Chapter 26 —Demyon
The maids lined up in my office, their faces masked with fear as I made them watch the footage of Eva walking out the front door after stealing from me. They trembled before me, lips quivering, hands shaking—uncertain of their fate.
I leaned back in my chair, jaw clenched, my expression revealing just how pissed I was. My fingers were curled into fists as I struggled to hold back the rage coursing through my boiling blood.
Eva’s betrayal cut deeper than any enemy’s blade ever could. From the footage, the look in her eyes when she stared directly at the camera in the study suggested that she wanted me to know that whatever she did, she did it on purpose.
There were two loads of cash stashed in my drawer, but she took only one. Why didn’t she just take everything? What the hell was she trying to prove? Taking one bundle of cash alone didn’t change the fact that she stole from me.
Eva had walked out of the building without anyone noticing, and until now, she hadn’t returned.
A storm was growing inside me, especially because I blamed myself for this mess.
None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t taken all my men to fight a war that the rival gang chickened out of at the last minute.
In my foolishness, I’d left the mansion unguarded.
She’d seen an opportunity to finally escape this gilded cage, and she took it without hesitation. Now, she was gone—with the baby in her womb.
A part of me was impressed by how swiftly she jumped on the chance to leave the second it presented itself. Most people would’ve panicked and run as fast as they could.
Not Eva.
From what we all saw on the CCTV, her movements were quiet and majestic. She didn’t run. No. She literally walked out of here. However, as impressive as that was, it was a senseless move because now she was out there alone, with no one to protect her.
“Sir…” the head maid began, her voice trembling as she spoke. “We’re sorry. We didn’t know that she would—”
The door opened, and Olga stepped inside, her eyes filled with confusion. It was almost as if she couldn’t believe that Eva would do something like that.
“Show mercy,” she said to me, lowering her head. “Nobody saw this coming.”
My jaw tightened, and my expression darkened.
“She couldn’t have gone far,” Olga added. “You have eyes and ears everywhere in the city; I’m sure you’ll find her in no time.”
I hesitated for a moment, then spoke up, my voice deep and menacing. “For your sake, I hope I do. I hope that not a single strand on her head is hurt. If not, you and I are gonna have serious issues.”
She swallowed hard, cold sweat glistening on her forehead. “I don’t know if this might help,” she said, “but start by checking her old apartment. She once mentioned that her father was in so much debt.”
I already had my men in the streets, searching every corner of the city. I’d called in favors from powerful men above my ranks, and they, too, had sent their men cutting through the underbelly of the city.
My most trusted foot soldiers were shaking down informants and smashing down doors—anything to find her location.
I knew for sure that she wasn’t in her dormitory. The men I sent there said the students still believed she’d been missing for weeks. However, while all of this was happening, I had Ilya run a background check on her.
Any minute from now, he’d walk in with some answers.
“With all that money she stole, I’m sure she’ll want to drop by and help clear all he owes,” Olga concluded.
I had no idea her father was a debtor, and it made sense that she’d do that for her family. That’s when it hit me, and I realized that I didn’t know anything about my wife or where she came from.
“Boss.” Ilya walked into my office, hands crossed behind his back. “We found an address. Her childhood home.”
Olga and I exchanged glances.
“You’d better pray I find her there,” I said, then rose from my chair.
I grabbed my jacket from the hanger and slipped into it while walking out of the office.
Ilya drove me to the address but what we found there only fueled my rage. The place was cleared out—completely empty. My fingers clenched into fists at my sides as I thought that she’d used my money to pay off her Father’s debt and now they’d both run away.
My chest rose and fell with uneven breaths, my blood boiling with rage. However, despite my fury, I couldn’t help noticing that something was off about this. There was no way in hell that she and her father were able to clear out this whole place in just a few hours.
Even if it was possible, Eva, being the smart woman that she was, would’ve known it was useless and time-wasting to pack all their stuff.
Why would she bother slowing down for something as insignificant as this? She had enough money to start all over again.
It didn’t make any sense that someone who was running would have the time to clear out her father’s apartment.
When I set my anger aside, things began to fall into place—the dusty floor, the cobwebs, the rats scurrying here and there. That’s when I realized no one had been here in a while. The movement didn’t happen today—the man had been gone for a long time.
I’d dealt with different debtors in my time, and I knew what men like that were capable of. It was possible that her father, seeing he could not pay what he owed, decided to run away. He abandoned her just to save his own skin.
