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My stomach plummets.
It all slides into place like a horrific jigsaw. The fact that Kirill’s dad wanted him to marry our Duchess. The way Kirill is scared of him. The way his father looked at Mackenzie that day. As if he wanted her for himself. That utter bastard.
He’s sick and twisted enough to do something like this and arrogant enough to believe he can get away with it. He’s also a Machiavellian man who plots and plans, and his schemes are always bad news for everyone else.
“Fuck.” I cup my hand over my mouth. “This is bad. I think Kirill’s father is the one who has Mack.”
Tino’s white teeth dig into his lower lip. “I can’t think of any reason Kirill would leave now if it wasn’t connected to her, can you?”
“Fuck,” I say again, digging my fingers into my scalp.
I want pain. I need pain. I crave it so badly; I want to scream with it. Kirill’s father having Mackenzie is really bad fucking news. I’d have preferred it to be the professor, and that’s saying something. Grigoriy is sick and twisted. He did depraved things to his own son, and he walked into our college like he owned it. He’s not scared of my father, which puts us in a uniquely volatile situation.
“The men from my compound will be landing soon,” Tino says. “I need to be there to meet them.”
I nod. “Okay, good. The more people we have on our side, the better, especially if Kill’s father is behind this. If he wants a war, he’s got one.”
I’m going to need to tell my father about these new developments. I hate constantly having to go to my dad for help, but he runs this place, and I don’t have much choice. He told me the cops are trying to pin down the vehicle that took Mackenzie. I’m aware the professor is also out there somewhere, trying to track her down. What if the son of a bitch has better luck than we do?
I go to Tino. I can see he’s as tormented as I am. We almost lost him not so long ago, when his pain got too much, and the pills took over and he accidentally overdosed. I grab his forearm and yank him into me. I squeeze him hard and smack him on the back. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get her back.”
He doesn’t reply but gives a tight, curt nod against my shoulder.
We leave my room and part ways. He goes to meet his men, and I go to find my father and Lucia. My dad is going to be pissed when he finds out about Grigoriy Stepanov. They already had that run-in on campus when one of Girgoriy’s men hit me. This is going to be the final nail in a coffin. What would a mafia war mean for the college?
I find him in his office.
He looks up, and I can tell from his eyes that he already knows there’s been a development.
“The kitchen is saying one of their trucks is missing,” he announces. “I checked the cameras and saw this.”
He beckons me over so I can see his computer screen.
Sure enough, there is Kirill sitting behind the wheel of the vehicle. A baseball cap is pulled down over his face, but it’s still clearly him. He’s alone in the truck. Where the hell does he think he’s going?
I clench my jaw. “I think his father might have taken Mackenzie. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
For a moment there is silence, and then my father whirls around and punches the wall.
Ouch.
“That motherfucker,” my father explodes. He’s normally scarily in control. His power lies in not needing to make big displays of his anger or his might, but right now, he’s a force of nature. “I’ll fucking kill him. How dare he? This is a declaration of war against me, against the college. Against all the families here.”
He’s way angrier than I’d expected.
“If he took the daughter of my wife-to-be, what sort of message does that send to every other family sending their kid here?”
He’s more concerned about his reputation and that of the college than he seems to be about Mack herself, but that’s okay. I can use it and channel it to get what I want.
“It says we are weak, or at least it does if we don’t get her back and take our revenge.”
“Revenge?” he spits. “I’ll fucking tear Grigoriy Stepanov limb from limb. I’ll use his body to power the fucking furnace and his ash to feed the plants.”
Jesus Christ. I stare at my father in awe. Of course I know he’s a ruthless man, but I mostly only see the buttoned-up, control-freak side of him, not this raging anger.
He pulls himself together. “I will make sure we get information from police cameras and see if we have a direction on the truck.”
I nod. “Thanks, Dad. It means a lot.”
