Page 54 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

Suddenly, I can’t breathe…

Chapter 16

Kirill

Ilead Ares and Lourdes through the house without speaking. The weight of their intrusion, the inconvenience of having to deal with them on top of everything, has my nerves stretched thin. Lourdes moves a step ahead of Ares, settling right behind me. I never turn my back on an enemy, but I’m not sure who that is anymore.

I feel her restless energy. She’s frantic. Ares, by contrast, walks slower, but he’s no less dangerous. Glancing over my shoulder, I see his gaze sweeping over everything with a calculated calm that tells me he’s mapping exits, counting guards, and measuring the thickness of the window panes. His sharpshooters are legendary.

I bring the Greek king and his queen to the residential wing. He notices how shaky his wife is and puts his arm around her, the other hand resting on her stomach.

Christ, she’s pregnant.

Watching them shatters me. I went through all the stages of pregnancy with Sandrine. All the touches, all the love. And the added stress for what we had to go through as a couple. The secrets. But I also fell so deeply in love with her during those months.

Then she left me and ripped my heart out.

Left me to raise our child alone.

“Please, Kirill,” Lourdes says, her voice trembling as she tries to hold it together. “Where is she?”

I want to shout that it’s been one damn day. I hadn’t seen her in five years. No one answered my pleas about where she was. But I have to temper my rage. If they think I’m so angry that I might hurt Sandrine, I’ll have the entire Greek Mafia and all those Irish Mob lunatics he’s aligned with in New York at my doorstep. They’ll be landing planes on my front lawn and helicopters on my roof.

Especially that giant Irishman with the scar on his face. Lachlan O’Rourke.

“Her bedroom is this way,” I say, pointing.

“She has a bedroom already?” Lourdes sneers.

“Her bedroom?” Ares asks, sounding snide and not letting me respond. “Not yours, Pakhan?”

I go to answer with the same sentiment, but I will take the high road. I am not the villain here. These two kept her from me when I proved to them she was mine.

I choose not to answer Lourdes. I just turn and hike to Sandrine’s bedroom suite. The walk should take less than a minute. I know every turn of this house, every stretch of corridor, every door and shadow. Today the distance feels longer. Like the corridors have expanded just enough to unsettle me.

I signal the guard to step aside, noticing he smells like cigarette smoke and the cold afternoon air outside.

At her door, I knock. “Sandrine, it’s me. I’m coming inside.” I push the door open, and immediately, something feels off.

I take in the empty space, and my blood slowly goes cold. I check the bathroom. The door is open, but there’s no Sandrine. Her scent lingers in the air, but she’s not here.

For a second, I simply stand there, her absence knocking me sideways. I’ve lived without her for five years, and I managed. With her gone from this room, a different kind of dread spreads through my veins.

“No, no, no.” I step back into the hall and bark to my unwanted guests, “Wait here. Both of you, do not move. This is my house.”

“Yes, Pakhan,” Ares answers with respect, and his easy compliance worries me.

Leaving them, I call Drago, but it goes unanswered. I try Ksenia next. Nothing. A cold, unfamiliar panic begins to creep in.

“Where the fuck is everyone?” I mutter, feeling unhinged. “Answer your pakhan!”

I move faster now, my strides eating up the distance. Cutting back through to the end of the residential wing, I check the adjoining rooms, the hall closets, guest bathrooms, everything. Each space taunts me with its emptiness.

When did Iron Keep get so big? It never felt like this before. I never had to search like this while stifling a surge of anxiety in my chest.

I round the corner toward the rear wing, my jaw set, my pulse a rising drum in my ears. I buzz past the library, casually glance inside, and stop dead in my tracks.

My gaze cuts through the open doorway where I find Sandrine sitting on the sofa.