After searching the entire house, I don’t find Katya anywhere. Since she’s always at home, she doesn’t have a cell phone for me to call her. She’s nowhere to be found.
Sofiya returns after that.
“Is Katya with you?” I demand. She stops in the entranceway, staring at me with confusion.
“Katya? Why would she be with me? You know she never leaves the house.”
“So then where is she?”
“She’s not here?”
“No. And neither is Alice. I checked the entire house. I’ve tried calling Alice but she’s not answering. Katya isn’t here. And we both know she wouldn’t just up and leave the house without telling me.”
“Ok,” she says slowly. “So what happened?”
“Something isn’t right. First, Ann just quits without a goodbye, which is unlike her. And then Alice isn’t answering my calls when she’s supposed to be here doing her job and now Katya, my sister who never leaves the house, let alone her room, isn’t here.”
All the color drains from Sofiya’s face. “You think… you think Alice did something to her, didn’t you?”
“Who else? She was left alone with her.” I storm outside and flag down Jake, the one guard who remained behind when Sofiya went out for brunch. “Jake, did you see Katya leave the house? Or Alice?”
“No. I saw Alice’s car was gone when I came back around the house but that was it.”
“You didn’t think anything was strange?”
Jake frowns. “No. Should I have?”
“Fuck,” I grumble and run back inside. “Katya is gone. So is Alice. I hire her and now my sister is gone. She has to be responsible but why? I looked into her past. She was a teacher. Why would she kidnap my sister?” A slow, realization hits me. “Unless… she was fired. I know that. She would have needed money. Fuck.”
“What are you thinking?” Sofiya asks, reaching out to me but letting her hand fall at the last moment.
“I’m thinking one of my enemies hired Alice and had her take Katya from me. To hurt me.”
“Who would…” Her eyes widen. “Alek did say he wasn’t done with you yet. That he was going to come back again.”
“He did. Alek fucking Morozov is behind this. I know it in my gut. He got one over on me and now he has my sister. Fuck!” I pick up the vase on the sideboard and throw it to the floor. Sofiya backs away with a gasp.
“Dimitri, if Alek has her, you can’t lose your cool like this. You need a clear head to get Katya back. Is she at his house? You know where it is.”
“No. Alek moved. I know he did because I’ve been keeping an eye on him. But I just don’t know where he moved to. I had one of my hacker guys look into it but he hasn’t been able to find anything, which tells me Alek paid in cash for his new home. I don’t know where Katya is. I promised to always protect my sister and…”
“Dimitri?”
“And I failed,” I breathe out, sinking to my knees. “I failed her, Sofiya. She’s gone.”
“We’ll get her back. I know we will.”
As if on cue, my phone buzzes with an incoming text from a number I don’t recognize. Attached to the text is a video… a video of Katya, on her knees, crying.
I can’t make out the location. Only that someone is filming her. And that’s when I hearhisvoice. Alek. This confirms it. He’s the one who stole Katya from me just to torture me. My poor sister is collateral damage.
My phone drops from my hand once I’m done watching the video. I’m unable to look at it any longer.
I’ll hunt Alek down until the ends of this earth to get my sister back. Even if it kills me to do so.
Katya
Alek leaves me alone in the cage for hours. At least until the sun sets. It’s the only thing I can tell from the one small window in the room. Otherwise, time has no meaning.
