“Ahh, Attwood. There you are.”
Fuck off, I mouthed at the screen, knowing he couldn’t see me.
Dan snorted.“I’m here too. Alright, Volksy?”
“Hoyton,” Volkov said flatly. “Attwood—yes, I can help. But you will owe me. I’ll be in contact.”
The call ended, and we exchanged glances. Dan sighed loudly, banging his knuckles on the table. “Enough fucking moping. This isn’t a funeral. There’s nothing we can do fornow. Let’s finish up this pizza before it gets cold and come up with a plan to stop Worthy losing his head on the ice tomorrow.”
23
NOVA
Tensions were high, despite the forced party atmosphere. I wished I were anywhere but here, but after a second attempt at sabotage at the port, everyone was paranoid, and we were on temporary lockdown while my father and his cronies disappeared to investigate—aka torture information out of people. My brother had been dragged into the whole mess, pulled from yesterday’s hockey away game right as the team was about to board the bus, and I hadn’t seen or heard from him since. The only information I’d been given regarding any issue was a curt set of instructions from my mother sent via voice note last night, telling me not to leave the university under any circumstances and to stick close to Daniel or Anton. We even had a couple of the Volkovs’ security men patrolling the parts of Cranham Uni that were outside the prison walls, including the hockey house, although there was no specific threat to us.
I discreetly palmed the blade hidden in the pocket of my jeans, disguised as a small comb. To my parents, I was something weak, something in need of protecting, but I wasconfident that I could give any would-be attackers a shock, at least. Not that the blade would do much against a trained criminal, but I felt better having it on me. In fact, I tried to carry a form of protection at all times, just in case.
I sent another text to my twin, scrolling past the previous ones I’d sent, all unread and unanswered.
Me:
Worried about you. Please reply when you can
When I exited out of the messaging app, my phone buzzed for the fifth time, and my breath caught in my throat.Ryker.But when I glanced down at the display, my stomach went into freefall when I saw it was yet another text from my mother wanting to discuss wedding plans, completely ignoring my repeated questions about my twin. I gritted my teeth, sending back a terse reply to say I’d speak to her in the morning, and then thrust my phone into the back pocket of my jeans.
“Nova. My beautiful star.” Daniel appeared in front of me, grabbing my hand and placing a loud, smacking kiss to the back of it.
“Daniel. Go away.”
“I’m wounded.” He clasped his chest, staggering backwards.
“I don’t have time for your games. Have you heard from my brother?”
“Not today.” At my stuttered inhale, his brows pulled together, his expression darkening. “It’s not like him to go this long without contact. Jay hasn’t heard from him, either.”
“Yeah. I’m worried about him. I can’t help feeling like—I don’t know. Like something’s wrong.” My lip trembled, and I bit down on it, hard.
He nodded sharply and then raised his head, his gaze focusing on the other side of the room. “Liana! Get over here!”
Liana glanced up from her position at the kitchen island, where she was mixing cocktails with Keisha and Ruby. Daniel impatiently beckoned her over, and she rolled her eyes but made her way through the crowd, carefully clutching the cocktail and three shot glasses brimming with neat vodka.
When she reached us, she placed the vodka on the windowsill and handed me and Daniel a shot glass each. “Drink up.”
Daniel pulled a face but obediently tipped his glass to his lips, shivering dramatically as the vodka went down his throat.
“Fucking gross, Li.”
She smirked, clinking her glass against mine, and we downed ours together. The fiery burn was almost enough to distract me from the pit in my stomach, but not quite. Nothing had managed to make it go away yet. Not the music booming from the speakers, nor the press of bodies, nor even the mind-numbing alcohol… Not when my brother was out there and I hadn’t heard from him, and Anton had disappeared with two of the security guys almost as soon as we’d arrived.
Something was happening.
“What do you want? Why did you call me over here?”
I blinked, tuning back into the conversation to find Liana regarding Daniel with her brows raised.
Daniel’s teasing expression disappeared. “Nova needs you,” he said bluntly, and the knot in my stomach tightened. Was I that obvious?
Liana didn’t bother with words. She took my hand,leading me through the house to the quieter dining room, which appeared to be in use as a gaming room, with a dartboard, air hockey table, and a dining table that doubled up as a pool table. There were several people hanging out, but she led me past them all to the corner of the room where there were two ancient leather wingback chairs.
