Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Viktor
“Where is she?” I asked for the hundredth time. Pacing back and forth along the length of the entryway, I glared at Ivan, where he was having the cut on his head stitched up. He grimaced more than once but didn’t say anything.
He hadn’t even said anything when Stephen had dragged a screaming Manda down the stairs and out the door. She wasn’t even fully clothed, but I didn’t care. He could dump her naked in the snow for all I cared.
She had caused all of this. Slashed my leg open, knocked Ivan out with a marble-based lamp, and worst of all, she had made Leah think there was something going on between us.
And she hadn’t even let me explain. She had just run away from me.
“They will find her, Viktor.” Finally, stitched up Ivan pushed away the man helping him and stood up. “It’s going to be fine.”
I didn’t reply to him. I couldn’t because it felt like my voice was locked in my throat. My chest felt tight, and my stomach was nothing but a pit.
“She can’t have gotten far,” he added.
Yeah, that’s what I had thought as well. Right up until I had seen her disappear into the distance, and I was dragged back into the house by a heavily bleeding Ivan. He was right, of course. I couldn’t go chasing after her into the night in just a towel. I had to get dressed and use my brain.
Which was great in theory, but my brain wouldn’t concentrate. There was nothing in my thoughts but Leah. My wife was out there barefoot and in her PJs running around in the dark. And what made it worse was the snow, which was coming down thicker and harder than ever.
Anything could happen to her out there. She could slip and fall, and no one would find her in the dark, especially in this storm.
She could be lying out there already, hurt and scared.
My guts twisted.
I needed to get out there and look for myself.
I didn’t care if there were people out there looking for her. I had to be the one who found her.
She needed to let me explain.
“Boss?” Ivan’s voice was soft, patting my arm, he drew my attention back to him. “It’s ok, someone will find her, and you will be able to explain.”
Only I didn’t think she would believe me. Even if things were innocent, I didn’t think Leah would think so. No, I knew she would think the worst of me, and I had no one to blame for that but myself.
“I just want her home safe,” I mumbled.
“Because you care for her?” Ivan’s voice was knowing.
Whirling on him, I glared. “She’s my wife, and she’s carrying my baby. Of course, I care what happens to her,” I snapped.
“That’s not what I mean, Viktor, and you know it.” Ivan’s eyes met mine.
Out of all my men, he was the only one who would meet my eyes for any period of time. He was the only one I allowed, and that’s just because we had known each other for a long time.
Sometimes, I hated how little respect he gave me, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was kind of good to be challenged sometimes.
In that way, he reminded me of Leah.
Again, my gut twisted.
Fear.
That’s what I was feeling. And it was new to me. Had I ever been afraid before? Back when I thought Leah was dying on the sidewalk after the bomb had gone off, I had been afraid, but adrenaline had been pumping through my veins, and I hadn’t given in to it.
There was no adrenaline now. There was only dread.
It gnawed at me like something alive.
“I didn’t say you cared what happened to her. I said you cared for her. You’re falling in love with her, Viktor.”
I did a double-take. “That’s not what’s happening here, Ivan. Sure, I might care for her a little, but we both know I’m not capable of the thing people call love.”
At that moment, a car peeled to a stop with squealing tires, sending gravel flying.
I flung open the door, and Ivan was at my shoulder just as Stephen stepped out of the car.
“Did you find her?” My eyes raked over the dark car. If she were in there, I couldn’t see her. “Where is she?”
“Did Manda?” Ivan asked at the same time, and it made me realize that’s why Stephen had left in the first place. He had taken Manda back to the city. But that didn’t explain why he had come back like a bat out of hell.
Red-faced, he blew out a breath. “I don’t have her boss but—”
“But what?”
“I passed a car on the road. It was traveling in the opposite direction and going fast, but I thought—shit, boss, I’m sorry, but I thought I saw Leah in the back seat.”
My heart sank. If she had thumbed a ride, then she could be anywhere by now. She was clever. She would know better than to go back to her old haunts.
She would disappear. Her and my baby, and for what? For some skank and a massive misunderstanding.
“Which way?” I snapped.
“East.”
I frowned, away from the city. That made no sense unless the people who had her weren’t friendly.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Let’s go.” Ivan’s voice shook me out of my nightmare.
Lifting his eyebrows, he waited for me to nod.
“Stephen, phone in for reinforcements, and then get back on the road. If you take the side lanes, Viktor and I will take the main road. Keep communication open.” He took charge so easily that it reminded me why he was my second in charge.
When I was freaking out, he kept a calm head on his shoulders, which was what I needed to do.
And I would be able to if it had been anyone but Leah out there.
“And arm yourself if you are not already.” I added as Stephen headed back outside. His shoulders hunched against the swirling snow. “I don’t care who you use it against. Just get her back.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Ready?” Ivan said as the car squealed away, and I nodded.
Opening a drawer, I pulled out a gun and then another one. I offered one to Ivan, and he shook his head. “I have weapons in the car.”
Of course, he did.
“Then let’s go and get your wife back.”
I didn’t care who I had to shoot to get her back. Leah would be coming home.
Because maybe, just maybe, Ivan was right.
And I really did care for her.