Chapter 23 - Simon
Adrian turns to look at me. “Dude. Can you stop tapping your leg like that? It’s distracting,” he grumbles.
I clench the muscles in my legs, forcing them to stop as I lean over the desk, my entire focus on the listening device streaming from Selene to us.
Adrian turns the volume louder as Alek and Selene continue talking.
“She’s doing really well,” Adrian says.
“It was a fucking risky idea,” Matvei mumbles behind us, his arms folded over his chest as he listens too.
“She is doing well, but that’s because she learned from the darkest manipulator in this city,” I sigh.
I hate the fact that she is there alone.
I hated the idea the moment she suggested it, and I still hate it now.
But when she played just a clipping of the argument she recorded, I realized what she meant when she told me she said those things on purpose.
She orchestrated the fight. A brutal fight with harsh words that set a very specific image of the kind of relationship we have.
“I’ll play this for my father,” she’d told me.
We spent hours talking that night, lying in each other’s arms and putting the plan together, perfecting how she would present herself to him to trick him into believing her.
And now she’s there. And I’m here. And every piece of me is hating myself for letting her go.
“I can agree to freedom. The trust will have to be earned, though,” Alek says, his voice picked up through the hidden microphone on Selene.
“From both sides,” she adds, sassy and confident.
“Fair enough. So, do you have anything useful to tell me about the Volkovs now?” Alek asks.
“Straight for the jugular,” Matvei snarls. I wave my hand to hush him.
Selene laughs. “Oh, I have plenty. But first I want to see my children.”
“Well, they aren’t here. We’d have to go for a drive. Or you can wait, and I can have them delivered here,” he says.
Delivered. Like assists.
“How far away are they?” Selene asks, pushing for the information we are waiting for. “I can drive to them,” she suggests.
“No. I will take you rather. Let me just call the driver. I think he was on his way back from there now. It’s only ten minutes’ drive here from the docks.”
“The docks!” Adrian and I both shout at the same time.
“He has two properties on the docks…” He pulls up a map from the research we’ve done before.
“So, which one?” Matvei asks. “Which one is it?”
“We attack both. We sent two teams, full force, everything we’ve got. We go now.”
“And if they aren’t there?”
I clench my jaw. “Um…”
“Ok, you need to stay here and keep listening to Selene. Adrian and I will lead the teams with the other guys. But if you get any new intelligence, you tell us right away, and we pull back.
“Deal,” I agree easily because I don’t want to walk away from Selene. I know I’m not there with her, but at least I can hear her, and I can talk to her if it’s an emergency.
My brothers leave in a rush. They head out, already communicating with my other brothers who have been on standby with the teams.
My stomach churns with anxiety.
I want to be there for my children, but I trust my brothers to keep them safe and get them out of there.
Right now, Selene is the one without backup.
I turn my attention back to the recording devices.
“Yes, my daughter has had a change of heart. When can you get here?” Alek says, obviously speaking on the phone. I steal the chance to whisper to Selene. “The teams are headed to the dock, to the properties your father has there.”
She coughs lightly. A signal that she’s understood.
My heart clenches. I wish I could just pull her out of there right now. But we need confirmation that the twins are actually at the docks. Otherwise, this would have been for nothing, and I would have lost everything.
The next fifteen minutes are the tensest moments of my life. I’m listening to Selene maintain a conversation with her father, knowing she’s in danger. She’s doing so damn well. He’s even talking about some family secrets that I don’t think he would be spilling if he didn’t believe her.
But on the other side, I’m listening to my brothers storm the properties at the docks.
Their teams are rushing in, shouting commands to each other, replaying and confirming, and moving in trained precision.
Gunshots snap through and make me wince.
“Bogey down. Another left. Two in the front. Move. Move.”
There is a quiet moment. The team leader reports. “Two empty rooms. Heading to the third.” Gunshots continue in the background.
The speaker crackles, and suddenly I hear the words that almost make me collapse.
One of the security team reports, “Targets located. Two young children and a woman. Back room, third door on the left. The children are both unharmed.”
I hear my twins, their small cries, I hear Raya comforting them and telling them these are the good guys.
“Raya?” I hear Matvei’s voice.
“Matty!” she yelps in relief.
I wish, I wish with all my heart I could have been there to scoop them into my arms, but I am needed here with Selene.
“Get them out of there,” I say into the speaker.
“On it,” Matvei replies.
Then I turn my full attention to Selene.
They are still chatting until her father’s phone rings.
“What?” he snaps as he answers. “Are you… No… No… It seems we have a problem.”
“Father? What’s going on?” Selene asks, as innocently as she possibly can.
“I believe you know exactly what’s going on,” he snarls.
I hear movement. “Please tell me. Is it the children? What is going on?” she demands with panic in her voice.
“Stay here,” Alek snarls at her. I hear a door slam closed.
“Are you alone?” I whisper.
“Yes.” Her voice is so soft I can barely hear her.
“We have the children. You need to get out of there now!”
There is a long pause. My heart is beating loudly in my ears. “Selene… you need…”
“I can’t just get up and leave. I have to wait for the right moment. He already knows something is happening,” she whispers.
Her father has been gone for a long time, leaving her alone in his office. I keep talking to her, trying to reassure her that it’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I know I am trying to reassure myself as well.
“The children are almost home with me,” I tell her. “They’ll be here in two minutes. And my team has been dispatched to your father’s property to wait for you when you get out.”
“Tell them to keep a distance. If he catches wind of that at all, I will be as good as gone,” she says.
There is tense silence between us. I hear shouting, but it sounds far in the distance.
“Selene?” I whisper.
“Simon, he’s coming back. He knows. He…”
“Selene, get out of there!” I shout.
“Simon, tell the children I love them. Tell them I always have, I always will. I’m so sorry,” she says. “I wish I…”
The line goes dead.
“Selene!” I yell at the laptop despite seeing that the connection has been severed. “Selene!”
My heart is in full panic mode when Adrian walks into the room.
“The kids are on their way up,” he says with a smile. “Raya is with them. They are all okay.”
I grab his arm. “Adrian, she’s with her father, and he knows. The line just went dead.”
“Fuck!” he snaps.
“We need to move!”
“Simon, wait, we need a plan!”
“There is no fucking plan other than getting her back. I’ll fucking blow a hole in his house if I need to!”
“Fuck,” Adrian says again, running after me as I bolt from the room.
As I step into the living room, the twins come rushing out of the elevator. I drop to my knees and grab them both in my arms. “My monsters, my sweet little munchkins, I am so so so happy to see you!”
“Daddy! We were with Raya all the time. Didn’t you know?” Arron asks.
I laugh with an aching heart. “Did Raya take care of you?” I ask.
“Oh yes, she played games with us. She also reads stories, but not as well as you.”
I stand, grabbing Raya into my arms. She whispers against my ear, “They didn’t realize we were in danger. I made it seem like a sleepover as best I could, but they were scared.”
“And you?” I ask, pulling back to look at her.
She smiles. “You know me. I’m a Volkov. We’re strong,” she grins. Then she turns to the twins. “I need a giant bubble bath. I think you guys also need one!”
“Yes! With more bubbles!” Solenne shouts.
Raya turns to look at me again.
“Go get her,” she whispers.