"Ten of your best men. Better than anyone I've got. I want her out safe. And I want Gayle cornered before she sees it coming."
He nods once. "Done."
No hesitation. No conditions. He just shows me he's got my back, the way he always has, even when I don't deserve it.
"I don't know how to thank you," I say quietly.
He pats my shoulder. "You don't have to. Just bring your wife and baby home."
I stand. My legs are unsteady but my head is clearer than it's been in hours.
"I'm going to get them back."
He nods. "Damn right you are."
28
ELLE
The air in this room smells like bleach. Cold, metallic, suffocating. Every breath tastes like dust. The overhead light hasn't gone off once since they dragged me in, and it makes time impossible to track.
I stopped counting somewhere between panic and numbness. When I lived in this building before, I was given a prison meant for a princess.
Now my mother can't be bothered to care where I'm kept, as long as I'm kept quiet.
For hours, I screamed. Shouted. Begged. Prayed she'd remember I'm pregnant. That some scrap of empathy would surface.
But empathy isn't in Gayle's dictionary. If I had a baby on my hip, she'd have thrown us both in here without blinking.
The door's locked. Windows boarded. The only sounds are the vent's hum and the occasional laugh from the guardsoutside. Every set of footsteps in the hall makes my heart lurch.
Natalia was here for a while. Beside me. Crying and begging for us both, like she has a conscience. All it did was make the guards laugh and make me hate the sound of her voice.
Hours ago, they came for her. She didn't come back. I should care. I don't. She put my baby and me here. That little liar. If I get out of this, I'll kill her myself.
I sit on the bed, knees to my chest, wrists rubbed raw from zip ties, hair a wreck, head aching from crying until nothing came out. I'm so tired that even fear feels like background noise.
I press my palms over my eyes until I see stars. The thought of Egor's hands on me, his voice in my ear, makes my stomach lurch. Gayle is capable of anything. I thought marrying Nikolai meant she couldn't touch me anymore.
God, how stupid I was.
The door clicks.
I jerk upright, heart pounding, expecting one of Gayle's goons.
It's Jeffrey.
For a second, I don't recognize him. Thinner than I remember. Older, maybe. Or just tired. The last time I saw him, he was standing by the car when I left this building as Nikolai's newly promised bride. He didn't stop me. Just gave me that tiny nod that saidgo.
And now here he is.
"Jeffrey?" My voice cracks.
He shuts the door quietly. "You look like hell, kid."
I want to laugh at a friendly face. Instead, a lump the size of a fist lodges in my throat. "What are you doing here?"
He glances at the camera in the corner, then back at me. "Working. Same as always."
