Page 154 of The Bratva King

He takes Kylie’s hand. Carson falls in a few steps behind them with his hand near his radio as they disappear through the glass doors.

I wait until they’re inside, and one of the guards from the second SUV walks over. I open the front passenger door and climb in.

“I need to make a quick stop,” I tell the guard. “There’s a Target about six blocks from here.”

He pulls up near the entrance, and we go inside.

I’m standing at a rack of pajamas for Luke about twenty minutes later, when my phone rings.

Nikolai.

I smile and answer. “Hey.”

“Where are you.” A location request.

“Target. One of the guards is with me. Kylie and the other team are with Luke at therapy.”

“Stay there.”

I stare at my screen. Sometimes, Nikolai’s habit of saying less leaves a lot to be desired.

I take a pair of pajamas and some new swim trunks to the register. I pay and step out just as Nik’s SUV pulls into the lot with another one right behind it.

Nik is out of the back seat before the SUV stops. “Get in.”

“Nik, what’s wrong?”

“Get in.”

I scramble in and look at the driver and front passenger. Both stare straight ahead.

An icy chill slides down my spine.

“Nikolai.” My voice comes out steady. A miracle. “Tell me what’s happening.”

He’s looking at his phone, and his jaw is locked so tightly that I see the muscle working beneath the skin. The SUV is moving fast, recklessly weaving through traffic, away from Target.

“Nikolai.”

He looks up, and I know before he says a word. I see something I’ve never seen in his eyes.

Fear.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

Those two words from Nikolai rip the breath from my lungs.

I go numb.

“Luke.” His name comes out of me like something torn loose. “Where. Is. Luke?”

Nikolai reaches for my hand, but I jerk it away.

“He’s gone.”

I shake my head. I must have heard him wrong.

“Where is he?” Panic pitches my voice.