Why the fuck didn’t she listen?
Dialing her number, I turn to security as the call rings out unanswered. “You didn’t watch her? You didn’t keep a fucking eye on her? Do you have a fucking death wish!”
“We were!” One barks back. “She stepped out for air and Tony followed.”
“Well, where the fuck is Tony, huh?” I cast my arm wide, narrowly avoiding smacking a passing man in the face. “Where the fuck is he?”
Ivy doesn’t answer her phone.
My heart races faster and faster as I dial Raven’s number next, but before I hit call, the arrogant security guard shoves his phone under my nose. On the screen, two small dots flash a few blocks away.
“See?” he remarks sharply. “He’s just around the corner. Tony says she’s fine.”
“Why the fuck did they leave?” Not waiting for an answer, I break into a sprint and rip my gun from my holster as I run past the first block.
Too much could have happened in the time we were separated. It only takes a few seconds for a blade to find a critical artery or for a bullet to strike an organ. It takes even less time for someone to snatch her off the street and steal her away from me, to finallytake her and kill her like someone’s been fighting to do ever since the crash.
She wouldn’t leave willingly.
I know she wouldn’t.
This is too important.
Reaching the next block, I spot Tony instantly. He wears the same suit as the two guards I left in the dust behind me, so I make a beeline for him. He sees me a split second before I crash into him. Both my hands latch onto his collar and I haul him upward an inch, then slam him down on the hood of the nearest car.
“Where the fuck is she, huh? What have you done with her? Where is she?”
Tony stares up at me in alarm, his eyes wide like saucers, and then he points behind me. “She’s fine, Boss. She’s fine! She’s right there, in that cafe!”
My head snaps around as every fear of what could happen to Ivy swells in my mind like a cresting wave, ready for my own failure to watch her to break my heart.
But my fears don’t reach reality.
Ivy really is fine.
She sits inside a cafe with her head resting on her upturned palm, nodding along as she listens to the woman across the table. Moira, I think her name was.
Shoving Tony aside, I stand and sprint into the cafe with such force that the door crashes loudly against the wall when itbounces from impact. Everyone jumps and Ivy spins to face me, her eyes wide.
“Ruslan?”
“I told you not to leave!” Grabbing her upper arm, I haul her out of the chair as worry gives way to anger. “Do you think this is a fucking game?”
“Hey!” Moira’s on me instantly, slamming one fist into my chest while trying to get between me and Ivy. “Let her go, you asshole!”
24
IVY
“Let her go!” Moira has absolutely no effect on Ruslan’s grip on my arm as he hauls me away from the table, but the moment I dig my heels in, he pauses.
“You’re hurting me, Ruslan! What the hell?”
“What the hell?” His head whips around and furious, dark eyes lock onto mine. “Are you insane? Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? I told you tostayand you didn’t listen! Do you think you stand a chance without me, huh? Are you so stupid that you’re just throwing yourself into the arms of people who want to kill you? I’m not protecting you for my sake, remember. Everything I’m doing is for you, and you’re throwing it all back in my face!”
I want to argue back. It rises like vomit in my chest but as he yells at me, something in my mind clicks.
I’d stumbled out of that tailor shop in a daze, unable to breathe and unable to think. Running into Moira ended with her begging for five minutes to truly explain herself, and I agreed because I miss my best friend. I miss an anchor to my old life, and I washoping there would be something she could tell me, something she could say that would bring that all back for me.
