Chapter 26
R olling my neck to the side, I try to rub away the knot as I step into the elevator. It’s been a long day, but it’s all about to get better. In twenty seconds, I’ll be in the penthouse with Mira. The tracker on Mira’s phone tells me she’s already arrived.
The tension eases from my shoulders as the numbers illuminate on the elevator. She’s going to love the restaurant I’m taking her to tonight. I’m less confident about the opera tickets, but we’ll be in a private box. If she gets bored, I’m sure I can come up with a few ways to entertain her.
My phone buzzes. Sergei’s number pops up on the screen just as the elevator dings, signaling I’m home. Mira will be just on the other side of the doors .
They slide open, revealing Sergei facing the elevator with his phone pressed to his ear. He drops his hand to his side when he sees me. His breath is heavy, like’s been running. Blood covers his shirt, but it’s not his. He’s not injured.
I step out, cold already running through my veins.
“Where’s Mira?” I take a step toward him.
“She’s gone.” He swallows. “I’ve already mobilized a team.”
“What do you mean she’s gone!” I lunge at him, grabbing him by the collar and twisting the material until it’s choking him.
“She was taken! Max was with her, they shot him, then they took her.” He doesn’t fight me; he knows better. “They’re looking for her. They’ll find her!”
Mira was his responsibility. Anything happening to her is on his head.
“How long ago?” How long have I been blissfully fantasizing about my evening with her while she’s been fighting for her life with my enemies?
“Five minutes at most. I dropped them in front of the building, when they weren’t up here, I went to check. Five minutes, Rurik. They couldn’t have gotten far.”
Five minutes ago, I was sitting in my car in the garage returning text messages so I could put Mira front and center all night. And while I was finishing work, she was being kidnapped in front of my own building.
“Rurik! I have the feed pulled up here.” Kier, another of my men, rushes into the foyer, carrying a laptop. “I have it. Here. ”
I shove Sergei away and watch the black and white footage as Mira gets out of my car.
Sergei pulls away, and Max approaches her with a fist full of shopping bags.
While they’re talking a man covered in black from head to toe comes up behind Max and shoots him in the back and he falls forward, onto Mira.
She’s dragged out from beneath him and then into a car that speeds off with her inside.
“Who the fuck was that?” Rage fills my chest. I take a deep breath. Think.
“I sent the footage to Sasha; he’s tracing the license plate on the car that showed up,” Kier explains.
“I dropped them at the curb,” Sergei says. “There was no one around the entrance. Just a few people walking by, there was nothing?—”
I cut him off with a swipe of my hand.
“I saw the footage.”
I’m already in the elevator heading back to my car when I get Sasha on the phone.
“What did you find?” I demand.
“Nothing yet. I just got back to my computer. But there’s only a partial image of the license plate and the SUV is so fucking basic it could be yours.” His cat meows in the background.
“Can you tap into the city’s CCTV footage? Find her that way.”
“I’ll do my best. I’ll get back to you with what I find.”
“Find her, Sasha.” My chest balloons with fear. “Find her.”
“Twenty minutes.” He ends the call with no promise.
I throw my phone into the console and tear out of the garage, heading for Obsidian. I’m going to need the Volkovs behind me with this.
Ten minutes later, I storm through the back entrance of the club. Kaz sees me first as he comes up from the lounge, his face hardening as soon as we lock eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“He fucking took her. Where is Alexander?” I don’t stop for chatting; I just keep marching down the hall to the office at the back of the building.
“Who took who?” Kaz keeps up with me as I move to enter Alexander’s office where one of his men stands guard.
“He’s on a call.” The guard tries to stop me.
I grip his throat and shove him against the wall. “Do I look like I give a fuck?”
“Rurik.” Kaz steps into my line of sight. “Put him down. We’ll go in.”
I open my hand, and he slips back down to his feet, grabbing at his throat and coughing.
Kaz steps over him and pushes the door open, letting me take the lead.
Alexander stands at his desk, his phone pressed to his ear as his wife and sister lounge in the corner of the room. After one glance in my direction, he cuts the call.
“What’s the problem.” His eyes flick to Kaz.
