Page 164 of Mafia Obsession

Ares makes another call, this time on speakerphone.

“Daria,” he says before she can even get out a hello.

“Ares,” she answers with a snap to her voice. “You’re on your honeymoon.”

“Sandrine is missing,” he says, ignoring her comment. “Marlowe just called and said she didn’t return before curfew. She was out for the day with her cousin. Elodie Vale.”

There’s a brief pause, then rapid clicking of keys in the background. “Give me a minute.”

I stand there, feeling useless, my phone still in my hand as I try Elodie again. And again. Each time the same result. Each time my chest tightens a little more.

“She wouldn’t just…leave Marlowe,” I say, more to myself than anyone.

“Lourdes,” Ares says, his hand closing around my wrist to still me. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing,” I snap, though it comes out uneven. “Something’s wrong.”

“I know.” His grip tightens just enough to ground me. “We’re going to figure it out.”

Daria’s voice cuts back in. “I’ve got something.”

We both go still.

“I’m pulling footage from the Marlowe campus,” she continues. “I have Sandrine and another woman. Brown hair. They’re in the parking lot. And… Uh oh.”

Ares’s eyes go wide. “Uh oh?Daria, with all you’ve seen, what the fuck isuh oh?”

“Ares, are we on speaker?”

“Yes, he is, Daria,” I jump in. “I’m here. What happened to my sister?”

“She… Um…”

I feel fucking faint.

“Daria, share your screen with us right fucking now,” Ares barks.

“Hold… Hold on.”

A notification pings. Ares taps the screen, angling it so we can both see.

The footage is grainy, but I can make out Marlowe’s lobby. People are moving in and out, and everything looks normal. But then there’s a man dressed in leather strutting out. He’s gigantic. And scary.

“I know who that is,” Ares says, his voice going cold in a way I’ve only heard a handful of times.

“Who is that?” I ask him.

“Drago,” Ares says. “Fuck.”

“Drago who?” But as I ask that, I follow the leather jacket man to a car in the parking lot. “Uh oh.”

That seems to be the only thing we can say. Even through the low resolution, I recognize the other man from the video on New Year’s Eve.

Tall. Handsome. Lethal. Lethally handsome if I’m being honest.

My breath catches. “That’s?—”

Kirill Volkov.