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“Which means it’s going to be filled with only Sobakin’s people. There’s going to be someone in there who can give us a lead. And maybe we can use that to get our brother back.”
“Uri.Uri.” He follows me out the door but I’m not about to hang around just to listen to him punch holes in my plan. I keep moving until I’ve burst out of the house. “For fuck’s sake, man, slow down!”
I swing around so fast that he nearly collides with me. “I’m doing this, Nikolai. Lev isn’t used to being out there at all, let alone without me, without someone he can trust. These men, if they do to him what they did to Igor…” I trail off, losing myself in a black hole of negative thoughts. “I’ll never forgive myself.”
“This is not your doing.”
“Iam his guardian.Ibear responsibility for him. Whatever happens to him is my fault. Now—are you with me or not?”
Nikolai takes a deep breath and nods firmly. “Let’s go.”
* * *
We’re halfway to the club when I get a call on the car phone. I accept it and Stepan’s voice rings through, loud and clear.
“Boss, my source just got back to me about the abduction.”
“And?”
“Boris Sobakin is not behind it.”
I must’ve heard him wrong. There’s no way. Judging from the look on Nikolai’s face, however, I didn’t. I swerve around the corner and park the car on the curb.
“What do you mean?”
“My source is legit, boss. Whoever abducted Lev… it’s not Sobakin.”
I frown. “I can’t take the risk that that’s not true.”
“Barging our way into the Black Rose without all the information is probably not the best idea, brother,” Nikolai offers in a measured voice.
My head is racing. “Wait… is it possible that the men who’ve been watching Alyssa’s house are a different enemy altogether?” Nikolai looks skeptical, but my thoughts are moving too fast for me to stop and ask him for his opinion. I turn back to the phone. “You said a bunch of personal items were taken from the house. A laptop?”
“Yes.”
I nod. “I have her cell phone. Maybe there’s a way to track the laptop from the phone.” Nikolai’s eyes go wide and I take that as a good sign. “If we can track it, we might be able to find Lev.”
It’s a long shot, but it’s the only one we have.
We have to find my brother.
60
ALYSSA
I’m crying too hard to worry about breathing. The only thing keeping me tethered to reality is my Z charm, but the more I tug on that, the more I wonder if the link is just gonna give up and shatter one day. If there were ever a day for that to happen, it’d be this one.
But I can’t stop touching it. I can’t stop moving. I can’t stop crying. If I don’t do any of those things, I feel as though I’ll go insane.
Honestly, it might go that way regardless.
All thewhat ifskeep running through my head and no matter how much I try, I can’t stop them from taking over my consciousness.
What if I made Lev go back sooner?
What if I’d never tried to leave in the first place?
Now that he’s been taken, my escape feels selfish, thoughtless. Just plain stupid. I put my needs above his and this is the result.
