Chapter 20 - Kliment
Silence hit first.
Not the kind of silence that settles things down, but the kind that fractures things entirely.
The kind that comes right before something irreversible breaks.
And that was exactly what had happened. For a single, suspended moment after the smoke cleared, I did not move.
I stood exactly where I was, my weapon still raised, my breathing steady in a way that had nothing to do with calm and everything to do with control stretched to its absolute limit.
My ears were ringing, but my mind was sharp.
Alert. And the only thing that was screaming at me was my heart. It knew something had happened.
“Misha,” I said, but there was no response. “MISHA!”
Everything and everyone stayed silent.
The warehouse echoed with the aftermath of what had just happened.
The thing that had just taken all of us by surprise.
No one could have expected. I could hear the spent shells rolling across concrete, the distant groans of the wounded, and the low crackle of something still burning beyond everything.
My men were moving, and the Chernykhs were moving, and Misha’s team was moving as well.
Everyone was moving. Except me. Because I already knew she was gone.
Her absence was written in the silence that surrounded us, and something inside my chest went very, very still.
All I could think about was her and her absence and the fact that she could be anywhere, and I needed to look for her. But I couldn’t move.
And then, everything snapped. Misha.
“LOCK IT DOWN.”
The command tore out of me like a gunshot, sharp enough to cut through everything.
Every head in the room turned. Every movement stalled for half a second before the weight of it hit.
Everyone knew who I was, but no one in Miami had seen who I was.
I had been lying low since I had come here, but the time for lying low was gone now.
I needed to be Kliment Romanov again. The Kliment Romanov, who had half of Russia bowing down to him.
I needed to be Kliment Romanov if I wanted Misha back. My Misha.
“I want to make sure that every exit,” I continued, already moving toward the comm panel.
“Every road, every port, and every private airstrip is locked down. I want everything shut down now. I don’t care if we don’t hold the power of locking things down or if they fall in enemy territory.
I don’t care if we have to pay off the authorities or buy rights.
I don’t care if we have to kill people or start wars. I want everything locked down now!”
“Kliment—” Nico said, walking towards me.
“Now means now,” I repeated, colder.
“Kliment, we cannot just—” Avgust started speaking, but I raised my hand, cutting him off mid-sentence. I neither had the time nor the patience for any of this.
“Is Misha here?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. Everyone knew the answer.
“No,” Sera replied. “Sidorov, her, and several other soldiers and enforcers have disappeared in the blackout.”
“Exactly. So I will not be hearing arguments about how something cannot be done. Misha isn’t here, and that is the only thing we need to be focused on. They cannot kidnap her and believe they will escape from this alive.”
Avgust didn’t argue. No one did. Because whatever they saw on my face wasn’t strategy anymore. It was something else.
“Viktor,” I snapped.
“I’m here,” Viktor replied instantly, already stepping towards me.
“Activate all safehouses and our complete network of underground soldiers and informers wherever they are in the world. I want no exceptions. I want eyes on every movement in this city, in Russia, and anywhere around the world within the next five minutes.”
“It’s already happening, boss. Everyone in Miami is already active; I am hitting up bases in Russia and making that happen as well.”
“Good.”
I turned, my gaze locking onto the Chernykhs.
Iosif was watching me with a kind of stillness that mirrored my own from moments ago.
Avgust looked like he was two seconds away from tearing the building apart with his bare hands.
And Timofey looked angry. That was what I needed right now because I knew if there was something that would bring Misha back, it was anger.
“Where could she be? They couldn’t have gone far, so if we just search up the perimeters, we might find her,” he said, his voice raw, violent, barely restrained.
“I am looking at all movement in the perimeters already,” Alina said, walking towards us, tablet in hand. “But everything is still. There are no cars, no bodies, no human movement whatsoever. I think they could be hiding somewhere in the area.”
“Everyone, start searching the warehouse,” Iosif shouted, already redirecting forces.
I turned towards the tunnel entrance, my gaze tracing the path they had used, the precision of it, the timing.
Everyone’s eyes were on the tunnel as realization settled in.
They had played it smart. They knew we were coming, and they had complete intel on Misha’s team and her plan, and that is why they were waiting for us. For her.
This couldn’t have been just Sidorov’s planning. It felt bigger.
“I think Volkov has some hand in executing this. He must have asked Sidorov to bring Misha,” I said.
“I think so too,” Fyodor added. “Volkov is clever to a fault and always has eyes on everything.”
“He planned this,” I continued, my voice flattening into something colder than anything I had let them hear before. “Sidorov is just a puppet, and this warehouse is a stage for something bigger. And we walked into it exactly how he wanted, and they got Misha just the way they wanted to.”
Timofey let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Then we go after him. Sidorov. Volkov. Whoever else. I don’t care. We must go after them and get Misha back.”
