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My last coherent thought is—
I wish Ruslan was here.
52
RUSLAN
“What do you mean, ‘they’re not home yet’?”
The security guard twitches every single time I look directly at him. “Ms. Carson left a few hours ago to pick the kids up from school, sir. She hasn’t been back since then.”
“What time does she usually come back home?”
“The pickup never takes longer than an hour. She’s always back at 1:30 at the latest.”
My jaw clenches.Something’s not right.“I’m going up.”
The guard frowns. “What about the access code, sir? You need it to enter the unit.”
I glance at the tag on his chest. “It’smypenthouse, Ken. I have an override code that I use for emergencies and as far as I’m concerned, this qualifies.” I glare at him. “Do you intend to stop me?”
He swallows and doesn’t say a word.
“I didn’t fucking think so.”
Sure enough, he doesn’t make any attempt to stop me as I head towards the elevator where I stamp in the override code. When the elevator doors whisk again, I find myself standing in the entrance foyer, surrounded by an eerie quiet that confirms that Emma and the kids are not home.
I wander through the space, noticing the takeout containers in the trash and the pile of gifts pushed to one corner. All the gifts that I’ve sent to the girls have been opened. All the gifts I’ve sent to Josh and Emma are still wrapped tight.
My gut twists uncomfortably.
I take a lap around the apartment, but it doesn’t look like Emma’s tried to skip town again. All her things are strewn about her room and the whole place still smells like her. I check the room for her music box, just to make doubly sure. I find it sitting on the dressing table in her bathroom. When I touch the button, the lid flips up and a tiny silver ballerina starts pirouetting as a mournful song rings out.
They say that a crowded room can be the loneliest place in the world.
I’m learning now that a silent room with a sad song playing is the quietest place in the world.
But it does mean she hasn’t tried to run out on me. That’s good.
The relief is short-lived, though.Where is she?I have no texts back from her. None from the team assigned to her, either. The last update I got was from Lazar telling me everything was under control. But that was at ten this morning. Clearly, that is no longer the case.
My stomach keeps on churning. I call Shura but the call goes straight to voicemail. Gedeon’s line rings and rings but he doesn’t pick up. Zakhar’s does the same.
Something is definitely not right.
I rush out of the penthouse and phone Kirill on my way down. I’m not sure if it’s the elevator or Kirill’s phone but the call drops almost instantly.
More churning. It’s painful now. I feel as though I’m going to burst a blood vessel. I explode back into the lobby, causing Ken to step back in alarm when I blaze past. The takeout food I brought for Emma and the kids is still sitting on his counter.
“Keep the food,” I snarl at him as I leave.
I’m almost at my car when my phone starts to ring. I’m hoping it’s one of the bodyguards but instead, it’s Kirill.
“Sorry, man, I was in the cellar dealing with Vadim. You know there’s no reception down there. He’s—”
“I don’t give two fucks about Vadim right now. Emma and the kids are missing.”
“What?”
