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“Open your eyes and look at me. I want you to see me when I do this.”
I don’t have control of myself, though. Doesn’t he know that?
“Think about Josh. I know I am.”
That makes my good eye open, and I see his wicked grin.
“Just in case things go south, this one’s for him,” he says. He smashes a fist into my belly so hard, it knocks the breath from my lungs and would send the chair toppling backward if he didn’t have me by my hair.
I can’t catch my breath. The only thing holding me upright is the tape when he lets me go, and I just wheeze as I try to get air, as I try to manage this new pain.
“If my nephew managed to put another bastard in there, Kat, know that it’s dead.”
21
Lev
“Where is she?” Gleb gets out of the SUV idling at the curb and comes to stand beside me. “What’s taking so long?”
I can hardly speak past the tension in my throat. It’s been ten minutes. The elevators can get crowded around this time of day, but it doesn’t feel like that’s what’s happening. It’s the same sick feeling swirling in my gut when I headed home to my mother fifteen years ago.
She always showed up to pick me up after work even though it was only a short subway ride home. She was afraid I’d get mugged or shot if she didn’t come to get me herself. But that day, I stood outside the store where I stocked groceries to help with the bills, and the seconds ticked by, one after another, until I felt like I couldn’t fucking breathe.
I knew when I walked into the door of our apartment before I ever saw her. On my way home, I’d already vomited twice. It was a sickness, creeping into my veins, blackening my vision and igniting a fever I couldn’t shake. The fever has returned, and my limbs are unnaturally stiff as I walk toward the elevator bank with Gleb right behind me. He’s still talking, and I can’t hear a word he’s fucking saying.
“Josh,” I croak. “Someone needs to stay with Josh.”
Maxim appears out of nowhere, and I forgot that he mentioned he was going to drop by today. “I’ll watch the kid, Lev. Go get your woman.”
I nod, but Gleb hesitates, gesturing for his men to watch over Maxim while I punch the button to call the elevator. It feels like it takes forever. Too goddamn long. I’m about to head for the stairs when the light finally blinks, and I shove my way in through the people trying to get off. One of the passengers glares at me, holding me up.
“Excuse you!” he snaps.
“Get the fuck off!” I roar.
His eyes go wide, and he scurries away in fear while Gleb looks at me.
“Stay calm,” he says, but even his voice is shaking. He feels it too.
The elevator ascends to our floor, and I push through the doors as soon as they open, my feet slapping against the floor as I count the doors. When I reach ours, I fumble with the key card, trying unsuccessfully to unlock it three times before Gleb snatches it from me.
“Let me do it.”
His hand is steadier than mine, and I don’t know what that says about me. I just know that I need to get to Kat. And the second the door opens, I’m calling out for her, but she doesn’t answer.
Gleb and I enter the suite, our eyes darting around the empty space. He checks Josh’s bedroom while I head for the bathroom. Everything looks the same way we left it; even Josh’s suit is still hanging up to dry. But when my eyes drift over the mirror and the sink, I know that nothing is the same.
It hits me like a spear straight through the heart. I feel my knees colliding with the floor as I grapple with my breath. This can’t be real. It can’t fucking be real. But I thrust my body forward, sliding my fingers through the crimson liquid, and my stomach clenches, threatening to spill the contents of our breakfast.
Blood. Kat’s blood.
“Lev?” Gleb’s footsteps pause when he sees me, and when I look up at him, the color drains from his face. “What the fuck?”
“She’s gone,” I choke out. “She’s gone.”
“How could you let this happen?” Gleb howls, shoving me back until I collapse in a heap. He bends down, clutching my collar, screaming in my face. “You let him get to her!”
I can’t speak. I can’t even argue. Because I shouldn’t have let her go alone. I should have followed her. I should have done so many things differently. But I didn’t. And now she’s gone.
“You told me you would protect her!” Gleb comes at me again, and this time, he throws a punch. It hits me square in the jaw, jarring me from my grief for a split second, and before I know it, I’m punching him back.
