to fill him in. I don’t even know what’s going on. But there’s no hiding the phone call I just had.
So I sigh, then run a hand through my hair. “That was Antonio. Katya asked him to take her to a home improvement store, and while he was waiting at the paint desk, she made a trip to the restroom and didn’t come back. Turns out, she left the store and headed to the subway. From there, she turned off her phone so she’s currently untraceable.”
Lucky whistles. “Doesn’t look good for you. Is she running off to Sidorov, do you think?”
“Without the tracking, I have no clue.”
“Should have put an AirTag in her pussy instead of your dick,” Lucky tells me, smirking.
I’d punch him again if it weren’t for the fact that he’s just made me realize something. Ididslip an AirTag into the zippered compartment of her purse. The call from Antonio and the shock of Katya going missing had my head so fucked up that I didn’t think about it.
“Wait a minute.” I undo my seat belt and retrieve my phone, which is wedged under the driver’s seat. “I linked one to her new phone and hid it in her purse.”
I unlock my phone and swipe through to the right screen. Sure enough, there it is. Or rather, theresheis, and I know where she’s headed.
“Rocco,” I bark out, “there’s been a change of plans. Take us downtown when we get into the city instead.”
“You got it,” Rocco says.
It’s not as if he can do much to get us there yet. We’re still on pause, stuck in the same lane. But hopefully this shit starts moving soon.
“So, your Russian ballerina is playing runaway bride?” Lucky shakes his head. “Ouch.”
“She didn’t leave me,stronzo.”
