Chapter 22 - Selene
Simon falls asleep quickly. He has been pushing himself past where he should, and I’ve been worried sick about him. I want him to find our babies, but he can’t do that if he collapses.
I listen to his breathing, waiting for it to become deep and even, then I slip off the side of the bed.
My heart is racing when I walk out of the room. A few hours ago, I messaged Yakov. I was surprised when he answered, but also painfully relieved.
He agreed to meet up with me as long as I came alone, no Volkovs. No security. Nothing that could give away our meeting, and no chance of our father catching him with the enemy. He sounded scared. And I don’t blame him.
“I’m going out for a bit,” I tell Adrian. He doesn’t look up from the computer screen. “Do you want a coffee? Can I bring you one?”
“Oh, yes, that would be amazing. Two sugars. Make it a double espresso. My eyes are blurring here,” he grumbles.
“Double. Two sugars. I won’t be long. Simon is asleep in the room.”
“Thank fuck. I thought he was going to collapse! He’s so fucking stubborn,” Adrian mutters. His attention is fully returned to the computer, and I slip out without another word.
The coffee stand where I’m meeting my brother is in a park near the penthouse, a few blocks away. We both agreed that a restaurant or something similar would be too risky. The coffee stand is a small food truck in an open grassy field near the lake, where you can feed the ducks.
As I walk towards it, my stomach is doing somersaults, and I feel like I want to throw up. If I have misjudged my brother, then I am right out in the open, and my father will be able to snatch me away, too. It will break Simon.
But this was a risk I had to take.
And in my heart, I don’t think it is a mistake.
I spot Yakov when he steps out from behind a tree and starts walking towards the same coffee stand.
“Two double cappuccinos, please. One with two sugars. One without,” I say to the smiling man behind the counter.
“Coming right up,” he smiles wider.
Yakov arrives next to me. “I’ll take a flat white,” he says.
“You can add it to my bill,” I tell the man.
Yakov shifts uneasily on his feet, moving his weight from one foot to the other. He keeps looking over his shoulder. “Are you alone?” he asks as we step away from the truck and wait for the order to be made.
“I am. Are you?”
“I fucking hope so,” he laughs bitterly. “Yeah, I’m alone,” he says after. “But I can’t stay long.”
“Me either. Look, Yakov, I just want to know where my children and Raya are. Please, just tell me where they are so I can get my babies back. You know our father will only treat them like…”
“Selene, you’re asking too much. I can’t tell you where they are.”
“You can’t or you won’t?” I snap.
He wipes his hand over his face, looking around again.
“Look. All I know is that they’re safe. And they’re okay. The girl—Raya—she got hurt when the whole thing happened… she fought fucking hard apparently, but Alek had the doctor come in, and she got some stitches in her arm, and she’s okay. They’re all okay,” he says.
“Where are they?” I try again.
“I don’t know. Seriously. Bogdan and Vasya don’t trust Yaroslav and me. We aren’t father’s favorites, you know. So, we don’t get the good information. But I do know they are safe.”
“What is he going to do with them?” I ask, my voice breaking.
“I don’t know.”
I take a slow breath, trying to figure out how hard I want to push my brother for information. Chances are, he does know, but it would cost him his life to tell me.
“Yakov, I know that father is powerful, he’s terrifying… But if you change your mind… if you can somehow tell me where they are… Please… just think about it. You know how to get hold of me,” I say carefully.
Yakov bites at his lip.
The barista calls for us to say our order is ready.
I smile at my brother, “Just… consider it,” I say before turning to collect the two cappuccinos. Yakov picks up his flat white, and neither of us says anything more as we turn and go in opposite directions.
Back at the mansion, I set the fresh coffee down in front of Adrian. He looks up in surprise as though he’s forgotten I went out to get it for him.
“Wow, thank you, this is so appreciated. Any problems out there? Did security go with you?”
“No problems,” I smile, sitting down next to him and avoiding the other question. “Anything new on your end?”
“Nothing yet, but we do have a plan. I was speaking to Matvei, and we figured if we start putting pressure on Alek, he will be forced to come out and face us.”
“How will you put pressure on him?”
Adrian pulls up a map on his screen. “These businesses here all belong to your father. We can orchestrate a series of attacks on them, agitate the water, so to speak, and force him to react.”
“When are you going to start?” I ask, perking up at the idea.
