18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Nikolai
Gregory confronts me the moment the show is over. “Well, I came. Now there’s no more need for any pretenses. We can continue to work together but I do not want you in my life. My daughter danced well tonight. We’ll leave it at that.”
I slip my long jacket on, taking my time, knowing it’s driving him crazy. “You can’t even compliment your own daughter, can you? I was going to head back stage to see her. You could tell her yourself how good she did tonight.”
“No. Lana will know if she did well or not. She doesn’t need praise from me. I am taking my family home. Come along, girls.” He motions to his wife and Elena and then stops. “Where’s Adriana?”
Masha looks around, clearly surprised her youngest daughter is missing. “I’m not sure. I was busy watching the show.”
“Elena,” Gregory says in his stiff voice. She ducks her chin to her chest. “Do you know anything? Where is your sister?”
“She said she wanted to talk to Lana. She headed back stage.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me this?”
Elena becomes even more withdrawn. The poor girl. I do feel bad for her and for the fact that Gregory wants to keep her and Lana apart.
Gregory huffs. “Let’s go.”
The four of us head backstage. I can tell Gregory is just itching to leave the theater and return home. I’m glad Lana is my wife. I can take care of her in a way her father never could. I’ve allowed her to blossom while Gregory only ever snuffed her light out.
Gregory walks right up to Lana’s dressing room and pounds on the door. “Adriana, come out of there. We’re going home.”
No response.
With a huff, he rips the door open… to reveal an empty room. Neither Adriana nor Lana are in there. Something in my gut is telling me to be worried again. Just like when Lev kidnapped Lana.
I head to the main dressing room where the other ballerinas are. “Have you seen Lana?” I bark at them. They all flinch. I must be a scary sight to these women, especially since they think I’m abusive to Lana. “Have you seen my wife?”
“Uh… I thought she was in her dressing room,” one of the girls says.
Another one shakes her head. “No. I saw her walk by this room with her sister and a man. I thought he was you. I didn’t think anything of it.”
“A man. What did this man look like?”
She shrugs as she wipes her face over with a cloth. “Sorry. I didn’t get a good look. Not overtly ugly but not overtly handsome either.”
That’s Lev. He always was plain in his features. He must have made his move tonight.
I rush back into the hallway and practically run right into Gregory.
“Well?” Gregory demands. “Where are my daughters?”
“I think Lev took them. He hates Lana. He wants her dead. I have to find him.”
“You’re saying my daughters were kidnapped? Again?”
“Again?” Elena asks. “What are you talking about?”
Masha pats Elena on the arm. “I’ll explain everything to you when we’re home.”
“This cannot stand,” Gregory seethes, poking me with his finger. “You were supposed to keep my daughter safe. She’s been kidnapped again by the same fucker who kidnapped her before? And now my other daughter is missing. If they end up dead, then you’re dead, Nikolai.”
I resist the urge to shove Gregory back. It’s taking everything out of me to not do that. “I will find Lana. I found her once before. I can do it again. If Adriana is with her, I’ll save her too. I promise.”
“I never wanted to give my daughter to you to begin with.”
“Enough,” Masha says. “Our daughters are missing and a madman is out there, wanting to hurt Lana. Stop fighting. Just find my daughters. Now.”
I call Dimitri and inform him of what’s happened before heading out to the parking lot. “You know for a fact it’s Lev?” Boris asks me after I tell him the situation. He shivers, standing by the car.
“You were out here waiting to drive us home,” I say. “Did you see anything?”
Boris hesitates. “I only just arrived. I’m sorry, boss. I grabbed a coffee and came back here.”
“Fuck, Boris,” I hiss, running my hand down my face.
“It’s taken me weeks of searching for Lev and I couldn’t find him.
He could be anywhere in the city. Anywhere in the country.
No more fucking coffee breaks. When I bring Lana home, you better always follow her around like your life depends on it. Because it does.”
Boris stands to attention. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“Start looking. Just drive. See if you can find anything. I’ll call every one of my contacts and see if they know anything on where Lev could be. Start searching all the known properties Lev owns.”
“You got it, boss.” Boris scrambles into the car and takes off.
Gregory and his family are heading to their car.
“Gregory,” I say. “I can use all the help I can get on this. We should work together to find your daughters.”
He nods once, his face emotionless. “I’ll start making calls. We better fucking find them, Nikolai. Or your dead.”
