Page 100 of His to Own

“It’s not my job. I know Elena. I saw how upset she looked. I figured she needed space. She’s a good girl. I trust her. There was no need to stop her.”

I leave the guard and walk around the side of the house but I don’t find Elena. My footsteps take me to the street but a look both ways shows no one in sight. Where is she? Did she run off to be with Alexei again? That little fucker. I desperately want to kill him but I know Elena would never forgive me if I did.

I shouldn’t care so much what my wife thinks of me. Most mafia men don’t. They cheat on their wives. They don’t respect their wives. But I care for Elena. I have ever since I saw her pass out at her birthday party. How scared she looked in that room when Sergei hit her. I’ve wanted to protect her ever since. I’ve done a shitty job at it.

A scream echoes through the air. I’ve been in this job for many years. I know when to trust my gut instinct and my gut is telling me I need to listen to that scream. I take off running down the street the direction it came from.

That’s when I see Elena getting shoved into a van but before I can reach her, the van drives away. I take note of the license plate.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I pull out my phone and call Nikolai. “Elena was just kidnapped.” I rattle off the license plate before I can forget it. “I’m nowhere near my car. I can’t follow.”

“All right. We’ll find her. We’ll find out who did this. Come back. We’ll get this solved.” Nikolai is a good man to have in a crises. He really does handle everything.

When I return to the house, I find the party in full swing still. “Why hasn’t this been cancelled?” I ask Nikolai, approaching him.

He sighs. “I told Gregory what happened. What you told me. But he insisted on keeping the party going. For appearances sake. I didn’t tell Lana yet. She’s enjoying her time with her sister.”

Lana and Adriana are in the middle of a conversation, sharing a laugh. I can’t hear what they’re saying but it must be good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lana laugh in all the time I’ve known her. But then again, I did play a part in kidnapping her once. I’m not the one who she smiles for.

Elena doesn’t really smile for me either.

It’s a gut punch. My wife was kidnapped and I have no idea who did it. “You have to get word out. Any of our men need to start looking for that van.”

“I already called a few of my men. One of them is a hacker. He can access any license plate for us. We’ll know who owns the van soon enough and then we can go question them. We’ll find your wife.”

“I can’t stay here,” I mutter. “I might end up killing Gregory if I do.”

“Go home. I’ll call you with any news.”

I’m not going to go home. I’m going to go out for a drive and see if I can see… anything. Though I know it’s all pointless. The best thing to do is wait but I’m too fucking pissed off to wait. Someone kidnapped my wife. Why and for what purpose?

The sinking deep feeling inside my gut tells me that it’s because of me. Elena has never even hurt a fly. This was all because of me.

I head for the door but Gregory storms over. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do you think? Nikolai told you what happened. I’m off to find your daughter, whom you clearly don’t give a fuck about. You fucking asshole.”

The complete and utter angry look on Gregory’s face takes over and he punches me in the cheek. I stumble back before I run at him and tackle him to the ground. I manage to get a few solid punches to his face before Nikolai pulls me off him.

“Your fucking daughter was kidnapped and this is how you’re acting?”

The entire room hears.

Lana steps forward. “What do you mean?”

“Ask your husband. I’m out of here.” I leave Gregory lying on the floor with a bloody face. So what if it ruins our alliance. I have my wife to find.

Elena

Aleksander doesn’t retrieve me all night. Eventually, I let sleep take me since I need to be strong for what’s to come. Lack of sleep is only going to make me more anxious.

In my dreams, I’m safe. No one can hurt me here. Not Aleksander. Not Maxim. Most especially, not my father.

But when my eyes blink open, I’m reminded of where I am. Sunlight comes through the window. I tried and tried to get the screen to break but I just couldn’t. I need to find another way out of here.

The door opens and one of my kidnappers – I can’t remember which one since they both had such plain features – motions at me to follow him.

I’m counting myself lucky that I wasn’t tied to the bed or locked in a cage. Lana eventually told me how she was chained to a pole and had to watch one of her ballerina friends die. When she was kidnapped the second time, she almost died when she had to kill her kidnapper, Lev. She did it to save Adriana, who was also taken.