My blood turns to ice.
Eli.
“Now you’re gonna learn.”
Hands reach in, cut the seatbelt, and grab Lev first, and he shouts for me. “Mama!”
I lunge for him, but I can’t reach. “Don’t touch him! Eli, please. Leave him alone!”
He ignores me and goes for Milo next, prying the other door open.
I claw at Milo, fighting from where I hang, my boy clinging to me while I cling to him, both of us desperate, both of us losing.
“Mommy! Help me!” he yelps, his face wet with tears.
“No!” I thrash against the seat belt, trying to rip myself free. “Stop! Please stop! I’ll do whatever you want. Please! Please don’t do this!”
I’ve never felt fear like this. It’s raw. Alive. Ripping through me from somewhere so deep I know it will never leave.
“Tell your boyfriend I want twenty million for each kid.” A cold smirk snakes up Eli’s face. “Or they die.”
“No!” The word tears out of me. “Please, take me instead! He’ll pay. Just don’t do this to them!”
Eli only smiles wider. “He has twenty-four hours.”
I shriek after them, calling the boys’ names while they cry for me. I shove against the door, fighting the seat belt with shaky hands, sobbing like that might make any difference at all.
Then a gun appears inches from my face.
Another masked man holding it grabs me by the hair. “You’re fucking annoying.”
The pistol crashes into my head, and pain bursts behind my eyes so hard it wipes out everything else.
The last thing I hear is Milo screaming for me to help him. Then everything goes black.
CHAPTER FIFTY
SLOANE
I joltawake to the sound of Kirill roaring and something shattering in the distance. I sit up too fast, blinking against the harsh lights, not even knowing where I am at first. Then it all slams into me at once.
The accident. The boys.
Oh my God. The boys.
I rip the IV from my arm and shove myself out of bed, but the second my feet hit the floor, dizziness crashes over me. I grab the edge of the mattress before I can fall, squeezing my eyes shut as the room tilts.
The door flies open and footsteps rush in, more than one set. When I force my eyes open again, everything blurs together.
“What are you doing?” Kirill is there in an instant, grabbing my hips and easing me back onto the bed. “You need to lie down. You’re hurt.”
“No.” I clutch his forearm, breaking apart as tears cloud my vision. “They took the boys. You need to get the boys.”
“My brothers are on it.” His words come fast, strained. “Please, Sloane. I cannot worry about you too right now. Goddamn.” The curse rips out of him in a ragged growl as he gets to his feet and slams a hand into the wall.
He gives me his back, chest heaving, and the sight of him like this only makes the fear inside me swell until I can barely breathe.
Where are our boys? What are they doing to them?
