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“She’s not here, Ivan,” Dmitri said, coming from the back to meet me in the kitchen.
The chef and head housekeeper perched on barstools at the wide, granite island, looking worried and confused. They were my only permanent staff besides security, and I’d ordered them to stay put, making them believe they might be in danger by someone who could still be on the property. For all I knew when I shouted the order, it was true. I prayed it was true because that would mean Reina was still here with her captor, and I could tear his head off before I gathered her safely into my arms.
“Did you search the shed?” I snapped at Dmitri. “What about the greenhouse?” I started to push past him, but he put his hand on my shoulder.
“She’s not here,” he repeated.
I slammed my fist onto the unyielding granite island, making the frightened chef and housekeeper jump. I rounded on them, demanding once again to know if they saw or heard anything out of the ordinary after I left. Anything at all.
They shook their heads. The housekeeper, a woman who’d worked for me for ten years, started to cry.
“What about your girls?” I asked. She had helpers who regularly came to do the menial cleaning tasks.
“They’re not in until Thursday. Mr. Morozov, I’m so sorry about your guest.”
I hit the counter again and strode out of the kitchen with Dmitri on my heels. The fact they thought Reina was merely a houseguest tore at my heart to the point I almost couldn’t stand. I didn’t have time for self-recrimination now, though. There would be time to set everyone straight when Reina was found. And she would be found.
But would she be safe? Alive? If no one knew she was my wife, they couldn’t know she was pregnant. I nearly doubled over with fear for my child. Our child. I wanted them both back. Thankfully rage overtook the fear and grief that threatened to topple me.
“Someone on the inside has to be part of this,” I said.
Dmitri nodded. “Agreed. Who do you suspect?”
“Everyone,” I growled.
I found the head of security and ordered him to stop the search and have his men report to me. A few minutes later the four of them stood in a line in front of me. “How did this happen?” I bellowed. “How did someone stroll onto the grounds, kill my cousin, and take—”
I stopped abruptly, waiting for their answer. Waiting to see what they’d confess to knowing, and if any of them slipped up and knew more than they should. Not even Dmitri or Maxim knew about my marriage. Only my brothers knew and I hadn’t gone so far over the edge as to suspect any of them. Yet.
One of the security guards had been patrolling the back wall and hadn’t seen a thing. Did that mean they’d waltzed right in through the front? The man who was supposed to be guarding the front had been working on the security feeds, which had been cutting in and out over the last few days. The next one was physically checking the cameras that were everywhere and had been on the roof above the front door.
“So there’s nothing on the security feeds?”
They shook their heads dismally, stealing my last bit of hope for a lead. I rounded on the head.
“And where were you during this?”
“I—uh—I was out by the road, sir. I walked down the drive.”
It was a solid five minute walk to the main road. “Checking the cameras out there?”
His eyes flickered, as if he was going to jump on this suggestion. When he nodded, I knew he was lying. I reached for his throat and squeezed. None of his men jumped to his aid. They knew better.
“What were you doing so far from the house?”
He closed his eyes and sighed, and I smelled it then. “Smoking,” he admitted.
I shoved him away in disgust. Was it pure incompetence or actual malice? Had he been paid to be away from the house? As much as I wanted to bash some heads in my frustration, I couldn’t start killing people for no reason, not when I might need to wring more information out of them.
“Get to your office and stay there until I need you,” I shouted.
Three of them scurried away like scared mice, but the head lingered. “Should we alert the police?” he asked.
I punched him in the face and strode out of the room with Dmitri on my heels. “Keep an eye on everyone,” I told him, wanting to be alone for a moment. “I need to make some calls.”
When he was gone, I shut myself into my office and got Sergey Balakin on a video call. The moment his face filled my screen, I roared. “Where is she?”
His eyes widened. “Who, Ivan? What are you talking about?”
