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She turns and exits the room, and the two men who took me follow her out. I'm thankful for the reprieve, however long it may last. If these are my last moments, I want this chance to reflect on my life without an audience. I never imagined that this would be how it all ends.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kai
The first twenty minutes pass, and I assume there may be a line for the ladies’ room. Tonight's clientele is way more than I'm used to at the New York club, even for a Saturday night. Another ten minutes go by and I question if I'd given an inkling of trust too soon. Did Vasilisa just bail on me ... use this opportunity to run back to her father?
My hackles rise at the potential of another betrayal. This will not end well for her or her family.Goddammit. I push away from the table and begin my search through the club before my murderous thoughts consume me. Did she head straight to the innermost section of the club where I told her we were going next? It's not likely, but I scan the area anyway so that I may disregard it as a possibility. It takes me an additional twenty minutes to search the rest of the club. She’s not here. I check my phone and don't have any waiting messages or missed calls. She doesn’t have my number or a phone because we didn’t get that far in this trial of a truce. She just fucking obliterated any chance of that, and I will never be able to trust her now.
She had to know that I'd go straight to her father's place. Sacramento is about an hour and a half from here. She's had almost an hour head start. She can't be this naive. Her father no longer has a say or a right to protect her from me. He gave her to me the second he shook my hand. He and his Bratva had our alliance and protection from that very moment. If he tries to abed her, I will bring down the wrath upon his entire syndicate.
I head to retrieve my car from valet, my mind ablaze with thoughts of betrayal and retribution. As soon as the lanky guy opens my car door for me, I quickly get inside. The car is still purring. I pass him a hundred-dollar bill before I peel away from the curb. The darkened streets blur by as I push my Bugatti within the city limits, my anger fueling my determination. Once I reach the highway, I open her up to nearly her top speed.
I pick up my phone to warn Lennon of the shite storm brewing and how this night may play out if her family tries to back out of our arrangement. My phone rings through the speaker of the car before I can prompt a voice command to call my brother. It's Vladimir... Vasilisa's father.
“You better be calling to tell me that you're prepared to hand your daughter over to me when I get there,” I bark before he gets a single syllable out.
“She's not here, Kai,” he says, his voice frantic.
“Bullshite. If she's not there yet, then she's on her way. My guess is that she already reached out to you. Otherwise, how would you know that she's not currently with me? What other reason would you have to call? I'm on my way to fucking Sacramento now.”
“She's been taken,” he says shakenly. “I was calling you to confirm that she wasn’t with you. I got a warning call a few minutes ago demanding that I fork over ten million dollars and any claim that I have over businesses here. They want access to my not so legal operations as well as the businesses that I have an understanding with.”
My fucking pulse quickens. Is this tied to the Liam and Shane shite? Shane is on the run, is this his way of extorting money to pay his debt? I don't have time to weigh out all the possible scenarios. Did I just fuck up again by letting Liam go?
“Where are you now?” I ask, trying to think logically. Vengeance will have to take a short seat. I need to find Vasilisa now.
“I'm in my bedroom. Not sure who sent them, but I have two American goons standing guard until morning. They took my phone and scanned for all electronics to confiscate, but they missed my burner phone. I'm buying time. I told them I had to wait until morning to gain access to withdraw from my safety deposit box. They took me at my word after making me open my home safe, which was my dummy safe.”
“Smart thinking. I can use the stalled time to try to find where they're holding Vasilisa.”
“Yes. It's the reason I called you. Please find her, Kai.”
“Try to give me as much time as you can without getting her killed. For right now, we have a marginal upper hand. Let's try to keep it that way. Turn the burner off in case they run another scan. Just know it's being handled.”
“Should I make a call to some of my most trusted men? They've already managed to take out my men at the estate, but they took my phone so I couldn't reach my sons or the rest of my Bratva—or call the police,” he says as an afterthought.
“Fuck no!” I all but yell. “There are no ‘most trusted men’right now. Trust nobody. They're using Americans to hide their affiliations, but if they were able to easily subdue your security, you're definitely looking at an inside job. Just turn the fucking burner off. We don't need any additional obstacles.”
I click off without saying anything further. I know firsthand about inside jobs and betrayal, and this reeks of it. I call Lennon. Shite is about to go down.
“What the actual fuck, brother? It's nearly one in the morning. Do you have a lead that can't wait?”
“Vasilisa was taken.”
“Shite,” he says, the grogginess disappearing from his voice. “When? Where? From your estate?”
“Two hours ago ... from a club,” I reply. “Shite is spiraling right now.”
I quickly run through tonight's turn of events with him. “I'm fueling up the private jet, and I'm on my way. In fucking hindsight, we shouldn't have let Liam go so easily. I will put some of our men on it to track him down. Any leads so far?” Lennon asks.
“No. Vladimir didn't have anything. I'm turning around and heading back to the club to see if I can retrieve some footage.”
“Keep me posted. I'm on my way, and I'm bringing backup.”
It only takes me thirty minutes to arrive back at the club. I instruct the same valet guy not to move my car—that I'd be right out. Once inside, I demand to speak with management. A short, robust guy with graying hair combed over his bald spot appears. I provide a CliffsNotes version of tonight's fucking disaster and demand to see their recorded footage.
“I wish I could be of more service, but due to the nature of the club, privacy is of the utmost importance.”
