"Not this time. How about we ask if you can make cookies?" I take his hand, leading him toward the kitchen.
“Maybe Mommy will want some when she comes back.”
“I bet she will.”
After depositing Enzo with Maria, I move through the house methodically, one more time checking every room and requestioning every staff member. Still no sign.
I burst into Alessandro's office without knocking, finding him standing by the window with a glass of scotch in one hand and his phone in another.
“Fuck,” he says under his breath.
Whatever the problem is will have to wait. "Katerina's gone. I need men to help search?—"
"She's not missing." Alessandro's voice is flat. He doesn't even turn to look at me.
"What are you talking about? She's been gone for hours."
He takes a slow sip before setting his glass down and handing me his phone. "This just came minutes ago."
My heart pounds against my ribs as I snatch the phone from his hand.
Have you not noticed you’re missing something? I have Katerina. Luca Dante is to come to the Morozova compound alone and unarmed by midnight if he wants her to live. Any sign of Dante men or weapons, and we'll send her back in pieces.
"How the fuck…" I can’t wrap my head around how they got her.
He glances at me as he takes his phone back. “She must have gone on her own. There hasn’t been a breach.”
I can’t wrap my head around that. “If there’s no breach, then how did she leave?” I have a flash of memory of an old abandoned gate back in the overgrown area of the property. “Fuck!” I run my hands through my hair as frustration peaks. “That back gate.”
He frowns. “What back gate?”
I explain briefly where it is and how Katerina and I used to sneak out through it. “But why? What was she thinking?” I can only imagine Alessandro thinks she’s disloyal, but she’d never leave Enzo. Never.
“Maybe she thought she could reason with them,” he surprises me by saying. “It is her job to mediate.”
“But they took her instead.” Rage pulses through me. "I'm going after her."
"That's exactly what they want."
"I don't give a fuck what they want!” If I were holding something, it would be flying across the room and shattering against the wall. "They have Katerina."
“Yes, and they’re using her bait. Surely, you don’t want to give them what they want.”
“I do if it will free her.”
Alessandro studies me. "You'd walk into certain death for this woman?"
I stare at him nearly gaping. Hasn’t he been paying attention? "Without hesitation."
I move toward the door. "I need more guns."
"You heard the message. Unarmed."
"They'll kill me either way. I'm at least taking that psychotic bastard Maksim with me."
Alessandro is silent for a long moment. "What about Enzo? If you both die, what happens to him?"
My gut clenches at the idea of never spending another moment with my son. I still haven’t taught him to play catch. Or to tie a tie on his first date. "You protect him. And Katerina, when I get her out."
