Every muscle in my body coils, ready to fight.
2
MAKSIM
This meeting is useless.
I stare down at the polished table in the center of the safehouse, my hands clenched into fists so tight that my fingers burn.
Around me, the remnants of my inner circle shift in silence—Roman at my right, stone-faced and looking exhausted. Matvey beside him, tablet in hand, rifling through CCTV footage for the tenth time this hour. Andrey and Katya flank the perimeter of the room, standing guard like we’re expecting gunfire through the windows.
Detailed maps of every inch of the city are laid out across the table. Underground sewer networks, above ground infrastructure, back alleys, abandoned restaurants, sketchy fronts. Everything. And yet nothing has gotten us any closer to finding Ivy or Leo. They’ve all but vanished, gone without a single trace left behind.
It’s impossible to believe absolutely no one knows anything. That no cameras picked up their trail once the crash tookplace and the driver from the offending vehicle stepped out onto the road. Everything’s been wiped, nothing’s been left behind. Not even the faint whiffs of a lead.
All of it reminds me of Anton.
His successor has been taught well.
No one speaks when I turn to look at them one by one. Mainly because there’s nothingtosay. No one knows where Ivy is. No one knows where my son is, and I am one wrong word away from gutting the next man who breathes wrong in my direction.
“They couldn’t have just vanished,” I finally snarl, the fury inside me starting to outpace the ice I’ve used to hold it back in order to keep a level head. “Mikhail took them somewhere nearby. He couldn’t just disappear them that fast by taking them far. He may have wiped the local CCTV, but someone has to know something.”
Roman glances at Matvey, then looks back at me, not answering.
“We’re working as quickly as we can,Pakhan,” Matvey says calmly, like he’s trying to reason with a rabid dog. “We’re saying whoever took them knew what they were doing. They acted quickly and effectively to distract us from catching them before they went underground.”
My teeth gnash together as I chew on his words.
Mikhail is reckless to have done something this stupid like taking my significant other and child, and while that will inevitably lead to his end, he’s been just smart enough to keep himself out of the public eye for now.He’s unfortunately already succeeded at what mostenemies haven’t—taking the people who matter the most to me.
I’m going to kill him slowly for it.
Roman shifts in his seat, leaning back just enough to cross his arms over his broad chest. He lets out a deep sigh, sounding just as worn out as he looks. “We are working around the clock,Pakhan.We’ve also looped in Lev as well. He’s scouring what’s left of Anton’s network back in Russia. If there’s anything buried in the old system, he’ll find it.”
I drag a hand over my face. The stubble on my jaw scrapes my palm. I can’t remember the last time I slept, let alone showered and cleaned up. It’s been nonstop combing through surveillance, questioning people out on the streets at the time of the incident, following leads that always seem to lead to dead ends. And still, we have absolutely nothing. “It’s been nearly two weeks.”
Katya clears her throat from where she is back against the far wall. One leg has been lifted to rest behind her. Her usual cut-throat demeanor has been subdued since all of this started. “Whatever program they used to mass-wipe the data has been in the works for a while. It wouldn’t be surprising if we find Mikail’s been planning this for months. Most likely when you landed here to find Ivy. The witnesses we have been able to locate are only able to put some of the pieces together for us. The rest… we’re still trying to find. Matvey’s been able to uncover somewhat of a timeline.”
Only one thought echoes in my head. This is Mikhail’s play for the crown. Not with an army, not with bullet aimed for my head, but with my blood. The woman I love, the son I didn’t know I had until it was too late… He’s using them both to rip me open, and what’s worse, he knows it’s working.
He knows I’m scrambling for answers I don’t have, no doubt delighting in watching me fumble.
The second I get my hands on him, it’s over.
An hour later,we call Lev.
I stare at the screen as the secure line works to connect us to our private network, pacing the length of the room while Matvey’s program does its thing. Lev appears in grainy pixels at first, slowly clearing to reveal him sitting in what looks like the back of a warehouse, crates stacked behind him and a shotgun leaning up against the side of one of them.
“No,” he says before Matvey even speaks. “I haven’t found anything yet.”
My hand slams into the nearest wall, the plaster cracking under my palm. My frustration has boiled over into unadulterated rage at this point. More bad news stacked up on top of the already overwhelmingly tall pile has all but crushed me. No matter what corner we turn over, it’s always the same answer. There are no answers.
Lev’s voice doesn’t falter as he continues. “What Ihavefound is every one of Anton’s old channels have gone cold. Even after his fall, there were still some stragglers hanging on using his old networks. I looked into the contacts he used to have when he was still alive that I figured would’ve been passed down to Mikhail, but oddly enough, those have beencompletely dissolved. It’s like Mikhail erased his father’s existence before he hopped on that plane to the US.”
“Why, though?” I bite out, the words coming sharper than I intend. “What’s the point? If he’s gone to such great lengths to erase his father’s legacy, that either means he’s confident he’ll be coming out on top with this and successfully absorbing our Bratva as his own, or…” I pause, swallowing the bitter taste of the thought. “His last-ditch effort is to completely wipe everything if he fails before I can dismantle it.”
Lev doesn’t flinch at my questioning. He’s been down this road before plenty of times. “I thought that too. I would wager his idea is a mixture of both. He’s delusionally confident that taking Ivy and Leo will be enough for you to hand him what he wants—power, leverage, legitimacy. The title. Your empire without the war it took to build it.”