If she truly dropped by to check on the old man, her heart must’ve shattered. This was a dead end because she must’ve left the second she realized he’d left her behind.
“Boss, you wanna see this!” Ilya called my attention from deeper inside the living room.
I walked over to where he was crouched before a splash of red liquid on the dusty floor.
“Blood,” he said, looking up at me. “Fresh. A few hours ago, give or take.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“And then there’s that…and that.” He pointed at a single tooth lying carelessly somewhere across the floor. Next was a shoe I recognized in an instant.
It was hers.
I rushed over there and picked it up, hoping to God that that tooth and the splash weren’t hers as well. My mind was a tangled mess, reeling with different scenarios of what might’ve happened here.
My eyes were bloodshot, my fists tightening so hard until my knuckles whitened and my hands trembled. I locked my jaw, my chest heaving rapidly as I thought about how I’d find the perpetrators of this act and make them all pay.
No one dared touch what was mine! No one!
The possibility of that tooth and splash of blood being Eva’s only accentuated my anger. I was so furious that my head hurt. At this point, I wasn’t sure where to begin because anyone could’ve been behind this.
She could’ve been trailed by one of my enemies. It was also possible that she was abducted by her father’s creditors. Or she was mugged because someone knew there was a shitload of cash in her backpack.
“Fuck!” I yelled out, my voice echoing off the empty room.
Driven by my own rage, I slammed my fist into the wooden wall, the impact drilling a fuckin’ hole in it.
“We’ll find her, Boss,” Ilya said, trying to sound optimistic.
“How?!” I bellowed. “She’s in danger, Ilya! My wife and unborn child are in grave danger, and every second we waste, only God knows what they’re going to do to her!” I snapped, spittle flying out of my mouth as I raged on and on.
Ilya took out his phone and began barking orders at my men.
While I paced the length of the room with her shoe in my hand, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I stopped in my tracks, pulled the device out, and checked the caller ID.
It was an unknown number.
I showed Ilya the screen, and we both locked eyes for a fleeting moment.
“Have our men track this call,” I ordered.
He nodded, fingers rattling across his keyboard as he sent a text.
Deep down, I knew that call was from whoever was stupid enough to have kidnapped my wife.
I answered, “Hello?”
“Demyon Tarasov,” a distorted voice called on the other line.
“Who is this?” I asked, calm and collected.
“No one of consequence.”
I knew I had to keep him talking so I’d buy my men time to track his location.
“What do you want?”
“Simple,” the voice said. “Fifteen million dollars in cash.”
I walked over to the window, my shoes scuffing against the wooden floor. “And why would I do that?”
“Because we have your wife.”
I tightened my jaw, struggling to remain composed so I wouldn’t scare them off. “I need proof of life. Put her on the phone.”
I could hear them in the background yelling at her to cooperate.
“Let go of me, you hungry bastards!” she screamed.
The next sound that followed was muffled, as though her mouth was gagged or sealed with tape. But she kept struggling, frustrating her captors’ efforts.
I heard them complaining about how she was such a pain in their asses.
“Stay put, you stubborn bitch!” one of them groaned in the background.
“Keep your fuckin’ voices down. I’m trying to negotiate here!” the one with the phone yelled at them.
I could tell that these guys were amateurs—just a bunch of greedy men looking for easy money. No wonder she called them hungry bastards.
“Psst,” Ilya whispered, drawing my attention back to him. “Almost there,” he mouthed, gesturing at his phone.
“You heard her voice; that’s proof of life, isn’t it?” the man on the other end asked me. “Now, about that fifteen million….”
“Tell me where and when,” I said, stealing a glance back at Ilya.
He nodded, signaling that we’d found them. Quietly, he stepped forward and showed me his phone’s screen, then zoomed in on their location.
I raised my brows in disbelief. These guys were just blocks away; they hadn’t even left the neighborhood.
Fuckin’ amateurs.
The man was still talking when I cut the call and put my phone on DND.
“Gather the men,” I said. “Let’s teach those fuckers a lesson.”
I couldn’t care less that they were amateurs just looking to grow rich overnight. These people kidnapped my wife, putting her and our baby in harm’s way. There was fresh blood on the floor and a knocked-out tooth that may or may not belong to Eva.
They were all going to pay dearly for ever going after my wife. The monster I’d kept on a leash for a while was now unleashed. And this time, there would be no mercy.
Those hungry bastards wanted my attention; now they had it. They had my full attention.