“Yes, yes, and yes,” I reply. “But I want to say hello to my family before we leave, thank them for coming.”
“I’ll send Edik to the kitchen,” Kirill tells me, “Get you something to nibble and sip on. Then we’ll go to a restaurant after we leave and get you something more substantial.”
I nod, and Kirill turns to Edik and gives the orders. He disappears immediately, though he doesn’t look happy about it.
“Yana?” Max calls behind us.
We all turn around, surprised, and see Max standing beside the sculpture Yana inspired.
Max hurries over to us.
“I have a person dying to meet you,” he explains to Yana. “I told them you were the inspiration for the red piece and they are in awe. Would you please come over and say hello?”
Yana, my stoic powerhouse of a bodyguard blushes, actuallyblushes,and looks toward Kirill.
“I don’t think-” Kirill starts to say, but I squeeze his arm.
“Let her,” I whisper to him. “Edik will be back any second.”
Kirill gives me a reticent look, but nods.
“Be quick,” he commands, and he and I turn the corner into the small space where my family and the sculpture Kirill inspired are nestled.
My happiness wavers instantly the moment I see my father and sister. Neither of them look well, even as my father gives me a warm smile and approaches me with a hug and kisses to my cheeks. Kirill must notice it too, because as soon as Yulian lets go of me, my husband is urging my father to come talk to him.
“Valya,” I whisper as my sister and I are left alone. “What’s going on? Are you okay? Is Papa?”
Valya gives me an offended look, and stirs the speared olive in her martini.
“We’re fine,” she shoots back, “Sorry we can’t look as radiant as you.”
I shoot her a glare.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” I whisper. “I just-”
A loud bang explodes through the building, followed by quake, and my words and thoughts are interrupted as I’m suddenly flailing for balance.
“Valya!” I shout, reaching for her as the lights go out. I claw into empty air and fall forward, landing hard on my hands and knees.
“Annika?” Kirill’s voice resounds through the sudden screams surrounding me, “Annika!”
“Kirill!!!” I scream, feeling panic start to close in on me.
Gentle hands close around my shoulders and I breathe a sigh of relief as I’m being pulled to my feet.
“Kirill,” I sigh, leaning into a hard body.
“Sorry, bitch,” A deep unfamiliar voice says in my ear as a I feel a pinch at my neck, “Wrong man.”
I let out a scream, fear pouring through my veins, but before I can even start to fight, my legs give out, and the last thing I hear before I lose consciousness is Kirill screaming my name.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kirill
“Where is she?” I demand, slamming my fist into the table.
It’s been six hours since the blackout at the gallery. Six hours since mywifewas taken from me. Edik, Yana, and the small army of bodyguards I’ve sent out to find her all look back at me as the echo of my fist resounds through the room.
