Chapter 23 - Anton
As soon as I wake up, I reach for her. Last night I fell asleep so quickly I didn’t even say goodnight. I dreamed horrible things about her brother dragging her away, and no matter how fast I ran, I couldn’t catch up with them.
“Pixie?” I murmur, reaching further across the sheets, surprised when my hand doesn’t find the warmth of her skin, so I can pull her against me.
My eyes shoot open when I realize the sheets aren’t even warm.
What time is it?
Did I oversleep?
We usually wake up around the same time.
“Izabel?” I call her name, sitting up in bed, and grab my phone to squint at the time.
Eight in the morning.
Fuck. I really did sleep late.
Tossing the blankets aside, I roll out of bed, flexing my shoulders and my back as I walk towards the bathroom.
Cold water splashed onto my face wakes me up a little more. I guess I was exhausted after all the drama from yesterday. It’s been constant stress about her brother. Constant stress that I need to find a way to solve.
“Izabel?” I call out as I walk down the stairs. “Where are you, Pixie?”
But there is no reply.
My skin begins to prickle uncomfortably. It isn’t like her to leave the house without telling me. She would have woken me up. Unless she tried, and I was sleeping too deeply?
I rush upstairs to grab my phone, but there are no messages or calls from her.
“What the hell is going on?” I snap, agitated.
With panic steadily growing in my stomach, I get dressed and head back downstairs.
I walk straight out the front door to the guard house.
“Have any of you seen my wife?” I snap.
“Yes, sir, I saw her this morning when she left,” one of the guards says.
“She left?” I stammer.
“Yes, sir, to go to the pharmacy…and something about her friend.”
“Something about a friend? The pharmacy? What the fuck is going on?”
The guard looks terrified as he takes a step back.
“What time was this?” I demand.
“Around four,” he replies.
“Four?!” I blurt out. “Which car did she take?”
“The Audi.”
His face tells me he doesn’t know anything more that is actually going to help me find her.
I sprint back to the house to grab my car keys, trying for the second time to dial her number, but again it cuts out immediately as if the phone is off.
As I duck into my car, I punch in the security code to access the Audi’s onboard tracker.
The car is parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
My heart constricts as I slam my foot down, speeding out of the gates that the guards have to rush to open for me.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on…but something is very wrong here.
It doesn’t take me long to reach the Audi.
The vehicle is sitting on the side of the road, unlocked, with the key still in the ignition. There is no sign of her.
I stumble backward, searching for signs of a struggle on the ground, but fresh snow has already fallen and covered anything that might have given me a clue.
Spinning frantically, I look for security cameras, anything I can access that will tell me what happened here.
But my stomach is twisting with the glaring truth of it all.
Her brother must have tricked her somehow and gotten her to leave the house. And then he took her.
Why the hell didn’t she wake me up? Why didn’t she speak to me?
I climb back into my car and grab my phone.
In a blind rage, I dial his number.
“Where the hell is she?” I snarl into the phone.
“Anton?” he asks, pretending to be bored.
“You know exactly who the hell it is. Where is she, Illyin? Give her back to me!”
There is a pause. A drawn-out moment of silence. Then a dark chuckle.
“I guess I should have known you’d figure out where she was quite quickly. Yes, I have her, but I’m not letting her go back to you—not ever.”
My heart shatters with panic. I can’t live without seeing her again. Leaning forward, I rest my head on the top of the steering wheel. “Let me see her,” I say, quieter, almost pleading.
“Why should I do that?” he snaps angrily.
“Please, let me just see her. I will come alone. I won’t bring my guards. I just need to see her and hear from her own mouth that she doesn’t want to come back to me,” I beg.
“You’re pathetic, Anton. But fine. I can arrange that. But I swear, if I see one guard, I’ll shoot you in the head right in front of her.”
I clench my jaw to stop myself from telling him how cruel he is. I have one goal right now. I need to see her. I need to tell her I love her.
I can’t believe I never fucking said the words.
Waiting for the right time.
Waiting for the stress to resolve itself.
Waiting for the mess with her brother to end so that I can tell her everything that’s in my heart.
And now I waited so long I have almost lost the chance to ever say the words to her.
No, not yet. You will see her. You will tell her.
“Today,” I demand.
He scoffs. “Fine. I’ll text you an address. Come alone. Be there at eleven this morning.”
He hangs up and I stare at the phone, my hands shaking, my jaw clenched.
It’s nine. I have to get through two hours of agony without her before eleven.
And then what?
What happens after that?
Do I tell her I love her and then never see her again?
But she is my wife. She is my everything!
