Chapter 44
“You’re already too late,” the Armenian mumbles, repeating himself and driving his words into my gut like a spike.
I freeze, my heart thumping in my throat. “What the fuck did you say?”
A dark chuckle rattles from him. “You heard me.”
The room goes deafeningly silent, and his stare up at me is unwavering as I take a step toward him. “Tell me,” I roar, my fists slamming into his face like it’s a punching bag.
Blood flows from his lips by the time I stop. He pushes a tooth from between them, and a now-gaping smile spreads across his face, his remaining teeth coated with crimson spittle. “Davit sent her a text from you nearly ten minutes ago. If you hurry, maybe you’ll get there first.”
Pulling my gun again, I can barely breathe as I point it toward his battered face and mercilessly pull the trigger—the reverberations of the shots echo around the concrete tomb.
My legs move before my brain catches up, and I sprint away from the Armenian, my boots thudding against the concrete until I reach the elevator.
I jab the call button so hard I might break it.
I need to get to her…
The seconds tick by like hours, waiting for the cab to arrive. My hand trembles as I dial Cillian—the call failing from the service-blocked confines of the basement. “Fuck!” I yell, pacing the floor like a caged animal. I futilely try calling Cillian again, but the call still won’t go through.
The elevator dings, and I nearly punch the doors open. I swipe my keycard and slam the penthouse button until the doors slide shut. The car lurches upward as I hold the handrail with a white-knuckled grip, my other hand repeatedly hitting redial. Still no fucking connection.
After what feels like an eternity, the doors open.
I bolt into the hall, my shoulder clipping the still-opening doors.
The pain barely registers as I sprint toward Damon and Gunnar, holding sentry outside the penthouse door.
They both tense upon seeing me and follow behind me as I barrel through the front door .
“Eavan!” I shout, my crazed eyes darting around the apartment. She doesn’t reply. My heart thumps like a drum in my ears, and I choke when I try to yell her name again. “Eavan!”
“Enz?” Nikolai walks into the living room from the terrace, confusion snapping across his face.
“Where is she?” I shout, panic quickly taking hold.
“She went downstairs to meet you.” He shakes his head, continuing to stare at me with disbelief. “Maybe five minutes ago.”
“And you fucking let her go?” I snarl, my blood turning to ice and boiling all at once.
Nikolai recoils at the fury in my voice, defensively replying, “She said you texted her. Fuck, you text me to say it was fine and you were waiting at the elevator.”
“What the hell is going on?” Cillian mutters as I turn, finding him staring at me wide-eyed with takeout bags in his hands. “Enz?!”
“The Armenians,” I gruff, my voice raw, as I shove past him, racing back to the elevator. They all follow—Cillian, Nikolai, Gunnar, and Damon, all asking a barrage of questions I don’t have time to answer. Questions that don’t matter right now.
The doors slide shut, and the cab can’t move fast enough for any of us. “What the fuck is going on?” Cillian shouts over the chorus of chatter in the small space, demanding an actual answer this time .
“Sargsyan… The motherfucker cloned my phone,” I grit, my jaw clenched so tightly with anger my teeth might crack. My foot taps against the floor, and my fingers twitch as I anxiously wait for the cab to reach the lobby, watching the floors click by in slow motion. “They’ve been reading everything.”
He pales. “What?”
“They knew I was texting her. They used my messages to lure Eavan from the apartment. Sargsyan came for her.”
Cillian stumbles back like I hit him, shaking his head in disbelief, and the blood draining from his face.
The second the doors open, I’m sprinting through the lobby. “Eavan!” I call out, knowing she isn’t here. “Eavan!” My cries echo off the marble and glass—the vast space is practically empty, less the receptionist sitting behind the desk.
“She just went outside a few minutes ago,” the receptionist softly informs me, looking afraid of the armed men following me.
I storm toward the building’s front doors, Nikolai, Cillian, Gunnar, and Damon all hard on my heels.
The moment I hit the street, I spin in place—my eyes scanning up and down the sidewalk like I can will her back if I try hard enough.
Nothing. No flutter of her fiery red hair in the crowd down the block. No panicked screams in the distance.
Just… gone.
Minutes too late .
I broke my promise… I let them take her.
My chest heaves, and my knees threaten to buckle. I bend over, hands on my knees, trying to force air into my lungs. The pulse in my ears is so loud it drowns out everything around me. Rage and guilt crushing me, I mumble, “This is my fault. I put her in their hands.”
I’m going to get her back...
Cillian glares at me, and part of me is waiting for him to either agree with me or place a firm fist into my jaw. He firmly grips me by the back of the neck and hauls me into him. “It’s not your fault, Enz,” he mutters, promising it to me and trying to convince himself. “We’re gonna get her back.”
“They’re going to try to get her out of the country.
And fast.” Nikolai pulls out his phone, swiping across the screen.
“The issue is, which airport are they going to? It’ll take us far too long to scout them all.
Drive time alone, they’ll have her over the mid-Atlantic before we can get between Teterboro, White Plains, LaGuardia, and JFK. ”
“If we choose the wrong one…” Cillian sighs, also digging his phone from his pocket. “I’ll start getting guys on the road to all of them.”.
“We won’t,” I exhale, swiping Cillian’s phone out of his hand. He grumbles as I pull up the website—the one that will save her. The one connected to the tracker I hid in the necklace I gifted her. It takes three agonizing seconds to load. And then—there. A red blip .
Glancing over my shoulder, Cillian gruffs, “You fucking LoJack’ed my sister?”
“You can be pissed with me about it later.” I zoom in on the map, watching the little red dot approaching the Lincoln Tunnel. “When we bring her back home. They’re heading to Teterboro.”