“We wanted to consult with Simon first, to check if he was on board.”
“Simon is sleeping, let him rest. We’re on board. Do it,” I say sternly.
Adrian smirks at me with a glimmer of surprise in his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll get right on it.”
When Simon wakes up six hours later, the library is noisy and busy.
“Who let me sleep for six hours?” he grumbles as he walks in, rubbing his eyes. I turn to look at him and note that he looks so much better after some sleep. Standing, I slip my arms around his waist. “You needed it. I wouldn’t let them wake you,” I say.
“But you said you would wake me if anything happened,” he scolds me.
“Nothing has happened. Not yet. We’ve just started the attacks and…”
“Attacks?” he scoffs in surprise, hurrying to the screens.
“What the hell is going on?” he demands.
“We’re flushing the old fucker out!” Adrian says with triumph. “We’ve got three teams attacking simultaneously. We aren’t going to do too much damage, but we are going to annoy the shit out of him. He will have to come out and face us.”
Simon considers the idea and doesn’t disapprove.
He sits down in the open seat next to Adrian.
Behind us, we hear the team coordinators giving orders and providing feedback so that everyone can move as a single unit.
The whole thing takes less than an hour. I am tense, fidgeting, pacing, waiting…
But before it’s over, I hear Adrian and Simon shout fuck at exactly the same time.
“What?” I blurt out, my heart leaping wildly.
Adrian shakes his head, and Simon turns to face me. “He anticipated this. As our attacks escalated, he launched an attack on our businesses. He must have had a team ready and waiting to respond that quickly. He was ready for this.”
“That fucker was one step ahead again,” Adrian snarls.
Over the radio, I hear Matvei’s voice. “We’re pulling out. There’s no reason to keep this up then!”
“Yes, agreed. Get the teams out of there,” Simon confirms.
It’s late at night, and the penthouse is quiet. I’m standing at the window overlooking the city, wishing I could see further, that I could see everything, and that I could find my children from up here.
Everyone is drained and running out of ideas. Adrian is asleep in the guest room; Simon is still at the computer.
We’ve come at this from every angle, and nothing has worked. The only shred of evidence we managed to dig up was a rumor from a pilot who heard that the Mykros private jet took off about an hour after the penthouse was raided and our twins were taken.
But we have no idea where they went.
That’s it. That’s the one shred of anything we could find, and it tells us nothing.
“Hi princess,” Simon whispers as he steps behind me and slips his arms around my waist. I lean into him, savoring the warmth and comfort he gives me.
My heart is so heavy, my mind is flooded with worry.
I can’t stop thinking about my children, wondering if they are warm, if they are scared, if they are safe.
I can’t help imagining them crying for me, wondering why I haven’t come to get them.
I have failed them so terribly, and all I want is to make it right.
“It’s so quiet,” Simon sighs softly.
“It is,” I mutter, pulling his arms tighter around me.
We stand for a while, watching the city glittering below us, completely oblivious to the torment we both feel. After a while, I whisper, “I have an idea. I need you to hear me out before you say no right of way.”
He groans, stepping away from me and turning me to face him. “When you start the conversation like that, I already want to say no before I’ve even heard what you want to say,” he sighs.
Guilt rushes through me because I have a plan. And I have a backup plan. And what I am about to do does not make me proud.
I tuck my hand into the pocket of my cardigan and brush my finger over the side of my phone.
It makes no sound when it starts recording.
Simon doesn’t notice. His eyes are locked onto mine. “Tell me this idea…” he huffs with a frown on his face.
“I am going to sneak into my father’s house and…”
“No.”
“Simon! I told you to let me tell you the whole idea first!” I snap, genuinely annoyed.
“You’re not doing it!” he huffs.
“Let me finish! I know his properly like the back of my hand. I know every corner, every camera blind spot. I know how to move through the place without being seen, and besides… the chances are that my father isn’t even there.
They took a flight somewhere, they took the children out of the city, remember, I could just go in there to look for clues, information…
anything… we don’t have anything…” I say desperately.
“You want to put yourself right into the enemy’s hands. You’ve lost your mind!”
“Maybe I have lost my mind!” I shout at him. “Maybe I am willing to do literally anything to get them back, and maybe it’s becoming clearer that you aren’t willing to do the same thing!”
His face darkens. Pain flickers across it, quickly masked by anger.