“Dex,” she says again, and I can hear the panic start to rise in her voice. “Gage! Mateo!”
“They might be hiding and can’t answer, Baby,” Leo tries to soothe.
“I can’t hack the door, but I can shut the power off. When it goes out, open it.”
“Do it,” Les says urgently, flipping her night vision back on.
The power goes out on cue, and Leo jerks open the door. I hear a high-pitched squealing sound and realize he just triggered an explosion. This room was a setup. I jerk him away from the door before diving on top of him and Les right before it detonates.
Chapter 53
Alessa
“Alessa!”
I barely hear someone yelling my name, but I can’t focus from all the ringing in my ears. I don’t know what hurts worse, the sound from the explosion or getting football tackled by Ryder.
“Alessa!” I hear it again and realize it’s coming from my comm.
“Move,” I grunt at Ryder, shoving at his huge chest.
He lifts his head and sits back on his knees. I take a big breath and start hacking from the smoke from that room.
“Shit,” Leo grunts. “You’re a huge fucker.”
“Goddamnit! Alessa!” I finally register the voice and realize it’s Dex. Holy shit!
“Dex,” I cough out.
“Thank fuck,” he breathes. “The door is locked.”
All of our heads snap to the door we walked through. How the hell did it get locked?
The explosion seems to be contained in that one room, so what is he hiding there, or did he just sacrifice his wife to save his own ass?
Ryder gets up and creeps to the door sweeping the room as he walks. Leo jumps up and pulls me to my feet, both of us ready for anything.
My whole body hurts from getting knocked down, my face hurts from that fucker punching me, my ears are still ringing, and I have a splitting headache. And still no sign of Nina. Or Viktor.
I run through every possible scenario and come back to one. Did Alexey and Dmitri set me up? My heart immediately says no, they’re friends. But my brain is yelling at my heart, telling it not to be stupid. They’re the sons of my biggest enemy.
Ryder jerks the door, jamming his gun in the closet guy’s face. Dex scoffs and knocks it away. “It’s just us.”
They all come strolling in, all in one piece and also empty-handed.
“Anything?” I ask.
“Nope,” Gage answers, looking around. “Like what you did with the place,” he says, gesturing to the now-fried room.
“Why the fuck were they guarding these rooms then?” Ryder asks
“To hide what they’re really hiding,” Leo says, and all heads turn to him. “What?”
“You’re fucking brilliant, Baby,” Gage says. “We need to search this whole house. She’s here somewhere.”
“Let’s just hope she wasn’t in there,” I say, swallowing the bile threatening to rise. Is Viktor really that dirty?
The answer to that is yes. Yes, he is.
