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It was put in here recently.
I keep searching with my eyes until I pick up the trail through the darkness. It goes along the upper rim of the ceiling…
And then I see it.
The glint of a camera lens, nestled in the corner.
I freeze. My blood runs cold. “It recorded the moment I shot Archie.”
I jump off the crate and land in front of Dima. Mila jogs back to me, her eyes wide with alarm. They’re both gawking up at the camera. I can’t help but wonder who’s on the other side of it.
I have a pretty good fucking guess.
I grab my phone and hit Taylor’s number. It rings, but three chimes in, the line cuts off. Which means only one thing: she declined my call.
She heard her phone ring, she saw my number, and she chose to reject the call.
“He got to them already,” I infer through gritted teeth. “Fuck.”
“Still,” Dima says, “they wouldn’t put their trust in Benedict Bellasio, right? …Right?”
Mila and I exchange glances. “If they saw me kill their father in cold blood, they just might. It’s what Benedict counted on. Playing on their emotions. Their grief. Not only do they know Archie is dead, they had to watch him die. They watched me kill him.”
“What do we do?”
“Call Zakharov House,” I instruct. “Get a read on where Celine and Taylor might be. We work from there.”
“On it.” Dima whips his phone out.
I leave him to it and storm out of the factory with Mila tailing me. “Ilarion,” she says gently, “if he has them—”
“I know he has them,” I growl. “Benedict has no power anymore. He’s desperate to buy time. The only way to ensure his safety is by taking something of mine. Something he can use as leverage.”
Mila’s shoulders drop. “He doesn’t know about Taylor and Adam, though.”
“It doesn’t matter. If Celine knows, she’ll have told Taylor. They’ll be united against me now. Benedict has all the leverage he needs.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Mila steps in front of me. “This is not some randomvoryou need to win to your side. This isTaylor.”
“I have done nothing to earn her trust, Mila,” I point out. “She saw Archie and me talking in the garden. She saw me grab him. I could have told her then. Ishouldhave told her then.Blyat’!”
“You didn’t tell her because Archie didn’t want you to,” she reminds me. “He wanted the girls to be oblivious. He thought that was the price for their safety.”
“If I were to tell Taylor all this now, it would sound like an excuse. A way to justify murdering her father.”
Mila frowns and puts her hand against the side of my face. “Look at me, brother,” she says softly. For a moment, I don’t see the hard, reserved woman she has become; I see the tender, maternal woman she could be if she just let her walls down long enough. “Ilarion, this is Taylor. You love her. She loves you. That has to mean something.”
“We’ve been apart too long.”
She sighs mournfully. “It’s not like you to give up before the fight is over.”
I take a deep breath. If there’s a way forward here, I just don’t see it. Taylor’s not picking up, which means they’ve already left Zakharov House. They could be anywhere at this point.
They could be with anyone.
“Ilarion!” Dima calls, jogging back over. “Celine, Taylor and Adam left Zakharov House about an hour ago. They took the Lexus down to Pinehurst and Third, where they jumped into a black Land Rover. I’m combing through security cameras on the street. I’m sure one of them will give us a plate number. Don’t worry; we’ll be on their tail before long.”
I shake my head. “Forget that. There’s a faster way to get to them.”
