Page 155 of The Bratva King

“Fire alarm. They evacuated through the rear exit. The second team was covering the front. One of them struck Kylie as she came out with Luke. Carson tried to stop them. He was shot, and they were gone before my other team could get around the building.”

I’m hearing everything he isn’t saying. I can’t breathe. My hand rips at my shirt, trying to open my lungs.

“Luke,” I gasp.

“Luke was taken.”

I reach for the door handle. “Stop the car!”

“Gabby.” His hand catches my arm.

“Let me out.” I yank at the handle in a panic. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Stop,” Nik orders.

The SUV swerves toward the curb.

“My people are there.” Nik’s voice is stripped of emotion. “We’ll find him. I will get him back.”

I throw open the door and nearly fall out of the SUV. My knees hit the pavement a second before my palms do. The heat comes off the pavement in waves, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything except devastation.

Nikolai kneels behind me, one hand on my back and the other holding my hair.

I heave over and over until there’s nothing left, then stay there on my hands and knees on the side of a Vegas street, fighting for breath.

“Come on,” he murmurs close to my ear. His hands slide under my arms and lift me gently. “Come on, Gabby.”

“We have to find him.” My voice is wrecked. “Nikolai, we have to find him right now. He doesn’t do well with strangers. He needs his blanket. He needs Steggy. He’s going to be so scared.” I press my fist against my mouth.

“I know.” He steers me back toward the car. “I know.”

“NO!” I spin on him and pound my fists against his chest. He just stands there and takes it.

“Gabby.” He finally catches both my wrists and holds them against his chest. “Look at me.”

I look at him.

“Everyone I have is looking for him.” His blue eyes hold mine. “I will find him. Do you hear me? I will find him.”

“Get in the car.” He opens the door. “We’re going to the estate. We’ll work from there. We have communications, resources, everything we need. We’re no good to Luke standing on a curb.”

When we reach the estate, I’m barely aware of being moved through the house. Somehow, I end up in the leather chair across from his desk. Irina brings me coffee, tea, and a can of Coke because she says I need sugar. My body doesn’t feel like it belongs to me. My hands are in my lap. There’s a smear of blood on my left palm.

“What about Kylie and Carson?” I barely get the words out.

Nikolai stops pacing. “Alive and at the hospital. Kylie has a concussion. Carson was shot in the shoulder. Nothing life-threatening.”

I close my eyes for one second. Relief flickers through me, thin and useless against the panic clawing through my chest.

Nikolai continues pacing. He’s been on the phone on and off since we walked through the door, speaking in Russian. I don’t understand the words, but I hear the fear in his voice, and that terrifies me.

I press my palm against my sternum and tell myself to breathe. He briefly looks at me from across the room, then goes back to pacing, Russian filling the room again.

I think about my baby. How scared is he? Is he hurt? Is he calling for me?

There’s a knock at the study door.

One of the guards steps in with a vase of white roses, and my heart stops.