I swallow hard, my blood pumping around my head, eyes darting this way and that as I search for some way out of this mess. But there is nothing.
The men who attacked, the ones who survived, are retreating towards the door now, and the guards are closing in a semi-circle around Alexei, waiting for his command. Ilya still has Max, thank God.
“Raise that gun at me, and I’ll put both of them down,” the man warns him, no hint in his voice that he might be bluffing. He’s come here with every intention of getting what he believes he needs, and if that happens to come in the form of my daughter and I, so be it.
“Alexei,” I whisper, though I know he can’t do anything.
His eyes meet mine, dark and defeated.
The man wraps his arm around me, using the other to grab Nina, who clings on to me for dear life. I hold her close, whispering to her that everything is going to be okay, though I’m not sure I believe a word that’s coming out of my mouth right now. She looks up at me with those big eyes that have always trusted me—that face that has never had a reason to doubt me. And, as I gaze down at her, I whisper all that I can think of to say.
I’m sorry.
And before I can get out another word, the man is dragging me away again, forcing me out of the door and towards a car that is waiting outside. The gate has been torn open, and Alexei and his men stream out to try and block their exit. However, Nina and I are tossed into the back before they can get close.
The man starts the engine and drives us away. I pull Nina tight to me once more, hardly even thinking to buckle us up and try to stay safe. What the hell is the point of that, when the worst has already happened, when I’ve already left my daughter with so little to rely on...?
I squeeze my eyes shut as the wheels rumble beneath us, the engine screaming as we hit the road and pull away from the house. There’s nothing I can do right now but pray that we will make it through.
I swear silently to my daughter that I’ll do anything I can to protect us both.
Even if that means giving up my life in the process.
17
ALEXEI
“Fuck!”
I toss everything on my desk to the floor, a glass exploding into pieces on the ground in front of me, but I can hardly pay it any attention. The rage, the fury, the anger, the guilt, it’s coursing through me in a way I can’t control.
“Pakhan?”
I flash around on the spot, to find Ilya standing in the doorway. I stride towards him, eyes narrowed. “Where’s Max?”
“With Marsha,” he replies. “He’s safe. Shaken, but safe. I think he’s sleeping now...”
“At least he can get some rest,” I mutter, as I stride to the drinks cabinet, pouring myself a vodka and throwing it back in a single gulp. I’ll go up to check on Max later, once I know what the fuck just happened, because right now, I know the only hope I have is to figure out where Nina and Cara have been taken.
I can’t stop thinking about it, my home invaded like that. How frightened Cara looked. How the fear on her face mirrored theache that lived in my father’s for so long after what happened, when he felt like he had entirely failed my mother. It ate him up inside, and I’m starting to understand more clearly exactly why, because I know I’ll never be able to forgive myself if she’s a casualty of this.
I’ve been turning it over and over in my head, everything that happened when those doors burst open and announced the arrival of the men who were after everything that mattered to me. I know they must have seen the kids when Cara brought them outside, just like I had been worried about, and that anger at the knowledge that Cara could have had something to do with this is not lost on me. Maybe I’m not being fair, but right now, that’s the last thing on my mind.
They came for the kids. I’m sure of it. And they knew it would be the smartest way to snake themselves into my life. Because there is nothing I’ll not do to protect them—even if I only found out about Nina’s existence a few weeks ago. I still care for her as my daughter, and I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to her.
And Cara.Cara. As angry as I might be at her, I’ll not let anything happen to her. It’s exactly what she was terrified of, when she tried to leave back when she first found out who I was—when she pleaded with me to just let her and Nina go back to their lives. She didn’t want this life. It makes me sick to think that she was right, her instincts well-formed. Maybe I would’ve been better off letting them go than forcing them to stay, though it is far, far too late for that now.
“There’s a message from Vinski,” Ilya continues grimly, and my head snaps up, jaw tightening.
“Saying what?”
“Saying that you need to hand over the warehouses on the East side of the city,” he replies, cautious, eyeing me with every word as if he is expecting me to explode at any instant. “Or...”
He trails off. He doesn’t need to fill in the blanks, I’m perfectly capable of doing that on my own.Or he will kill them.That’s the part that Ilya will not say out loud. I lift my chin, another wave of anger rushing through me.
“He says that he’ll return them safe and sound if you hand over the warehouses, and all of this will be over,” he explains.
“Did someone tap the call?”