“She’s gone. She’s been taken.” I grip my phone in my left hand.
Waiting to hear back from Sasha is like waiting for my next breath.
Megan leaps from the couch and hurries toward us. Elana catches her as she trips over the edge of the couch and helps right her.
“Mira? Where is she? Who took her?” She runs at me.
“I’m working that out.” My jaw clenches. “If this was Marco, I’m taking him out.”
“We need to be strategic?—”
“If he’s put one fucking finger on her, he dies.” I roll my shoulders back. “I vowed never to work against your family, but I never promised to take orders from you, either.”
He lifts his chin. “Where was she taken from?”
“In front of my building.” I pull up the footage on my phone and hand it over to him. Megan scurries to his side, pulling his arm down until she’s able to see the screen with him.
“Oh my god!” she cries out, covering her mouth.
Tears flood her eyes. “She’s covered in blood.”
“I don’t think she was shot; I think it’s all Max’s.” I’ve told myself this over and over since seeing the footage.
If she’d been shot, she wouldn’t have been able to fight as hard as she had when the other guy grabbed her.
“And Max?” Alexander hands the phone back to me.
“The doctor is with him, but it’s not good.”
“Why would Marco take her now?” Elana asks. “Your storage facility was burned down only yesterday; if his goal was to snatch her, why would he go through the trouble of starting the fire?”
“Unless he felt his hand was forced,” Kaz adds.
“The detective.” Megan tugs on Alexander. “I wasn’t going to say anything because I was hoping she’d come to her senses before she did anything, but maybe Marco found out.”
“Found out what?” It’s taking every ounce of energy I have to keep from shaking the information from the woman.
“Megan. What happened?” Alexander touches her shoulder, drawing her attention to him.
“She takes all the blame for what’s going on, and she won’t listen to reason.” Megan glances at me, worry already flooding her eyes. “She’s been talking to that detective to set up a meeting. She thinks she can help him take Marco down.”
Cold runs through my veins. “When did she do this?”
I’ve had her phone tracked, but I didn’t mirror it.
“Last night he said he would be willing to meet her, and today she wanted to set the meeting. I think that’s all, but maybe Marco was able to find out about it.”
“Then he would have better eyes on her than me.” My phone vibrates. “Sasha.”
“I’m still working on finding the car through the CCTV channels. The license plate isn’t helping, it shows being licensed to a 96 Camaro, which that car obviously wasn’t. I’ll keep digging.”
“I want you to tap into her phone. I need to see every text message and every voicemail that went through her phone.”
“I can do that. Is there something you’re looking for specifically? ”
“All of it.”
“I’ll get it to you.”
After we end the call, I turn to Alexander. “I’m going to meet the fucking detective.”
“You need backup?” Kaz clamps his hand on my shoulder.
“So long as you don’t get in my way.”
“I’m coming, too.” Megan tries to run around the desk to join me, but Alexander catches her around her middle, lifting her right off the floor.
“No, you’re not. You’re staying here.”
“Alexander. I have to go. She’s my best friend.”
“I’ll hang here with you, Megan,” Elana offers. “Let them find her; we’ll stay here. We’ll just get in their way.”
Megan sags in Alexander’s arms.
“I’ll bring her home, Megan. I promise.” It’s a vow I will keep until my last breath.
“Let’s go.” Kaz flings the door open. “Keep the girls here. Do not let Elana talk you into letting them leave to go back to my house or Alexander’s. They stay here,” he orders the guard, who settles a heated stare on me as I pass him.
“What happened to Igor’s throat?” Alexander asks as we head down the hall to the parking garage.
“He got in my way,” I say, tapping on my phone as we walk. Sasha’s sent over the text message log.
As I climb into the back of Kaz’s SUV a new message comes through. It’s not from Sasha or Mira’s phone.
A photo.
My heart skids to a halt .
“What is it?” Alexander leans through the two front seats. “Fuck.”
Bile rises in my throat. Familiar dread crawls up my back. A memory from decades ago. The scent of burnt flesh fills the cabin of the car.
I drag in a long breath. This is not that.
I glance back at the photo.
If she’s dead, the entire city is going to burn.
“Kaz. Drive faster.”