It felt as if my whole body had drained of blood.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
Nikolai’s laugh as he hung up was something out of a nightmare. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was not to underestimate him. He was about to strike.
CHAPTER24
WREN
There was no sleep for me after the phone call. I stayed up and stared out Seth’s bedroom window for hours, wondering what Nikolai would do. Often in mafia movies, mobsters would drive by with their Tommy guns and just kill out in the open. Nikolai was crazy like that, and I could see him doing it. I knew he wasn’t kidding when he said more people would suffer.
All of his people were in Vegas, so I didn’t think I’d need to worry too much about my friends in California, but maybe that was what he was aiming for. He wanted me to warn the wrong people so it’d be a bigger shock when he did make his move.
As soon as the sun rose, I retreated to the gym for my usual workout. Seth had a million phone calls to make, which was fine with me. I wanted to avoid him until I figured out what to do. The man could see right through me, and if he dug deep, there was no way I could keep the incident with Nikolai from him any longer. That was why it was best not to see him.
My stomach was so sick with worry, especially with Ripp gone. I tried calling him to spar with me this morning, but he’d left late last night to meet Kase at the Labyrinth. He texted me and told me not to worry and said he’d return later this afternoon.
The second he returned, I was going to kick his ass.
He never answered when I tried calling him to tell him about Nikolai’s threatening call. I even tried getting in touch with Kase. That was hours ago, and I still hadn’t heard from either of them.
I jumped on the treadmill and cranked up the speed, running until the sweat poured down my face. By the time I was done, I was bent over and gasping for air. My eyes burned from all the sweat pouring into them.
“Wren, are you okay?” Seth called out, clutching my elbows to help me stand up straight.
“Not really,” I admitted, gently pulling away from him to grab my towel off the weight bench.
I dried off my face and rubbed the towel over my eyes, hoping I could see without the burn. Seth peered around the gym and then looked at his watch.
“You’ve been at it for hours,” he said skeptically. He stepped toward me; his gaze narrowed. “You only do stuff like this when you’re stressed. Did something happen I don’t know about?”
He stared me down and I could feel the bile rise up the back of my throat. “I’m worried about Ripp. I haven’t been able to get in touch with him. He left last night to help Kase with something, and that was the last I heard from him.”
Seth pulled out his phone, his face a guarded mask. “I’ll make some calls.”
But now, I had to tell him why I was so worried. “There’s something else,” I said, grabbing his attention.
He looked up from his phone, but mine rang before I could say anything. My gut clenched with fear that it’d be Nikolai, but it was Ripp. A sense of relief washed through me and I sighed.
“It’s Ripp. Thank God.”
Seth slipped his phone into his pants pocket, and I could see his tension ease. That tension was going to come back tenfold once I explained why I was so worried.
“Hey,” I answered, clutching my chest.
“Wren, I need help!” he shouted, his voice full of agony and pain. It felt as if my world had shattered all around me.
“Ripp, what happened?” I demanded.
Seth rushed to me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me closer so he could hear. “Someone ran me off the road! I’m trapped in my truck not far from Seth’s! I was on my way back!”
This was all Nikolai’s doing; he had tried to kill Ripp.
Seth snatched my phone and hauled me out of the gym. “Tell me where you are,” he barked into the phone. There was no time to waste.
We rushed to Seth’s car, and he handed the phone back to me while he sped down the road. All I could hear was Ripp screaming in terror.
“Ripp! Talk to me!”
