“Sometimes a few weeks is all you need.”
“I can’t lose her,” I said, meeting his eyes.
“You won’t. I’ll have your back. And hers. We’ll be careful. We’ll put a tracker on her so we’ll know where she is at all times. We either do this…”
“Or risk never finding Sarah.”
“It will be okay. If I have anything to do with it, and I do, I will make sure Ariana comes home to you. And God willing, Sarah does, too. I’ve got your back, brother.” He held my gaze. “No matter what.”
“No matter what,” I repeated, unable to shake the uneasiness in my gut that something terrible was about to happen.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Henry
I slipped into the bedroom, coming to an abrupt stop when I saw Ariana sitting at the vanity. It wasn’t the sight of her that gave me pause.
It was what she was wearing.
The same clothes she wore when I saw her being abducted.
The same clothes she wore when I rescued her from the Bratva soldier.
The same clothes she wore when she tried to escape.
I’d spent the better part of the past several days trying to figure out a way to track down who Victor’s buyer was through other means. But I had nothing to go on, apart from the list of drop locations Mikhail had provided. I’d tried to access street cameras in the areas near these locations. Given most were fairly remote, any footage I accessed was easily from miles away.
So here I was, watching Ariana smear mud on her face and arms in preparation to feed her to the proverbial wolves.
And I fucking hated it.
“Is it too much?” she asked, meeting my eyes through the mirror. “I’ve never staged a kidnapping photo before.” She laughed nervously.
I approached her, swallowing hard as I raked my gaze over the streaks of dirt and grime she’d meticulously applied to her skin so as to make it appear she’d been held against her will for weeks.
Noticing a glob of mud near her temple, I smeared it down her cheek. “It looks realistic to me.”
She nodded, then shifted back toward the mirror, checking her work yet again.
“Are you sure about this, Ariana?” I asked after a beat. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way.”
She shifted toward me once more. “We already talked about this. Blake agrees. I’m your best chance.”
I hung my head, a ball of unease settling low in my stomach. Hell, it had been there since she first suggested using herself as our Trojan horse. But ever since I’d woken up this morning, it had grown more prominent. It was probably nothing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I was missing something.
Something important.
Something that would mean the difference between life and death.
“I’ll be okay.” Ariana clutched my face, forcing my eyes toward hers.
“I fucking hate this, Ariana,” I admitted, my voice betraying my emotions.
“I don’t like it either. But you’re batting a thousand when it comes to rescuing me from dangerous men,” she said with a smirk, hoping to break through the tension. But nothing could. Not right now. “With that track record, I have no doubt you’ll come to my rescue this time, too.”
“You know I will. I refuse to let anything bad happen to you.”
