Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Daniil
“You fired her.” Anya screeched.
I looked up from my blank screen to find her wheeling herself towards me angrily, her whole face blazing. Steepling my hands under my chin, I studied my sister-in-law. She was angry, but I didn’t understand why.
“What are you talking about?” I asked in my ultra-calm voice.
“Lily.” She snarled back. “I just saw her downstairs.”
My head snapped up to look around, and a sigh of relief left my lips. She was here, and she was ok. I could finally breathe easier.
Yesterday, when she hadn’t come home, I’d been worried. More than once, I’d even thought about going to find her, but every single time, I sat back down. Lily just needed time, and she would come back when she cleared her thoughts and realized that I’d spoken in anger and hadn’t meant any of it.
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
Half out of my chair, I froze. “What do you mean, gone?” I couldn’t help the croak in my tone as my voice broke. “Gone where?”
“You fired her.” Anya came to a stop right in front of the desk and glared at me. “Did you expect her to beg? You should know her by now. Lily isn’t the begging sort of woman. And after your little tantrum yesterday, I can’t say I blame her.”
“I didn’t fire her,” I muttered. If anything, I had been hoping I would find her here when I arrived. I knew I had messed up, and I had every intention of making it up to her, ideally on this desk.
“Well, that’s what her file said. She couldn’t get past the security.”
I fell back into the chair with a sigh. I dropped my head to my hands. What the hell was happening here? Why would she think she was sacked?
“There’s something else as well.”
“What?”
“There were bruises all over her face and neck. She tried to cover them, but they were pretty clear.” My head snapped up so quickly that the bones in my neck snapped. “What?”
“She said she fell, but,” Anya trailed off and looked away. “She said she slipped on the ice, but I know the bruises fists leave on skin. And she had definitely been beaten.”
I was out of my chair in a second. “That asshole beat her?”
“It might not have been Greg, but someone definitely did.”
At my side, my hands clenched into fists. I began to pace back and forth. “I’m going to kill him,” I muttered over and over again. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” I said more loudly and headed towards the door.
“Stop, Daniil,” Anya called after me. “You are the one who sent her back to him. If you go in all guns blazing, you could make it worse for her.”
I half turned to stare at her. “What do you mean?”
“Sometimes from a really clever man you’re really thick.” Anya shook her head. “He threatened to ruin you both. I think that wasn’t an idle threat. Someone clearly fired Lily, and if it wasn’t you, and you didn’t give the order, then it has to be someone.”
“I didn’t fire her. I was hoping she would turn up so we could talk—” and other things. Things that would have her screaming my name so loudly that the whole building heard.
“Someone did, Danill.”
“Greg,” I muttered. “She said Greg was a tech genius, and I didn’t believe her.”
Anya shook her head. “Of course you didn’t. Because you always think you’re right, Daniil. Now what are you going to do about this whole mess?”
Walking back to the desk, I fell into it and reached to turn on the computer. Neither one of us spoke as I delved into the business’s record and emails. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary. Everything looked secure, like it should be.
I was about to close it down when something caught my attention. One little line of code that didn’t seem right.
“Well,” I swore long and angrily in Russian. “That’s not good.”
“What is it?”
“Security breach. Someone changed her clearance. It would have gone unnoticed if I didn’t know what I was looking for. Damn.” Picking up my phone, I called the cybersecurity team head of department and ordered him to my office.
“What’s going on?” Anya asked finally.
“He hacked us. I mean, I can’t prove it was him, but who else would single her out? And he’s been—” out of the corner of my eye, I saw two men step out of the elevator.
“He’s watching us. Tracking every move we make.”
“So she was right?”
I sighed. Yeah, I didn’t want to admit it, but Lily was right. She had warned me, and I hadn’t listened. Greg was dangerous. And I had sent her right back to him.
“What are you going to do, Daniil?”
There was a soft knock on the door, but I didn’t take my eyes from her. “I’m going to get those two to fix our security. I can’t leave the business wide open to cyberattack, and then—” I sucked in a breath. “Then, I’m gonna go and get Lily and bring her home where she belongs.”
It might have been my imagination but I was sure I heard Anya mutter, “About bloody time.”
It took hours longer than I had anticipated, and the afternoon was winding down when I finally managed to leave the office. I made a call to the security detail that I had ordered to watch outside Lily’s house.
“Anything to report?” I asked instead of saying hello. Not that it bothered him at all.
“Nothing, she got back in about an hour ago.”
My eyebrows slammed down. Out of my tinted windows, I watched the rainy, snowy sleet come down.
