20. Anton
ANTON
I lean back against the wall of the elevator, run my hand over my face, and let out a sigh. In my reflection in the glass before me, I can see dark circles under my eyes, blood still spattered on my shirt from where I helped Leon get to our medic.
He’ll make it, but he’ll need to take a few weeks off to heal up.
Iris is, for now, safe; she’s at the cabin safehouse outside of the city, the one I took Maya to.
But, when I step into the apartment, I find it empty. So empty, in fact, that it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I look around. Of course, a few of the guards came out with me, so it makes sense that this place would feel a little less busy than normal.
But the feeling that something is off is heavy on my chest.
“Maya?”
I stride into the apartment, the silence immediately putting me on edge. She’s probably in bed—the pregnancy has been exhausting her—but I need to see her.
I won’t be able to close my eyes tonight until I know she’s safe.
Not after letting Kyra slip through my fingers.
Rage still boils in my blood, aimed entirely at myself.
I should have been faster. I should have shot the tires out on that getaway car before Artem’s men disappeared with her.
All I could do was secure Iris and send my men to tail the vehicle.
God only knows what they are putting Kyra through right now. She has no idea what kind of monsters my brother employs.
I push open Maya’s bedroom door.
Silence.
I scan the dark room, looking for her shape beneath the covers. Nothing. My stomach drops. I step forward, a floorboard creaking beneath my boot. No stir. No shift in the sheets.
The bed is completely empty.
“Maya?”
I yell for her as I tear off the covers, check the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, even the hallway outside—anywhere she might have snuck off to, trying to help, trying to find a little freedom.
Fuck, I should have accepted her help when she had offered it, so she wouldn’t take matters into her own hands and try to get involved herself. I can see that now.
And now, she’s gone. I run my hands through my hair in silent desperation as I walk around the apartment again, searching every room in turn like she might suddenly just emerge from the bathroom with a frown on her face asking me what all the fuss is about. But she’s not here.
I don’t know where the fuck she is, but she’s not here.
Just then, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I snatch it up at once without checking who is calling me, praying to God that I’m about to hear her voice come down the line.
“Hello?”
“Anton,” my brother’s voice greets me. Sickness stabs into my guts, and I grit my teeth.
“What the hell do you want?” I snarl back.
“That’s no way to speak to your brother,” he replies, almost sounding amused by my desperation. That only serves to deepen my rage.
“Cut the bullshit,” I snap back. “Why are you calling me?”
“Because I think I have something that belongs to you.”
“What have you done—”
“You paid good money for her, after all,” he reasons, not bothering to hear me out. “If I were you, I’d do anything I could to get her back. Get my money’s worth out of her, eh?”
I can’t fucking stand it, hearing him talk about her like that.
“Give her back to me, Artem,” I tell him, doing my best to keep my voice steady, though all I want is to launch myself through the phone at him right now.
“Ah, so you do know who I’m talking about,” he adds, and I can hear the grin on his face.
“Thought you might. I didn’t know you were the kind of man to pay for such a thing, I have to admit.
When my men told me that you were the buyer who had put down a million for her, I knew that he had to be something special.
You think Dad would be pleased with how you’re spending his money? ”
I clench my fist at my side. “I would never pay for a woman,” I retort furiously. “I was getting her out of there. Making sure that another one of your sick little buyers didn’t get their hands on her-”
“You can make all the excuses you want, I know you wanted her for more than just that.”
I close my eyes for a moment. I hate to admit it, but a part of him is right.
I know I would have done the same for any woman I had seen up there that night, just to make sure my brother didn’t get a chance to inflict his cruelty on to her, but there’s more to it with Maya.
I want her. Even now, I want her.
The night that she took me to her apartment, the night that she fell pregnant, it’s like the entire world shifted on its axis around me, and I’m still trying to come to terms with what it means.
“Anyway, if you’re so sure you didn’t want to spend any money on her,” he continues, almost breezy, like this is the most casual of conversations. “Then you won’t mind that I’ve found another buyer for her, will you?”
My heart drops. “What the fuck do you mean?”
“I want to get my money’s worth out of her, brother,” he replies, almost affronted by how shocked I am. “I’m a businessman. And a woman like that...” He lets out a slow whistle between his teeth. “She’s really worth something. Trust me.”
“Let her go now, and we can forget this ever happened,” I tell him, doing my best to keep my voice steady. I can’t let him know that he’s managed to get under my skin. The thought of another man’s hands on Maya sends a fury pulsing through me that I didn’t even know was possible.
She’s mine. And so is the child inside of her.
“Oh, come on, I know you better than that,” he chides. “You’re not going to let this go. But at least I can get her out of the picture for you, huh? So you can focus on what really matters.”
“Let her go,” I hiss. “Or I’m going to—”
“I told you, I’m going to let her go,” he reminds me. “I have another buyer lined up already. And he’s going to be here in...” He pauses for a moment, like he is taking a second to look at his watch. “Five hours. So if you want to say your goodbyes, you’re going to have to hurry.”
He is laying a trap for me, I’m sure of it.
No doubt, if I actually take the bait and go out to try and free her, he’ll have his men swarm mine, try to take out as many of them as possible.
I can’t let my emotions get the better of me, no matter how tempting it might be to just run right into the midst of this.
“Let me talk to her,” I reply softly. The least I can do is make sure that she is really there with him. I have no idea what I expect, but I need to hear her voice, to be certain that she is, at least, still alive.
“Of course,” he replies at once. “I wouldn’t want you to have to lose her without saying goodbye...”
There is a brief silence on the other end of the line, and then, her voice fills my ear.
“Anton? Is that you?”
The way she speaks, it’s clear she is terrified.
Artem takes the phone back before I have a chance to reply. The words are on the tip of my tongue, assuring her that I will be there for her, that I will do anything I can to get her out, that she will be safe in my arms in a matter of hours...
“Five hours,” he spits. “That’s as long as you have, Anton.”
And, with that, he hangs up the phone, and I find myself standing there in the apartment in silence. I can hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears, and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
I need to kill him.
I pull my phone out again, dialling Ilya.
He answers after a couple of rings. “Pakhan-”
“Gather the men at my apartment, now,” I bark to him. “Tell the men who were following the car out of the club that we need addresses, routes, everything.”
He lets out a slight grunt, as though still half-asleep.
“Now, Ilya!”
“Yes, Pakhan,” he replies, and he hangs up the phone.
I stare out the window in her bedroom, where the scent of her still lingers in the air.
She can’t have been gone more than a few hours, which means there is no way he could have taken her far.
I don’t know where she might be—but I know that I’m going to find her.
And I know that I’m going to make my brother pay for thinking he can take her from me.