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I’m finishing up a meeting with Finn about Dmitri’s murder. He has been gone for four years, but I’ve never stopped searching for his murderer. When I pull my phone out of my pocket I smile as I see Natalia’s name across the screen. That smile quickly dissipates when I read the message.
If you don’t hear from me in
twenty minutes, find me.
“What is it?” Finn asks and I flip my phone around, showing him the text. His brows immediately crease with worry and he glances back up at me.
“Fuck. She sent that fifteen minutes ago. Get someone to track her phone. Now,” I tell him, standing from my chair. Natalia would never send that unless she believed she was truly in danger.
“They got her, but the transmission has stopped. So, we only know her last location,” Finn says as he walks back into the room, nose deep in his phone.
My mind is racing with a million thoughts. “Trace all of her movements for the last two hours. I want to know where she was and who she was with. Call me as soon as you know something. Unfortunately, I have someone I need to see.” I don’t even bother to wait for his acknowledgment.
I grab my suit jacket and make my way to the garage.
The drive to Natalia’s would usually take thirty minutes. I’m able to make it in fifteen.
Pulling up to the gate, the guard eyes me suspiciously. “You’ve got some nerve showing up here.”
“I need to see Ivan. It is important.” I look over at him, my fingers impatiently tapping on the slick black leather of the steering wheel.
“You know he doesn’t want you here.” The guard steps back away from the car, indicating he wants me to leave.
“Look. I will hand over every single weapon I have and walk the rest of the way to the front door. This is more important than some feud.” Is it smart of me to go in without my weapon? No. But do I care when Natalia is in danger? Also, no. Ivan will see me one way or the other.
The guard continues to stare at me with a look of indecision in his eyes. “Listen fucker, if you want me to give you a strip tease just to prove I don’t have weapons then I will happily walk the rest of the way with my dick out. I need to see Ivan.Now.”
I suppose the threat of getting my dick out worked because he steps away and makes a call before coming back to my window. “Hand over the weapons. Ivan has agreed to see you.”
Getting out of the car, I hand him all the weapons I have on me. Once he pats me down to make sure I’m not hiding more on me, he nods, and I get back in the car. The gate finally opens, and I drive through. Convincing the guard that I needed to see Ivan took longer than expected,now we are even more pressed for more time.
I barely stop before I throw the car in park and rush up the steps. Ivan is waiting for me at the door. “Well, I’ll be damned. I thought the guard was joking when he said you were here.” He crosses his arms over his chest and glares at me. “You also gave up all your weapons. Are you stupid or something? I know your daddy taught you better than that.”
“With all due respect sir, I know how dumb I am right now.” My impatience is growing by the second. “But, I didn’t come here to talk about that. I’m here because-”
He holds his hand up to stop me. “Before you go any further, you know that you are not allowed to see Natalia.”
“That’s just it.” The frustration is clear in my voice and Ivan raises a challenging eyebrow. “Natalia is in danger.”
“What do you mean?” He questions. If I didn’t know any better, I would say a flash of worry flickered across his face.
“I received this text from her about an hour ago,” I hand him my phone, showing him the message.
“This says it's from a person named Katie.” He looks up at me with both confusion and irritation. “I don’t know what you’re getting at, but if this is some trick by your father the repercussions will not be pretty, Declan. Good night.” He steps back, going to shut the door.
Shoving my foot between the door and the frame, I give him a serious look. Letting out a sigh, I know it’s time to come clean. “I have been in contact with Natalia since Dmitri died,” I confess. “Listen, we can hash that out later. Right now, Natalia’s phone hasn’t pinged off any towers for the last forty-five minutes. I have no clue where they could have taken her. Who was she with?”
That bit of information was enough to crack his facade, finally offering me the concerned father look.
“She was on a date with Jared Sullivan,” he motions for me to follow him inside. “His background checked out, no issues,” he tells me as we walk to his office. “Surely this is a misunderstanding.”
“I assume you had a detail on her, could we check with them?” I ask, sitting down in the chair across from his desk. Throwing all etiquette out the window, I slouch back into the chair and run a hand across my face.
I don’t even try to mask my concern. Natalia has been the one good thing to happen in my life and if I lose her, then I lose myself.I have no intention of that happening today.
He pulls out his phone, dialing a number. After ringing for what seemed like forever, no answer. He tries another number and encounters the same result. His third attempt was to one of his tech guys.
“Track Natalia’s security and her phone. Tell me where they were and what direction they were heading,” he barks into the phone before hanging up.
