No, that’s not true. If Leah and Eliza die, a part of me dies too. So does my hold on myBratva. But the idea that she ran from me is unfathomable.
My mind snaps to a memory—the memory of Leah standing up to Clarissa, brave to my ex’s face, even though she furiously clutches the arm of the woman beside her. The blonde womanwho stands there with a glare and unwavering loyalty, ready to step in at any moment, should her friend need assistance.
Suzie.
“Iliya!” I bark as I stride out of my office, the harsh sound echoing through the hallways that seem so empty without the sounds and warmth of Leah and Eliza’s presence. Sounds I didn’t even know had become such an important part of my day—a void where there should be life and laughter.
“Pakhan?” Iliya stops to look up at me, one foot on the landing, the other still on the steps he’s climbing to meet me.
“Get me a car!” I snap. “Now.”
As the driver pulls the car around, I’m already making calls. To Eliza’s school. To my men, spreading the word, redirecting every resource. No stone will be left unturned. No corner of this city, or any other, will be safe for her to hide.
How did I not see it before? Am I so blinded by fear, fear the likes of which I’ve never felt before?
The drive to Suzie’s is a blur, my mind whirling with anger, betrayal, and a chilling undercurrent of fear I cannot banish.
I think Leah understands the dangers she faces out there unprotected. I’m worried for her, for my child, for Eliza. Without my protection, she’s running straight into a world far more brutal than she cannot possibly comprehend.
I have to find her first before this nameless enemy, or any of my other enemies, do. I made our relationship public for many reasons. But one is for her protection. To let everyone know she’s mine. But that also means they know she’s my weakness, a chinkin my previously impenetrable armor. They know it, and they will take advantage of it.
The driver barely has time to stop the car before I storm out, Iliya right on my heels. Marius is already waiting for me at the top of the steps, grim-faced.
“There’s no sign of them here, Uncle,” he says, his voice low. “Neighbors haven’t seen her or her dog, and her car is gone.”
I stand on the sidewalk, staring up at Suzie’s dark windows, the anger and fear a cold, hard knot in my gut. The knowledge that Leah has truly left ricochets around my head, a hollow, infuriating sound. Gone, and I have no idea where. I have no way to protect her, the baby, or Eliza. And now even Suzie is in danger.
If Leah thinks she can disappear, if she thinks she can hide from me and deny me my child, she is very, very wrong.
A chilling resolve settles over me. This is about keeping her safe, about my future, and the future of myBratva. I will show her and everyone that nobody defies Viktor Antonov. I don’t know why she ran—maybe to get away from me, maybe to protect herself and her children. But whatever it is, she needs my protection, and I want her by my side.
Because being without Leah has proven to me just how much I love her, just how much I want and need her in my life. She doesn’t just have a part of me with her in the form of the baby, but she’s taken my heart as well. Irrefutably.
The hunt begins. I will not stop until she’s back where she belongs. With me.
“Forget the woman.”
Andrei is stationary as I pace my office.
“If you say that one more time, brother, I swear I’ll beat you with my own hands.” My words are a low snarl that would have any other man running for cover. But not my brother, not the man who has been by my side since his birth. The most I get out of him is a hard look, his thick eyebrows nearly touching as he glares at me.
“You don’t have time to worry about her, brother. You have an heir. I’m offering my son. Get your head out from between her legs and look around you—the rebellion in your ranks is growing, and if you don’t do something about it, our time will be over, and someone will take your place by force.”
“You wouldn’t be talking like this if Marius were the one in danger.”
My brother’s shoulders rise and fall as he takes a deep, steadying breath, his tell that his temper is rising and he’s doing his best to control it. He knows better than to go off around me. We may be brothers, but I am still hispakhan.
“Right. You’re right. I wouldn’t be. But you have Marius. You have Peter, even if he’s useless. Between them, ourBratvacontinues. But only if we still control it. And the men. Forget the woman. Forget the baby.” Andrei strides forward and grasps me by the shoulders. “Look at what you have now, Viktor. Look at what you already have in front of you. Be grateful for that. Keep to that, keep to the known, and focus on what mustbe done. Or would you give up your power, your place, and your empire for this woman? A woman who left you.”
I pull away from my brother and stalk to the window, looking out at the cold drizzle and the leafless trees that turn everything gray, just like everything feels gray in my world. I don’t answer my brother because the reality is, I don’t know. I couldn’t answer him immediately and with certainty that I wouldn’t give up this world, all my riches, and my power, to be with Leah. That’s how hard I’ve fallen, but I can barely admit it to myself, much less anyone else.
“The time is now, brother.”
Andrei’s reflection appears in the glass, over my shoulder, a specter of the man who has always stood by my side. Would I abandon him, too, for this woman? For the child growing within her whom I’ve already fallen in love with? For her daughter, whose life and light I have missed intensely?
“Grab the bull by the horns and kill these rebels before this goes any further. Before this becomes a true civil war within our ranks. Show them who’s in charge and that you lead with an iron fist. You’ve always led with an iron fist. Why do you hesitate now?”
This question I can answer, and I turn to face my brother, a laugh that sounds like acid leaving my throat. “Because if I kill any more of my lieutenants without proof of betrayal, they will really riot. I can’t keep making them disappear; I won’t have anyvorleft.” I sigh and shake my head. “Apakhanwithoutvoris a king without a kingdom.
