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Nadia.The PO box was in her name. She was just as easy to blame as Damien, but we’d latched onto the more vocal sibling—the one who had voiced his opinions about Ciara. Blaming him had been easy and convenient, and considering Nadia hadn’t been more than a fleeting thought.
Damien sprung to his feet and made his way toward the door.
“Sit down,” I demanded.
My mind reeled as I thought about everything that was happening. Damien froze at the door and shook his head. “I’m going to find her. If I can’t prove that I’m loyal with words, let me do it through action.”
Nadia. How could she have slipped under the radar without drawing suspicion? Had this been why she’d come onto me this evening—to feel out if she could easily replace Ciara? It made sense, and I wanted to curse myself for ever letting her go. We’d overlooked all her mistakes in the past because of a sense of guilt that she seemed to harbor about all of it.
I should have killed her when I had the chance.
Andrei rounded my desk as I rushed out the door and around the house, going from room to room. Sean mercifully lay asleep in his room, unbothered, but Ciara was nowhere to be found. As I rounded the corners of each room, I prayed to find her lounging somewhere. I yearned to see the confusion on her face as I swept her into my arms and took the first deep breath of the evening.
But she wasn’t here. She was nowhere.
I stormed back into my office, and Andrei met my eyes, turning the computer screen and pointing to it. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing—that a man had carried Ciara to a van before she struggled and tried to run. I watched as he reclaimed every thrashing inch of her, and when I didn’t think I could watch another second, a woman came into the frame holding a large landscaping stone. She swung it down on Ciara’s head, and Ciara fell unconscious to the ground.
I focused on the woman.
Nadia.
She tossed the rock to the side and allowed the man to lug Ciara into the backseat as she sat on the passenger’s side. The unrecognizable man closed the door, went to the driver’s side, and took off. The van clambered down the road and out of sight of our security system as I clenched my fists around the desk’s edges.
“They didn’t kill her,” Andrei said. “If that was their immediate intention, Nadia would have done that. She wouldn’t have dragged her away and risked being caught.”
I wanted to believe him, but I saw the fault in that logic. Nadia wouldn’t have taken Ciara if she didn’t plan on killing her. Nadia could never let Ciara live, because Nadia may have been ignorant, but she wasn’t stupid enough to cross me and leave someone alive to tell.
“Calleveryone,” I told Andrei. “Everyone who works for me or has worked for me will be on this, and you make sure they all know that Nadia is to be killed on sight. Anyone voicing any interest in hurting Ciara will be executed on sight. If anyone finds Ciara or kills the new Irish boss, make sure they know I’ll reward them handsomely.” I finally looked at Damien. “Prove to me that you’re my family, Damien. Help me find her.”
Damien looked determined as we all rushed from the house and toward the vehicles.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ciara Gilroy
I came into consciousness with biting headache and damp clothes. I trembled from the cold surrounding me—the bare concrete floors that bit into my back and the way that I couldn't find enough warmth no matter how much I curled into myself.
I audibly groaned as I turned onto my back and found my hands stuck. I tugged a bit harder and opened my eyes, flinching from the harsh illumination of fluorescent lights above me. My head hurt badly enough that I couldn’t focus on anything around me or recall how I’d gotten here. I tried to push back into that memory, but all I found was darkness.
I’d been lying on the beach, and I must have fallen asleep.
Now, I was here.
I felt roiling nausea growing in my stomach, and I could hardly roll the rest of the way over before releasing the contents of my stomach. The headache was excruciating as I heaved, and when I finished, I gathered my head in my hands and forced myself to take deep breaths and figure out where I was. I had to ignore the pain, at least long enough to get myself out of this situation.
“Not what you expected?”
I turned my head and saw Nadia striding into the room, two men following her. For the first time, I took in the unfinished home full of wooden beams, pipes, and exposed wires. I couldn’t begin to guess where I was, but Nadia was here. That had to mean something good. If she was here, it meant that Viktor had to be close.
A memory that I didn’t want to remember came flooding back—her on top of Viktor and him leaning over her.
“Where am I?” I asked. “Why am I here?”
“I thought you’d stay unconscious. It would have made it easier to finish the job,” she said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. “But I guess everything can’t be easy.”
I had no idea what she was saying. I had to have a concussion, I realized. Whatever she had done must have been making me hear things, because there was no way I’d heard her correctly.
“Where’s Viktor?” I asked.
