I met Kai at the bottom of the main floor stairs, where a young boy was sitting with his head buried in his knees, shoulders shuddering. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. I narrowed my eyes as he looked up at me, tears running down his face. I’d vowed to end the Belov lineage and anyone associated with him, but something about this boy pulled on the last shred of my humanity. Maybe because I’d been a frail and orphaned child, the fear in his blue eyes reminded me of a time when I’d felt just as small and helpless.
“Is there anyone else in this house?”
I attempted to soften my voice somewhat, but he flinched at my words and crumpled into himself, quietly sobbing.
“Cleared the rest of the house. It was just a woman upstairs.” Kai knelt beside the boy. “Piece of shit tried to shield herself behind the kid.”
I grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck and walked him to the door. He didn’t fight me or resist.
“Are you looking for the girl with the long hair?” he murmured between sniffles.
I froze and roughly tipped his chin. “You’ve seen her? She was here?”
He shook his head. “Not here. At Papa’s place on Belmont Street.”
“How is she? Is she okay?”
His eyes were downcast, and he shrugged his shoulders. “I think she was sleeping… and bleeding.”
I punched the wall, splitting the sheetrock while yelling obscenities.
“Are you sure?” I asked, throttling his shoulders. “How long ago?”
“I don’t know. It was after school…” He flashed a sheepish look and turned away from me. “She didn’t have any clothes on,” he confessed in a whisper.
I tore out of the house and tossed my bag into the trunk. Kai followed, the boy jogging behind him.
“Get somewhere safe. Far from here, you hear me? I’m serious, kid,” he said, gripping his arm and shoving him forward. “This shit is about to blow.”
I didn’t look back to see where he ran off to; I didn’t give a damn. Wherever he went, he’d find his way. Just like Kai and I had. Or not.
My thoughts were reserved solely for Eva, and the hell I was about to rain down on Dmitry Belov. As we rounded the corner, a loud explosion rocked the night air for the third time that evening. And it sure as fuck wouldn’t be the last. I’d find her, even if I had to burn the whole goddamn city to the ground.
CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE
EVANGELINA
“Fuck.”
My head was throbbing, the pain radiating through my face and neck. I didn’t have time to dwell on the physical discomfort as the memories of what happened crashed into me with the force of a freight train. Darkness shrouded my vision, and I quickly realized there was a foul-smelling cloth tied tightly around my eyes. Horror sent my heart racing when I couldn’t bring my arms to my face. They were bound above my head, my wrists raw from the pressure.
“No, oh my God… no.”
I was naked on a mattress, the cold air from what I could only assume to be an open window mercilessly biting my skin. Cars passed by, voices, all oblivious to the nightmare unfolding in this dingy room. It smelled like urine and other bodily fluids. My stomach lurched at the thought of what it was used for.
Of what awaited me too.
If I screamed, it would bring attention to the fact I was awake. If I remained silent, they’d still come for me eventually.
Tears welled in my eyes, spilling over, only to be soaked up by the cloth.
I cursed and suppressed the fiery sobs burning my throat.
How could this happen? How would I escape?
If Lex was dead, that meant no one was coming for me. A strangled cry broke from my lips at the thought of Alexa murdered in some parking lot… because of me.
My cries filled the space, my stomach twisting at my horrifying reality.