The two hours between the phone call and the meeting time are both an eternity and over in the blink of an eye. I am in a daze of panic and worry for most of the time, and I can’t sit still or get my body to relax.
At eleven on the dot, I am walking into the address her brother sent me.
I step into the empty warehouse, and the hackles on the back of my neck rise in warning.
“Izabel?” I call out into the open space. “Illyin?”
Laughter comes from behind me, and I spin, wishing I had somehow brought backup.
“Hello, Anton. Good to see you, man. How you been?”
My lips curl back in a snarl. “Gusev Pavel, what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Got a nice little tip-off this morning from a good friend of mine that Anton Radev would be here alone. Did you seriously not bring any backup? How fucking stupid are you, man?” he laughs, and from the shadows, more men come up, slowly surrounding me.
He’s just taunting you. It’s what he does. Ignore it.
It looks like Illyin has made some new friends in this city. Formed an alliance with my enemy. I turn slowly, assessing the number of men around me.
“Where is she?” I ask, trying to stay calm. “I just want to talk to her.” I raise my hands to show that I have no intention of fighting anyone. I literally just want to see her. Nothing else matters.
“I had no idea she was his sister, you know. I mean, that blows my mind. The balls you have…kidnapping his sister and marrying her. It’s like you wanted to sign your own death warrant,” Gusev muses thoughtfully, toying with the gun in his hand.
“Just tell me where the hell she is, man. I came here to talk to her, not to listen to your shit.”
“Oh, you’re not that quick on the draw today, huh? Your girl isn’t here, Anton. She never was. She never will be.”
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.
“He sold me out?” I mutter to myself.
“He did, my friend. He sold you out. He threw you to the wolves,” Gusev laughs.
“The dogs…you fuckers hardly look like wolves.”
“Careful, now. You aren’t in the best position to be tossing insults around,” Gusev snaps, lifting his gun to wave it at me.
“You always were too arrogant, Anton. It’s time you learned who really owns this city,” Gusev hisses.
“Put the gun down, Pavel. I told you he’s mine,” Illyin snarls as he walks into the warehouse.
“I wondered why you were letting these rats do your dirty work for you,” I snap at him.
“I considered it. Especially with how little you mean to me, Anton. But in the end, I wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to watch the bullet pierce your skull and see your brains splatter from the back as your body falls lifeless to the ground. I want confirmation…you understand.”
I laugh bitterly, raising my hands and making sure he knows he’s shooting an unarmed man.
“Yeah, who is weak now, Illyin? You couldn’t even handle this like a man.
You were so scared of me, you had to bring backup and more backup,” I taunt him as my mind races, searching for a chance out of this fuckup.
He lifts his gun as his eyes darken in rage. “You talk too much,” he growls.
“Stop!”
Her voice causes two reactions inside me.
Firstly, relief. My entire body thrilled by the sound of her. Just knowing she is close to me sets my heart ablaze.
But second comes the panic.
She’s running into a situation she can’t control, and one I would never want her to witness.
“Izabel,” I mutter in dismay as I turn to look towards the open doors of the warehouse. But as I do, the entire situation flips over.
She’s not alone.
Standing on one side of her is Yaroslav and my security force, and on the other side is Josiah and his.
A smile spreads instantly over my face as relief floods me.
I’m not going to die.
I’m going to get to hold her in my arms again and tell her that I love her.
But she isn’t looking at me. She’s looking at her brother.
“Illyin, put the gun down!” Izabel shouts at her brother.
“Stay out of this, Izabel,” Illyin snaps, not willing to back down.
“No, I won’t. This is my life you are asking me to stay out of. My life, not yours. I get to make my own choices, Illyin. Why can’t you see that?”
“Because he brainwashed you!” Illyin yells, his eyes flaring with rage.
Izabel shakes her head and walks forward. My heart constricts as she moves herself to stand right between Illyin’s raised weapon and me.
“Izabel!” I yell. “Don’t do this!”
“Listen to your boyfriend, sister. Get out of my way,” Illyin says coldly.
My entire body is rigid with fear. Fear that her brother is out of control. Fear that he is so blinded by rage that he might accidentally shoot her. I want to run and drag her behind me, but I don’t want to make any sudden movements that might trigger him.
The tension is causing static around me. My skin is burning. My lungs are screaming.
Make the wrong move and she might get shot. Make no move at all…and she might get shot.
“Pixie, please, just stand back. Don’t put yourself in danger like this for me,” I whisper to her, not paying attention to anyone else in the room.
She glances over her shoulder at me and shakes her head. “He has to understand, Anton.”
Illyin becomes more agitated and takes a step towards Izabel, his is still pointed at me, with her right in the path of any bullet he fires.