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“I haven’t been able to get in touch with security at the building where Francia is staying. No one has responded all morning. I also couldn’t get in touch with you all, and I thought the worst. I got here as fast as I could, but still no word from Francia’s building.”
I inhale, trying to fill my lungs with air before they can drown in panic. “I talked to her last night.”
Jorden whirls on me. “You did?”
“I called her. I couldn’t sleep, so we just talked. Everything seemed fine.”
“But that was last night?” he presses.
“Yeah. Like… seven hours ago.” Might as well be a lifetime. Anything could have happened to her between now and then. “Have you sent anyone over yet?”
“I don’t know what I’m sending them into. I’m not going to send them in blind.”
“Cameras!” Jorden suggests. “Look at the cameras and—”
“Down. They haven’t been working since midnight. The guards on duty should have informed me, but they’re MIA.” He nods to me. “Call her.”
I type in Francia’s name and press my phone to my ear. She picked up immediately last night. It was late, but it was almost like she was waiting for my call. I pray for that to happen again.
But the line rings… and rings… and rings.
“She isn’t answering.” My voice cracks. “We can go. I’ll go in blind; I don’t care. If something is wrong, then—”
“Then sending you in will only make it worse. Jorden, you try to call her.”
“If she isn’t answering for Cora, she won’t answer for me.” But Jorden still dials her number and waits.
She glances over at me as it rings and chews on her lower lip. Finally, she shakes her head and hangs up.
“This is my fault.” My legs practically give out as I drop into a kitchen chair. “Francia was going to look into Katerina’s disappearance. She told me she’d ask around. What if she asked the wrong person? Maybe they went after her and… Shit. Shit.Shit!This is all my fault.”
Yasha lays a hand on my shoulder and squeezes once. “You two stay here. There are still guards watching you. I’m going to go check things out.”
“You can’t! You said it wasn’t safe,” Jorden protests.
At the same time, I stand up. “I’m coming with you.”
He looks between us, unsure which to respond to first. He starts with Jorden. “If the men are in trouble, it’s my fault. I have to get them out.”
Jorden’s face creases with worry, but she stays uncharacteristically quiet.
Yasha turns to me, finger raised in a point. “And there’s no way in hellyou’recoming with me.”
“I can’t just sit here while my friend is in trouble!”
If he is walking into trouble, someone should be by his side. Plus, whoever has Francia is probably after me. If I have to hand myself over to protect the two of them, then I will.
“Taking you with me is a death sentence,” Yasha says. “Even if I survived, Ivan would kill me.”
“He doesn’t care.”
Yasha snorts. He doesn’t buy it and, truthfully, neither do I. “Stay here. Both of you. I’ll call with updates.”
Then another horrifying thought occurs to me. “Does Ivan know about this? Is he going with you?”
Guilt clouds Yasha’s expression. “I’ll tell Ivan when he needs to know. This is my failure to fix.”
With that, he leaves.
