32. Elena
32
ELENA
I can’t believe I saw Anna today.
Four years of searching for her.
Four years of wondering.
Four years of her living her best life. You don’t know that. It could all be for show. To the outside world, you’ve looked like you’re living your best life, but you’re not. True.
Seeing her today has changed everything. What happens if she is happy? What happens if she’s disappeared because this is her life now? I shake my head, I don’t understand. I pick up my phone to call Max as he would be the only person in the world who would understand what to do, but I hesitate, he is still on his honeymoon, and I can’t ruin that. I can’t call Sergei, he will be down here on the next flight. Nash has had to go to the bar to sort something out and has left me alone with my thoughts, which is never any good. He’s right, I need to have a plan, but for the first time in my life I don’t know what to do. I call the one person who I know will listen. Mackenzie.
“Please tell me you are calling to tell me you and that grump are running away together?” Mackenzie teases.
“No,” I answer sternly.
“Oh.” I can hear the shock in her voice. “What happened?”
“Something’s happened and I need help,” I confess to her.
“Shit. That wasn’t at all what I thought you would say. Are you okay? Did Nash do something? I can be on the next flight to Mexico if you need me.”
“I saw Anna today.”
Silence falls between us.
“Anna? As in Sergei’s daughter Anna?”
“Yes.”
“And this is good, isn’t it?” she asks hesitantly.
“I thought it would be except she is married to the cartel leader who took Pearl.”
“She mustn’t know.”
“Not according to Nash. Apparently, she has a reputation in these parts. She’s killed people he’s known or so he says,” I explain to her.
Mackenzie gasps. “What do you mean?”
“He’s telling me she’s as bad as the cartel leader.”
“But isn’t she kind of like you?” Mackenzie questions. She knows some of what I am but not everything.
“She should be, but that’s the thing, the people I work for don’t know where she is either, she just vanished all those years ago without a trace.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t tell Sergei yet that I’ve found her. I can’t get his hopes up that she’s truly home. What happens if Nash is right, and she is this person now? What happens if she has killed off that side of herself?” I ask her.
“You think she can change that much?”
“Yes. They tried to get rid of everything that made us who we used to be.”
“I think you might need to call Sophie, or I can get Zoe.”
“I don’t want to stress Zoe during her pregnancy,” I tell her.
“This might be over my head. I can help you with guy problems but this …” Mackenzie states.
“She looked relaxed, happy. She was laughing with her stepson at a luxury resort dressed in head-to-toe designer gear.”
“Maybe you should tell Sergei? He needs to know.”
“I know, but what happens if she isn’t Anna anymore?”
“I really don’t know what to tell you. Call Sophie, you know she will look at it pragmatically.”
She’s right. “Thanks for the chat.”
“I’m here anytime,” she tells me as we say our goodbyes and hang up.
I decide to call Sophie.
“Hey, everything okay?” she answers hesitantly.
“Yeah, just something happened today, and I need to talk to someone about it.”
Silence falls between us.
“And you called me?” Sophie questions.
“I called Mackenzie first, but she suggested I call you,” I say.
“Oh, okay then. What is it?” she asks with her no-nonsense tone.
“I found Anna.”
“Oh my god, that is amazing. Is she okay? Have you told Sergei? Is she safe?” Sophie peppers me with questions. I then explain to her exactly what I saw, and all the information Nash gave me. “Shit,” she says at the end.
“I know.”
“I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here. I agree we don’t tell Sergei yet. But I do think you should contact her. Maybe at the gala. See how she reacts to you in a public environment. See if she seeks you out during the night.” That was what I was thinking. “She could be so deep undercover that seeing you might trigger her out of it.” I was thinking the same thing, too. It is what I am hoping will happen. “But you’re going to have to be careful because if she is as deep as it sounds, then you trying to save Pearl might not happen.”
“I have to save Pearl.”
“I know and we will, but we need to be careful. This is dangerous, you’re not only dealing with the cartel, you’re also dealing with the leader’s wife. I’m not sure you can trust her.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
“Look, I’m going to talk to Brooks, but I think we need to come to Mexico as back up,” she states.
“You don’t think I can do this?” I bristle.
“Please, I know you could take out the entire cartel in a blink of an eye, but I think you’re going to need more hands-on-deck for this operation. It’s not going to be an easy extraction,” she tells me. Sophie’s right, shit’s hit the fan, and I need to push aside my ego, I’m going to need help with this.
“Okay.”
“Wow, thought you were going to fight me on this.”
“I’m not stupid, I know when I’m beat,” I tell her. “Please don’t tell Sergei, Zoe, or Max, I don’t need them worrying.”
“I agree. I’ll make sure they are all distracted with welcoming Jade and helping her get her life back,” she states.
“Thanks.”
“Not a problem. Thanks for confiding in me, I know we don’t always see eye to eye, but I appreciate you calling me,” Sophie says.
“Thanks for listening to me.”
“Bye,” she says, hanging up.
The front door squeaks and I’m on high alert, my hand grabbing the knife that I’ve placed safely under the sofa cushion.
“Hey, sorry for taking so long,” Nash’s voice echoes through the home, my hand relaxes off the weapon, and I turn to look over at the man who seems to be boring his way further beneath my skin. He walks over and places a kiss on my head. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve been searching everything I can about Annika Dominguez,” I tell him. He nods and takes a seat beside me. “Annika does a lot of charity work. There are a lot of photos of her at different black-tie events. There are also images of her shopping and eating out with friends. She looks like she’s been living a normal life without a care in the world.”
“Maybe that’s what she wants everyone to think,” Nash tries to reassure me.
“Or maybe I’m living in the past and Anna Sokolov no longer exists.”
“That could be true, too. Maybe she was seduced by the power that came with being the mistress and now the wife of a cartel member,” Nash suggests.
“Anna hated the Bratva, she hated that her father was connected to it. She wanted nothing to do with that life and that’s why we were both so determined to get out of it with our dancing.”
“Maybe she has no choice, she’s doing the best she can to survive.”
“You’ve changed your tune.” I glare at him.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe she’s a victim just like you have been. You both have had to do things that you didn’t want to do to survive.”
“You said she killed your friends. I only kill bad people, not good people,” I tell him.
“Everyone knows that if you betray the cartel you won’t survive.”
“Still …”
He shakes his head. “My friends made some stupid decisions, and unfortunately, they paid for it with their lives.” I can see the memories haunting him. “I spoke to Jose and told him I was giving him the bar.”
“Oh, you did?”
He nods. “I said that I was going to have to go away and I’m not sure I’ll ever be back.”
My stomach sinks, what a strange feeling. “I’m sorry. You didn’t ask for this. I’ve messed your world up,” I tell him, rubbing his arm.
“You have,” he smirks, “but maybe it’s what I needed.”
“To have your world turned upside down by a Russian assassin?”
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He grins.
Thud. Thud. Thud. In my chest. What is that feeling?