She had left the office hours ago. Why had it taken her so long to get home?
But I already knew the answer. She had walked home.
She hadn’t taken a cab or the train. She had walked.
In a snowstorm. No wonder it had taken her hours.
“And the man?”
There was a pause. “I haven’t seen him, but I think he’s inside.”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel. I didn’t like the idea of her being alone in a house with him. If I had learned anything today, it was that Greg was much more dangerous than I had originally given him credit for.
“I want you to keep a very close eye on that house,” I ordered. “Any hint that he’s hurting her,” the lump in my throat was almost impossible to swallow around. Shit, he could be hurting her right now. He could be killing her. Panic gripped me, and I swerved into traffic to a blare of horns.
“If it sounds like he’s mistreating her, I’ll get her out, boss. I promise you.”
It should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. I had an uneasy feeling in my gut. The same kind of apprehension that I’d had when Claudia had had her accident. Back then, I hadn’t followed my gut, and it had cost me her. I wasn’t about make the same mistake twice.
“I’m stuck in traffic, but I should be there in less than forty minutes. Just watch out for her until I can get there.”
My voice was ragged. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”
I ended the call, slamming my foot on the brake just in time so I didn’t slam into the back of a slow-moving trash truck. Swearing, I forced myself to calm down. I would never be able to get her back and fix this if I got myself killed.
I didn’t get to her neighborhood in forty minutes. It was closer to thirty. By the time I pulled up outside, I was shaking with nerves and anger.
“Mr. Popov?”
Straightening from the car, I stared at the man for a second and then at her closed door. Every drape was pulled over the windows so I couldn’t see any movement. Only one light was on. An upstairs one. Her bedroom?
“Anything to report?”
He shook his head. “No, sir. It’s all quiet.” He glanced at the window, and I did as well. “That light went on a little while ago. But other than that, everything is quiet.”
“Thanks.” I headed towards the front door, my heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to pound its way out of my chest. Something was wrong here. Really, really wrong. What would I do if he had hurt her? Really hurt her or worse, and I hadn’t been around to save her.
I’d already failed one person I loved. My hand lifted to knock on the door, and I froze. Loved her. I loved Lily. There was no denying that now. I wasn’t even sure why I had tried to fight it. She was everything I had ever wanted, and I had put her in harm’s way.
“Greg,” Lily groaned from the window above my head. My eyes snapped up.
She had groaned his name. Were they? Anger boiled up, and I pounded on the door using all my weight. When no one immediately answered, I did it again. The plastic door creaked.
A minute passed, but it felt like an eternity. I knew she was home, and if she didn’t answer soon, I would kick the door down. Finally, another light appeared, and the door swung open to reveal Greg. Dressed in nothing but a ratty pair of boxer briefs that had seen better days.
“What do you want?” Keeping hold of the door, he studied me.
“Lily. Where is she?” I had to keep taking shallow breaths to control my anger.
Why the hell was he in his underwear in the middle of the day? I couldn’t help it, I looked up at the window.
“She’s not here.”
I snapped my eyes back to him. “You’re lying. Just get her down here before I—”
He laughed, actually laughed in my face. “She doesn’t want to see you. She was using you, and now she’s home with her man.” He ran his hands down his chest like somehow that proved something. “Her real man.” He mocked me. “Take the hint, Mr. Popov. She doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
His voice mocked me. It seemed to say I told you I would ruin you, and I did. I took her away from you, and she’s mine now.
“If you hurt her—” I trailed off. What would I do if he had hurt her?
What if what he was saying was true, and Lily didn’t want anything more to do with me?
“Listen to my words.” He cut me off. “Lily is no longer your concern. She is exactly where she wants to be. At home with me.” And then he slammed the door in my face.
My gun was in my hand in a second. I didn’t care if what he said was true. Lily was mine. Mine to love and mine to protect, from herself if need be.
“Mr. Popov.” A firm hand came down to force my hand down. “I know you’re angry, but think. This is a residential street. If you shoot their locks and take her against her will, that’s kidnapping.”
“She doesn’t want to be in there with him,” I muttered. Still, he had a point. I couldn’t go in there with all guns blazing. I had to be smarter than that. “I don’t believe that for a second,” I added more to myself than anyone else.
“I know.” He answered softly. “But you need to be level-headed about this.”
I nodded once. Sliding the gun back into the holster under my jacket, I strode back towards my car. “I want everyone called in, and I want to know everything about that asshole.”
Greg was smart, but he wasn’t the only one who was a genius. And one way or another, I’d get Lily back and destroy the man who thought he could take her from me.