I don’t know why I say it out loud.
Maybe because if I keep it in my head any longer, I’m going to break something.
“Beat the fuck out of her. Put his hands on her face. Tied her to a chair like she was nothing.”
My voice goes flatter with every word. Colder.
Meaner.
“And now she’s gone.”
Vaska’s silence stretches.
Then—
A buzz from the intercom panel by the wall.
Both of our heads turn.
Another buzz.
I’m already moving when the guard’s voice crackles through.
“Pakhan.”
“What.”
He hesitates before answering. “Kaya is at the gate.”
I stop dead.
For one second, the words don’t register. Then they do. Something dark uncoils in my chest.
Vaska goes still beside me.
I let out one short laugh with no humor in it. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
The guard says nothing.
“He came alone?” I ask.
“He’s in the car alone.”
I look at Vaska. Then back at the intercom.
“Get him out.”
“Pakhan?”
“Out of the fucking car,” I say, voice turning lethal. “Search him. Strip him if you have to. Then walk his ass to my front door.”
The silence on the other end is brief this time.
“Yes, Pakhan.”
The line clicks dead. I’m already reaching for the gun again. Vaska watches me chamber the rage instead of the bullet.
Then he says, very evenly, “How about we find out where she is before you kill him.”
