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“The mob?”
“Yes.”
“Why were you running?”
He closes his eyes for a moment and runs a hand over his beard. “That is too long a story for this morning, printsessa. Perhaps some other time.”
“But, Papa…”
“Jessica!” he interrupts me. “Can we not just enjoy our breakfast? I have been searching for you for ten long years. We have the rest of our lives to discuss this yurodstvo.”
Craziness! Really? I bite back the disappointment that surges through my chest, remembering how much time this man had for me when I was a child and how he loved to answer the many questions I used to constantly ask him. But, I suppose watching your wife and children being slaughtered and searching for your daughter for ten years changes a man.
“Can I ask one more question, Papa?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Go on.”
“Have you ever come close to finding the Wolf?”
The vein pulses in his temple as he clenches his jaw shut. “No,” he snarls. “But now I have you to help me. You are the only person who has ever seen his face, printsessa. Together, we will find him.”
Finally, something we can agree on. “We will, Papa.”
That seems to please him too and he reaches for my hand. “Now that you are back by my side where you belong, there is nothing we can’t do,” he smiles.
“You work for the Bratva now, Papa?” I ask as I cut into my pancake.
He laughs softly. “You could say that,” he nods as he pops a ponchiki into his mouth.
“Is that how you found me?”
“I thought we agreed only one more question, printsessa?” he snaps.
“I’m just making conversation,” I smile.
He shakes his head softly in exasperation, but he answers me. “No. I found you because the Ryan brothers were trying to make contact with the Wolf so they could hand you back to him.”
My breath catches in my throat at the mention of their name and another wave of sadness washes over me. I open my mouth to ask more questions, but my father shoots me a look that makes me close it again. My head is throbbing and I am so tired despite having slept for almost ten hours. I have far too many questions and I still know little more about anything than I did when I arrived here.
“They told you only what you wanted to hear, printsessa,” he says as he places his large rough hand over mine. “Don’t feel bad about being taken in by them. They are professionals.”
I nod my agreement. Because the man who raised me, the one who taught me all I know, he would never lie to me.
Chapter
Two
CONOR
Climbing out of the SUV, I flex my neck and listen to the satisfying crack before walking around the side of the car to join my brother, Shane. I can feel anger coming from him like heat from an inferno. It has only grown fiercer in the three days since we watched the security footage of Jessie walking out of our apartment holding some fucker’s hand. Three days since she tore out our fucking hearts. I’m holding onto the hope that she didn’t just choose to fuck us over like that. Maybe she was being threatened? Or blackmailed? But Shane is convinced that she’s been playing us all along. He is also sure that she’s working for the Bratva, and always has been.
The thought that she might be in league with the people responsible for kidnapping and torturing me two years ago makes me want to gouge out my own eyes. I will tear this city apart to find her. But I refuse to accept that the woman who shared our home, our beds and our lives, could be so cruel.
My twin brothers, Liam and Mikey, are working their way through every piece of security footage in the New York area trying to identify the car Jessie must have gotten into, while Shane and I are taking an entirely different approach.
“You ready?” he says as he hands me a small black duffle bag that contains some of my favorite toys.
“Always.”
