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No. I cannot accept that. I must believe she is out there waiting for her mamma to find her. But with darkness falling, the chances slip away. My baby girl is missing. And I am powerless.
I clutch my phone with a trembling hand, steeling my nerves before dialing.
“Papa,” I say, my voice breaking. “It’s Emiliana. She’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t find her.”
He responds with eerie calmness, asking for details in his thick accent. I explain how she vanished from school without a trace. How the staff claims no knowledge despite my pleading.
“I need your help, Papa. Please send your men to search the streets. Check surveillance footage around town. Question anyone who might know something.”
I hear papers shuffling on his end. No sense of urgency, despite my anguish.
“And what good would that do, Caterina?” he asks plainly. “You let her out of your sight. Now you must face the consequences.”
His cold words shock me to the core. My own father, dismissing his grandchild’s life so callously.
“But she’s just a little girl!” I cry out. “She’s family! How can you abandon her?”
Silence. Then a heavy sigh. “I warned you about attachments. About motherhood making you weak. This is why.”
Fury rises in my chest at the memory of how he tried to get me to have an abortion, momentarily overpowering the fear. “Damn you, Papa! If you won’t help then I’ll find her myself.”
I end the call before he can respond, finally accepting the harsh truth. I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything in my power to get Emiliana back. With newfound conviction, I call Mikhail.
I know he’ll help, even if he doesn’t know Emiliana is his own flesh and blood, for my Mikhail is an honorable man.
Chapter 17 - Mikhail
The shrill ring of the phone draws my attention away from my computer.
“Mikhail!” Caterina’s panicked voice cries through the receiver. “Emiliana’s gone missing!”
My heart lurches, adrenaline flooding my veins. I bolt upright, mind shifting into overdrive. “What? When did this happen?”
“I don’t know!” she sobs. “I came to pick her up. Her teacher says she’s been missing since recess. Mikhail, I’m scared!”
“Listen to me,” I say firmly. “We’ll find her. I swear it, Bunny. I’ll send men out right now, scour the whole damn city if I have to. Just come home, we need to strategize.”
“Okay,” she whispers, sniffling.
“Get in the car and come home, right now.”
The phone clicks as she ends the call.
I’m already on my feet, barking orders to my associates.
“Get Ivan, Sergei, and Vanya together in the conference room, right now. My child is missing.”
Emiliana is my responsibility. She’s a Zolotov by name if not blood. I’ll burn this city to ash before I let any harm come to my Caterina’s daughter.
I stride into the conference room, jaw set. My men stand at attention, concern in their eyes.
“Start searching,” I snap. “Every warehouse, crack den, back alley. Shake down our informants if you have to. And bring the family together.”
They nod and file out. I sink into a chair, head in my hands. Ivan, Vanya, and Sergei are already seated, looking worried. Fear and rage war within me. If someone took her, I’ll flay them alive.
The door creaks open. I look up to see Caterina, face streaked with tears. She rushes over and I pull her into my arms.
“We’ll get her back,” I murmur into her hair. “I swear to you, we’ll find our girl.”
