“Where is Nikolai?”
The door opens before he can open his mouth to answer. Somebody else enters the room—correction, someothers.They stand in the shadows, lined up against the wall. I can’t see their faces, but I sense that all of their eyes are on me.
“You are a fucking psychopath.” I lunge forward but the zip ties spring me back, this time cutting my ankles as well as my wrists. Fresh blood trickles down my arm, running over old, dried blood.
I don’t think I realized how much Nikolai meant to me until now, knowing that I might be losing him. I shut my eyes to escape this hell, so out of breath that I feel like I might pass out.
My mind suddenly reverts back to the other night we spent together. Could it have been our last? He was asking me if I trusted him, saying all of the things during sex that he had never said before.
He must have known that something terrible was coming.
It’s the unknown that terrifies me the most. My limbs turn to lead, dread casting its curse all over my body. What if he’s already dead? What if I lost him already? What if the consequence of all of my digging is this—his death? He wastrying to warn me. He’s been trying to warn me since the beginning and I didn’t listen! I never did!
I shake my head, my tears threatening to fall again.
Maybe Father is right.
Everything I touch, I destroy.
I lunge again, my anger propelling me forward, but of course it’s no use.
Besides, Aslanov’s thugs are here.
“You need to calm down, Lauren,” Father says. “Stress is bad for the baby.”
What?
I want to cup my hands over my mouth and cry softly into them.
How does he know?
How does he know about the baby?
He can probably see something on my face because he tilts his head. “Don’t act so surprised, daughter. You should know by now that I have eyes and ears everywhere. Who’s the dad? Let me guess, is it Nikolai Rogov?”
Just the sound of his name on my father’s lips makes me shudder.
He suddenly cackles. It’s dry, throaty, like the laugh of a man who’s been smoking cigars his whole life. “You practically walked into this.” The smile fades, replaced by a stone-cold expression. “Why didn’t you tell me, Lauren? Why didn’t you tell me that I’m going to be a grandfather?”
I shut my eyes to escape this nightmare just for a second, knowing that it’s going to be a long one.
One that I might not even wake up from.
Chapter Thirty-One
Nikolai
My car screeches to a halt as I stop outside of Timur’s house.
I exhale deeply. Waiting for Timur to enter the vehicle, I turn my head to the sky and allow the dread to sink deeper. War is at my doorstep and Lauren became collateral. But at least I know she’s alive. Aslanov won’t do anything to her until he has me, which is a start.
Streaks of indigo slip into the sky, darkening the palette. The moon hangs faintly in the distance—a crescent tonight. I clench my fist as I think through the implications of what’s ahead. Whatever happens next, I have to be prepared for anything. Literally anything. Even if that means giving up my life to save Lauren’s and our baby’s.
The car door pops open and Timur climbs in.
“I can’t get a hold of our undercover guy.” He pulls out his phone and checks to see if there has been an update. Judging by the look on his face, there isn’t.
My pulse throbs too fast for me to stay completely grounded in this situation. I have always kept my cool, pausing to think logically in moments like this, but this is too fucking much. I’d burn the entire world down for Lauren and our daughter.
