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He looked sincerely confused and shocked by my rage. “Someone invaded my home and kidnapped a guest. A guest who had better not be harmed.”
He shook his head, his brows shooting together. He turned his face away from his phone and shouted to someone to find his son. “I’ll look into this,” he said. “Don’t do anything rash.”
“You’d better find him before I do,” I warned, ending the call.
He was either a good actor or truly didn’t have any part in this. But that didn’t mean his foolish son didn’t. I called Aleksei for an update and he had men with their ears to the ground all over the city. I started to call Nikolai, but my hand shook so badly, I slammed the phone onto my desk. The thought of how frightened Reina must be made me sink into a chair and put my head in my hands. I prayed she was all right, the first time I’d beseeched God since I was a small boy. If anything happened to her, I vowed to burn this city to the ground to find out who did it.
There was a sharp knock at the door and I stood, calling for the person to enter. Nikolai pushed through, dragging a man by the arm. I cast around in my memory to retrieve a name to put to the terrified face.
“Reynaldo?” I asked.
Nikolai shoved the man forward so that he stood in front of me, eyes cast down. “That’s right,” my brother said. “He’s not Russian, but I thought he was trustworthy. He’s been on my team for about five years now.”
“You have news for me?”
“I know who your mole is,” the man sniveled, not meeting my eyes. “I just found out, I swear it. I was going to tell Nikolai as soon as he returned from your meeting.”
I looked at Nikolai, who shrugged. “I’m not so sure about that because Reynaldo here just bought a fancy new car last week. Quite a bit out of his price range, which was why I started keeping an eye on him.”
I slammed my hand into his chest, sending him rocking backward. Nikolai steadied him and I pounded my fist into his face three times in quick succession.
“What do you know?” I demanded.
He shook his head, sending blood drops flying. I thought of Maksim’s blood upstairs and drew back my fist again. He flinched. “I can tell you who your mole is, but I swear I’m not a part of this. I don’t know where—”
He stopped himself and I cut my glance away to see Nikolai subtly shake his head. “All he should know is that your house was breached,” he told me.
Which meant he would have had no idea that anyone was taken, let alone my queen. “Round up his family,” I ordered.
Reynaldo crumpled to his knees, tears mingling with the blood that flowed down his face. “No, please,” he cried. “Please leave my family out of it and I’ll tell you everything. I know my own life is over.”
I stared at the man and sighed, waiting for his hysteria to pass. “I’ll be the judge of that when I get what’s mine back.”
Nikolai hauled the man up and shoved him into a chair while I crossed my arms and impatiently waited for information I hoped would be useful to find my wife.
Chapter 17 - Reina
I woke up in the same sorry position, not sure how much time had passed, but light streamed through the small, grimy windows again. At least I was no longer in utter darkness, but it wasn’t much to be grateful for. Once again I tried to free myself, but the ropes only dug into my wrists even more. I tried sliding upward on the pole I was tied to, but ended up twisting my ankle painfully and sat back down with a hard thump on the dusty floor. It was hard not to sink into hopelessness, and on top of everything else, my stomach rumbled with hunger, then turned over in a bout of nausea. I would have killed for a dry cracker.
No matter what I thought about to distract myself from sinking into despair, it just made it worse. Thinking about the crackers made me think of all the gourmet meals I’d been given at Ivan’s house. Then I’d think about Ivan, alternating between missing him, wanting to scream at him, and worrying about him if he found me. Worrying about myself if he didn’t find me.
My brain snapped to a halt, gripped with fear, when I heard footsteps on the stairs. For one, glorious second I thought it might be Ivan and his men coming to bust me out of this nightmare, but it was only Anton and a few of his cronies. One look at Anton’s sneer, and I had the overwhelming certainty that I was about to die.
Deep anger blotted out my fear or any sadness I had about this fact. A lot of that anger was directed at Anton for being the kind of person who’d kill a pregnant woman in a basement for nothing more than being schooled for being an obnoxious brat. A good deal of the anger went to Ivan, for forcing me to marry him and treating me like I was his property. Property to be stolen and passed around by his enemies.
Most of all, I was pissed at myself. I should have tried harder to get away from him when I was safely in the mansion with Maksim barely paying attention to me. Why didn’t I slip away when I had the chance? I whined and complained about being in a prison, but this was a real prison, not the mansion. Deep down, I liked the luxury, and I loved Ivan’s attention. Now it was too late, and I was going to die like Maksim did, or in a more drawn out way, since I’d taunted the young upstart.
At least I’d get to see my father again when it was all over. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep the tears that were welling from leaking out when I remorsefully thought about the baby. If only I hadn’t been so stupid, it could have had a chance at life.
I opened my eyes when the footsteps stopped in front of me, and looked up at Anton. Two men stood a few feet behind him, one of them menacingly wielding a baseball bat. My mind jolted back to the scene in Ivan’s shed and the damage that bat had done to the person they were interrogating. But what information could they hope to wring out of me? I barely knew anything about my husband’s business. I didn’t even know his middle name.
It took all my concentration to keep from crying or begging for my life, or admitting I was pregnant and pleading for the baby. I knew what kind of people these were. I was married to the same type of people. At least I’d go out with my pride intact and I refused to give them any more ammunition to use against Ivan. I snickered at the fact I still cared what happened to him at the same time I wanted to slap him if I ever saw him again.
Oh, Ivan.
Anton leaned over, getting much too close to my face again. “What’s funny?” he asked.
I merely glared at him until he finally shrugged and moved away. Point to me. He flicked open a pocket knife and leaned back down and my breath caught in my throat. This was it, then. Ultimately, Anton had won. He leaned closer and dragged the tip of the blade down my cheek. The point dug in under my jaw and I closed my eyes, waiting for the burst of pain that would end my life. He laughed, and instead of stabbing me in the jugular, which might have at least been quick, he continued running the knife down my neck, slicing at my top. I started to shake, fearing the pain when he finally found a spot to make the first cut. But he only slashed the ropes around my wrists and jerked me to standing. I was still alive. For now. My legs had trouble adjusting to being upright after so long and I struggled to keep up as he dragged me across the basement and up the stairs behind his henchmen.
