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We’re in a heap on the bathroom floor, wrestling as we scream at each other when Maxim’s voice interrupts us.
“Lev, snap the fuck out of it.” He yanks me away from Gleb, and the old man wipes the blood from his lip while I drag a hand through my hair. And when our gazes collide again, I recognize the raw pain in his, and I know he can see it in mine.
“This isn’t the way,” Gleb murmurs. “We need to work together. Let’s get it together. He couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Where’s Josh?” I ask Maxim as I glance around the room, looking for any other clues.
“He’s safe. Gleb’s guys bought him a milkshake downstairs. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“We need to get him out of here.” I exit the room with Gleb and Maxim not far behind.
“My guys can take him back to the compound. Nobody can get to him there.”
I hesitate, and Maxim squeezes my shoulder. “I’ll go with him, Lev. If that’s what you want.”
“Please,” I croak.
He nods, and we pile into the elevator, the silence swallowing us up as we stew in our own thoughts. I can’t accept that Kat’s gone. Not yet. Whatever happened to her, there’s still time. That’s what I keep telling myself as we step into the lobby and Gleb starts shouting orders at his men.
I find Josh sitting by the door, drinking a milkshake just like they said.
“Can we go swimming now?” he asks, eyes shining up at me with an innocence that shatters my fucking soul.
“Soon, buddy.” I force myself to smile for him. “There’s something I have to take care of. But Maxim is going to go with you to Gleb’s house, okay? Then I’ll be there just as soon as I can.”
“What about Mommy?” he asks.
I choke on the lies I don’t want to tell him, but Gleb saves me, kneeling beside me. “She’ll be there just as soon as she can, little soldier. Don’t you worry, okay? Now you go to my house. You tell the housekeeper anything you want, and she will make it for you. It’s better than Disneyland, I promise.”
Josh smiles and nods. “Okay.”
I pick him up and squeeze him tight before handing him off to Maxim, our eyes locking with unspoken understanding.
“Take care of my boy.”
* * *
“Pause it there.” Gleb squints at the screen, examining the man on the hotel’s security footage. The guy operating it looks scared shitless, but Gleb threw a few hundred bucks his way, and we’ve been staring at this goddamn thing for far too long trying to find Vasily. So far, nothing has panned out, and this could take all fucking day at this rate.
“I’m going to do another walk around,” I tell him. I need to dispel some of this nervous energy building up in me like a bomb, and I can’t just stand here twiddling my fucking thumbs. I know it’s unlikely that Kat is still in the hotel, but right now, it’s all I can do.
Gleb waves me off, and I head into the parking garage again, ransacking my mind for any ideas of where Vasily would take her. I know all of his haunts, but he’s a wanted man now. His friends, his soldiers, they’ve all cut ties with him after Gleb ordered a bounty on his head. He’s backed into a fucking corner, and he’s grieving, and he could be anywhere right now.
I scan the cars again, looking for something Vasily would drive. I check for tire marks, or some other sign that Kat was here. Anything that could help. Desperation claws at me, scorching every nerve in my body. I want to slam my fist into the brick wall. I want to cut Vasily’s dick off and shove it down his throat until he chokes, and then I want to bring him back to life and do it all over again.
“Come on, Kat,” I whisper. “Give me a sign. Anything, baby. Please.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and when I check the screen, it’s a New York number. The organ in my chest that’s merely keeping me alive right now works overtime pumping blood into my veins at a frantic pace when I slide my finger across the screen to answer.
“How does it feel?” Vasily’s voice slithers across the line. “How does it fucking feel, Lev?”
“Where is she?” I growl. “Where the fuck is she?”
“Right now?” He sneers. “She’s bleeding out on the floor of an abandoned warehouse. Can you guess which one? There are a lot in this city. Maybe you can still make it here in time.”
“I’ll fucking destroy you.” My fingers grip the phone so hard it almost snaps in half. “I’ll cut every appendage from your body and make you beg for death. It won’t be quick. It won’t be easy—”