“As you already said.” We both know I would never let Gregory kill me. The reality is: I’ll kill him before he even gets close enough to me. But I don’t want to have to kill Lana’s father. It would make a mess of things.
Gregory and I split up. I drive myself back home and go into my study and pull out my list of contacts. I have a list of properties Lev owns, which I text to Boris. He can start looking.
I call every one of my fellow mafia contacts and ask them if they have knowledge on Lev’s whereabouts. Some know nothing. Some know the things I know. And only one person has a lead.
“There’s this man I heard Lev started working with.
Maxim Morozov.” Sidney clears his throat.
An old man who’s been retired and out of the game but he was always known for collecting information.
“Lev came to me for money and mentioned him once. Said they were working on a project together. That’s all I know. ”
“I’ve never heard of this Maxim. I’ll look into him. Thanks, Sidney.”
“You’re welcome, Nik. Anything I can do to help.”
I set the phone down and think. How exactly did Lev get to Lana without anyone noticing? He would have had to have known exactly where her dressing room was. Which means he had been watching us for some time. Or he had help.
This Maxim guy. I call one of my contacts on the police force and have him look up Maxim Morozov for me.
“I’ll email you the details,” he says.
“Thanks.” I pace around my room as I wait.
The buzz on my phone tells me when I get the email.
It’s a file on Maxim Morozov. Some fucker who already has a record.
A little bit younger than me but only by a few years.
The Bratva is huge. I don’t know everyone who works within it.
This Maxim Morozov has been to jail on embezzlement and laundering money charges which later got dropped and he got out only a year into his sentence.
He’s a mafia man, all right. One who got caught.
One who would probably do anything for money.
Which means he’s dangerous, especially if he’s working with Lev.
His address is in the file.
When my car pulls into his driveway and I see a large mansion, I can’t help but snort. Of course he’s rich. Or a show-off. Either way, I don’t care. I just need to see if he knows where Lana is.
A guard is stationed out front and stops me from getting too close to the front door. “Who are you?” he demands, pointing his gun at me.
“Nikolai Smirnoff. I’m here to see Maxim Morozov.”
“Maxim isn’t expecting any visitors. You need to leave.”
I whip out my own gun and shoot the guard in the head. The sickening crunch of his body as he hits the ground. “And I need to know where my wife is.” I pound on the front door but no one answers so I shoot the lock and kick the door in.
The house is empty… except for a light coming from underneath one door in one of the many hallways. I kick the door in to find a man in bed, fucking a woman.
They both stop. The woman screams but the man looks calm. It’s Maxim.
“Who the fuck are you?” he snarls.
“I’m looking for Lev Popov. I’ve heard that you’re working for him.”
Maxim smirks. “I’m not working for Lev. I did one job for him as a favor for helping me one time. That’s it. But I like Lev. He’s helped me earn a lot of money.”
“So you didn’t help him kidnap my wife?”
“Who’s your wife?”
“Lana Smirnoff,” I growl. My finger is itching to shoot him in his handsome face.
“Oh. I remember her. I helped Lev take her once but I heard that she was saved. Lev came to me, bitching about it, but I told him there wasn’t anything I could do. I did my part. It was up to him to finish it.”
“So you didn’t help him take my wife tonight?”
He points at the beautiful woman in bed with him. “I’ve been kind of busy all night. So no.”
“I should kill you anyway. You just admitted to having kidnapped my wife before.”
Maxim smirks. I’m sure it’s an expression he’s used countless times before to win women over.
“I’m done with that job now. You could kill me, sure.
But it sounds like your wife is missing again, which is not my problem.
And besides, I’d have some contacts who wouldn’t be so happy if you shot me dead.
So let’s just let bygones be bygones. I had no part in kidnapping your wife tonight. ”
For some strange reason, I believe him. “Do you know anyone else Lev was working with?”
He scratches his jaw, the stubble there making a loud sound in the quiet room.
The woman in the bed is huddled in a ball, glancing at me with worried eyes.
“He was working with a lot of people. Sounds like he went behind your back. Sorry about that, man. I know he was your second in command. He told me all about it.”
I grip my gun tighter. “Was he working with anyone?”
Maxim sighs. “Like I said: lots of people. But I know he liked working with this one woman especially. She was hot. I’d fuck her if she wasn’t such a bitch.”
“Who was this woman?”
“Her name was Svetlana… something. Can’t remember her last name.”