The drivers stepped on it, escaping with tires squealing before they’d even shut the back door. It whipped back and flung harshly until it closed as the SUV cut a sharp turn out of there.
“Fuck!” I ran up to the men we’d shot. All of them were Popov scum. And all of them were dead. Or they would be.
The soldier on my right ordered a car to come to us to pursue the SUV. The man to my left questioned them where they were taking her. But it didn’t matter. They were dead, dying, or too stupid.
I shot them all, showing no mercy.
George would have his phone on.
I could track him with it.
I wouldnotlose Maisie.
But as the car arrived and we piled into it, I despaired at how futile this chase was.
Traffic was jammed up from the streets being closed for the ball dropping.
George’s phone had been tossed out the window, ending that easy means of following him.
And no matter how fast we drove and stuck with the SUV that held them, we were duped with a decoy vehicle swinging into view and tricking us into following the wrong one for too long.
They’d abducted her. On a busy night when I had been so stupidly fucking distracted with looking forward to the future, they’d taken the little girl I saw as my own.
I only answered the phone for my uncle who demanded updates on where we were and if we’d found her.
“We’re hunting them down, Boss,” the driver replied on speaker.
I was too locked in livid rage to speak. To even think straight. Like a pounding, pulsing mantra in my brain, the need to find Maisie and save her drove me to stay alert and primed to slaughter all who stood in my way.
“We’ve got Natalie here, Sergei. We’ve got her,” he said.
I knew he did. But I hated that she’d suffer through this nightmare at all.
“You unleash motherfucking hell,” he ordered, the anger clear in his tight tone. “You unleash motherfucking hell and kill them all to get her back.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. Narrowing my eyes and letting the bloodthirsty rage turn me into a monster, not a man, I knew I would. I didn’t need his blessing. I wasn’t waiting for his permission. He wouldn’t question me despite not making any official, final claims on Natalie or her child. He wasn’t calling to debate anything.
They all knew I loved her.
I suspected Natalie did too but was too scared to admit it or accept it.
But she would. And I’d prove to her yet again that I would burn this fucking world down for her and her daughter just to keep them safe.
“I will,” I vowed to my uncle, unable to breathe through the red-hot fury that lit me up.
No matter what, no one would get away with taking what was mine.
Maisie was the girl I’d call my daughter.
Natalie was the woman I’d marry.
Wewouldhave a new year of goodness to usher in.
Just as soon as I scoured this city and brought her back to her worried mother.
32
NATALIE
