AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Probably on a vacation you chose to work during.” He didn’t seem too eager to say more.
“Huh,” I grunted. That would change with a child on the way. I worked through vacations mostly to avoid Nikki. Now there would be Sweet and my child. We’d get over this divide Nikki attempted.
As we parked at the market, I pressed the green call image as I got out to get juice. It only rang, and I didn’t even hear Katya’s cheery voicemail.
Chapter Forty-Two
Sasha
Atrickle of light came in my door that softly creaked. They should have given me a locking knob again, yet I still didn't have one. When I got up to make sure it latched, a shadow moved toward me.
Before I could speak, my mouth was covered, and my arms held against my sides. A low hiss was to my ear in my language—without an accent. "Don’t fight or you’ll regret it, Traitor." And I believed him. I’d feared being considered a traitor to my brother, but whoever this was would be far worse.
Armon would be here soon. He just needed time. How long ago had that message of his been? Thirty or forty minutes? That wasn’t any amount of time I could make use of.
When I was led out, another person's large silhouette stood in wait closer to me and between Katya’s door. Go willingly and maybe she remained unnoticed and unharmed. I would do that. And, just as Katya had said time and again, Armon would find her. He would find me. This was the sort of evil Armon hunted and annihilated. He would be close on their heels.
A thud came from behind, followed by the whistle of silenced bullets. A louder thud and squeal of furniture knocked to the side. The man holding me turned, and I was in the line of fire.
No. Katya could have gone unnoticed. They’d come for me. I was the traitor, something my captor had specified. They might have moved through without being noticed by anyone.
A shadow moved behind her silhouette that came into view, and Katya too was detained—though muffled as she attempted to scream and wriggle an escape. One of the attackers went where she was held, and a thud sounded before she bent over with a hardly audible cry. Torture would happen to us both in the hands of these men.
My wrists were bound behind me, and something was forced over my head to block my sight before I was roughly guided out and chunked into the back of a vehicle. Duct tape sounded, but was never placed on me. After a few minutes, someone wriggling was also thrown in, landing against me.
The words were muffled, but I heard a breathy male voice say, "You're going to pay for shooting me, bitch!"
Katya jolted against me from another hit, then went still.
More noise came with muffled fighting before another body was chunked in. Nikki? There was no one else it could be given all Armon’s men were too heavy to be tossed around. And only Nikki would sob so desperately, as though it might do her some benefit. We would all learn otherwise if Armon didn’t return in enough time.
Chapter Forty-Three
Armon
“Who did you leave in charge?” I asked. Usually, one of my men would call and check in with me when I arrived at the gate. That didn’t happen tonight.
Cade crept the vehicle past the opening gate. “Marko and Serge.” The two were trustworthy, but hadn’t worked with me long enough to have been in charge under normal circumstances. I hadn’t needed much of a full-time crew prior to Katya’s disappearance, so these two men used to only be called in on big jobs.
My tension increased as we entered the property. Sweet chose not to respond to my last text. She would still be angry due to what Nikki had done. That bitch would receive my wrath for the little game she thought she could play to divide my Sweet One and I.
Cade leaned forward over the steering wheel as we neared home. “Katya always leaves a small light on in her room.” As he pulled in front of the guest house, he added, “And she always answers my calls. Something isn’t right.”
And something wasn’t right by the thin, dark splatter that came into the glow of the headlights. Blood. But not the trail of a dragged body. This was the downpour of someone on the move.
“Fuck!” I jerked the door open and left the SUV. Cade and I both had our phones to our ears. Even as I rushed into the guest house, I heard the non-stop ringing of my call to Sweet on my phone. The moment I turned on the light revealed the scene of a fight. Blood splatter, furniture knocked over, Katya’s gun and shell casings.
Cade was already yelling her name as I rushed to Sweet’s room. Her phone lay on the bed but hadn’t lit from the call. Why hadn’t she received the calls? I picked up her phone and swiped it to see the last response to my texts. It never sent.
Someone had come onto my property and altered communications. I quickly looked her room over. No signs of a struggle. As I rushed out, Cade appeared furious as he came from Katya’s room.
“They. Took. Her.” Were he a dragon, flames would have been spewing with each enraged breath. He never was one to maintain calm. And I needed someone collected to help me.Ineeded to be collected to get them back.
“I’m going to search the main house.” I patted his shoulder, struggling against my own rage. “Keep moving. We need to find Serge and Marko.” They were either dead or soon would be if they played any part in this.
As we searched the house, I recalled Paul and Gabe had been sick and remained here. That seemed too convenient. I rushed to the lower-level room one of them would be in as he overcame sickness. What I found inside was Paul’s body. Cold.
“Fucking dead?” I threw my hands in the air as I stormed out, almost plowing into Cade who had returned from the other room.
