Page 226 of Merciless Daddy

I imagined her waking there. Her wrists bound. Her mind already working. Desperately looking for a way out. She would fight, I knew. She would try to escape. She was resourceful, my love.

The thought should have made me proud.

Instead, it made something inside me tear.

My phone rang.

It was Tonio.

I answered at once.

“Tell me.”

His breathing was rough. Behind him, men shouted. Engines idled.

“Kiryl’s safe.”

The relief struck so hard I had to brace one hand against the ambulance door.

“Are you certain?”

“I’m looking at him.” Tonio’s voice broke around the edges. “He’s scared. But he’s alive. Pietro’s people forced the trucks apart. These bastards pulled back the second reinforcements showed.”

“Did they breach the SUV?”

“No. Never close.” His voice grew hotter. “They didn’t have enough men. They had noise. Guns. Lorries. They wanted us looking here. Like it was a big distraction.”

My eyes closed.

Gianni had not wanted Kiryl. He had wanted me pulled from Yelena’s side.

No. Worse.

He had wanted every resource pointed toward Kiryl while his men took her through a door I had allowed her to enter.

“Sal?” Tonio said.

“Get him underground.”

“What about you?”

I looked at the evacuation hood in my hand.

“Find every place Gianni ever breathed in this city.”

By dawn, we had hit empty rooms.

Mill Basin offices. Empty.

Halberd storage sites. Empty.

Apartments held under shell companies. Empty.

A private dock tied to Sokolov trucking. Empty.

We shut down roads. Watched airports. Put eyes on marinas, freight yards, private hangars, every route out of Chicago.

Nothing.