“We will,” I said.
But not like this. Not blindly and unprepared. I moved back towards the main table, already pulling up every feed we had access to, every surveillance stream, and every intercepted channel.
“We need to track flight logs in case they take her somewhere,” I ordered.
“Check for all private departures taking place in the next two hours and also after that and make sure to cross-reference them with shell companies tied to Russian networks. It shouldn’t be too hard to track their movements. ”
“Already on it,” Nico replied.
“Also check for port activity,” I added. “Anything that moved before we hit the compound. For all we know, they could already be on their way to Russia or someplace else through ships.”
“Already scanning,” Viktor said.
The room filled with motion again, but it was different now. More focused, relentless, and unified. It was no longer about being a Romanov or a Chernykh, but everything only had one objective. Find her.
“We have searched the vicinity. They are nowhere,” Iosif said, returning to the main section of the warehouse.
“How could they have just disappeared into thin air?” Alina asked, still scanning the perimeters.
“They are playing very smartly. I am sure they had it all figured out and knew we would look in the area at once,” I replied, my anger growing with every passing second. How could I have been this blind and this careless?
Minutes passed like seconds, and data flooded in as patterns formed before our eyes.
“There,” Nico said sharply. “I think I have something.”
I stepped closer, my eyes locking onto the screen.
It was a clearance for a private jet flying from a private hangar somewhere in the city.
The location was unclear, but it had to be nearby because the flight was bound to take off in a couple of minutes.
I scanned the detailed noticing it was unregistered under any legitimate company, but I recognized the routing signature.
So did Nico.
“They are going to Saint Petersburg,” Nico said quietly.
Of course. Of course he would take her there.
To his territory and his control center and his world.
A slow breath left my lungs, and then I smiled.
Not because it was good. Because it was inevitable.
It was true that Saint Petersburg was Volkov’s territory, but he was forgetting that it was mine too.
I might not have been there for some time now, but I only needed to return to reclaim what still belonged to me.
“Well, then we have to prepare transport,” I said without any hesitation or the need for discussion. “We’re going to Russia.”
“You’re serious,” Avgust said.
I turned my head slightly, meeting his gaze. “Do I look like I’m not?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
“Volkov doesn’t negotiate,” I continued, addressing the room now. “He doesn’t bluff, and he doesn’t make mistakes like this unless he’s prepared for the consequences. He knows if he takes Misha, I will come for him, and I cannot let Misha be there alone while we stay here. I am bringing her back."
“We will make Volkov regret he was ever born,” Timofey muttered.
“We will do so much more than that,” I said quietly.
I pulled up a full map of Saint Petersburg, expanding it across the table, marking zones as I spoke.
“These are his primary operations, and these are his secondary networks. These are the men who still answer to him directly.”
My finger tapped a different section.
“And these,” I added, “are the ones who answer to me.”
Every head in the room lifted because this was a side of me they hadn’t seen. Not fully.
“Russia didn’t forget me,” I said. “They’re just waiting to see if I’ve forgotten who I am and they’re about to remember.”
No one spoke, not even Timofey or Jarek, because everyone understood the seriousness of the matter. This wasn’t Miami anymore. This wasn’t a territory dispute or controlled operations, but this was my legacy, and it was asking for blood. This was a war that would not end cleanly.
“What if he moves her again?” someone asked from the back.
I didn’t even look at who it was.
“Then we burn everything he has until we find Misha,” I said. “We take every port, every shipment, every contact, and every man he’s ever trusted. We dismantle it piece by piece until there’s nothing left for him to stand on.”
My gaze lifted slowly, sweeping across every person in that room.
“And then,” I added, my voice dropping into something lethal, “we make him beg to tell us where she is.”
There was absolute silence because everyone believed me.
They knew I meant every word. I leaned forward slightly, my hands bracing against the table, my eyes locking onto the map again, but I wasn’t seeing streets or buildings anymore.
I was seeing her. Dragged and fighting and calling my name.
Something twisted deep in my chest, sharp and unforgiving, and for the first time I didn’t try to contain it.
I straightened slowly, my gaze lifting back to the room.
“To be clear,” I said. Every eye was on me now. “This is not a strategy anymore. This is not about territory. Or power. Or control. Them taking Misha has just turned it personal.”
“Why Kliment? Fyodor asked, even though everyone in the room already knew the answer. But I didn’t care. I would repeat my reason again and again until there was nothing left to doubt anymore.
“Because I love her.”
The words landed harder than any command I had given all night. No one moved, and no one spoke. Because I had never said something like that. Not like this. Not where it mattered.
“I love her more than anything in this world,” I continued, my voice steady, unshaken. “And I will get her back.”
My jaw tightened slightly. “Even if it costs me my life.”