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“There’s no sign of forced entry,” he continues, grim-faced. “It would be much easier for her to leave without a trace than be kidnapped without one. She’s been here long enough to know the guards patrolling times. She figured out the camera angles. Did you blindfold her when you took her off the property yesterday?”
Son of a bitch.
My heart wrenches inside my chest, and the heat of this room threatens to choke me. Daniil’s words hold truth and perhaps that is the worst fucking irony of all. There is only one of two options here, and both of them leave my blood cold. Either Piper abducted Georgia, or Georgia convinced Piper to help her escape. Escape from me.
“I know she put on a brave face,brat, but in the end, being released into Oleg’s clutches was too much for her to bear.” There’s sympathy in his tone, even kindness. My asshole of a brother is showing me a scrap of humanity, and it’s enough to make me lose my mind.
“Zatknis,” I say, warning him to shut the hell up. I squeeze my eyes closed, needing to block out all sounds, all thoughts, all possibilities. An agitated hand tugs at my hair as I pace the room. “All that matters now is that we find Georgia before Oleg does.” If Georgia shows her face on the streets of Brighton Beach, it’s only a matter of time before Oleg hears about it and scoops her up. That’s assuming he’s not behind her disappearance and he already has her.
The possibilities are endless and all of them fucking terrifying.
Daniil nods, weariness etched on his face. “I’ll check in on her father. If she escaped, she’d go straight to see him.”
“There’s no way she could get through the guards posted outside his building without being discovered, unless—”
Unless I’ve been played.
In the sober light of morning, I see my mistake. How much I trusted her, how short-sighted I’ve been because of my obsession with her. I left her alone with her father. I didn’t even bother to listen in on their conversation. She could have made a plan to escape—she’s certainly cunning enough. All the training I provided her paid off in dividends.
Bitterness singes my lungs. Freedom was her ultimate goal and when she wasn’t successful with a gun in her hand, she used her body to gain my trust… to gain my love. She played me like a fool and I fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Grabbing a table top clock, I heave it against the wall. The heavy smash of glass and gears falling apart is strangely satisfying, but does little to quell the fire pumping through my veins. I rip down the curtains with my hands, and then move on to hurling a decanter against the wall, watching it smash into a million pieces. The destructive urge doesn’t end until I see the familiar bloom of red on my hands.
I will blow up this world or burn it down. Whatever I have to do to find her.
* * *
Hours go by achingly slowly. I’m still in the house. Leo convinced me that my value is staying right here at headquarters as my men hunt down Georgia.
My hands tremble as I pour myself another shot of vodka. Somewhere inside, I know that I’m not sane or sober enough to be of use, a feeling I’ve never had in my life.
One woman with no money. No weapon. How far could she have gotten?
Rage is an easy feeling to conjure, but fear, fearing for her safety, wreaks havoc inside me. She’s been gone for hours, and each tick of the clock tightens an invisible noose around my neck. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m drowning, that nothing will be the same after this.
“I have an update—”
I barely notice someone walking through the door of my office until the barrel of my gun is trained on them, my finger hovering over the trigger.
“Andrei?” Yulian’s voice registers in some distant recess of my mind. Lowering the pistol, I glare at him. He should know better than to sneak up on a man in the throes of despair.
“You have news. I’m listening,” I say.
“Piper Bennett is gone without a trace.”
“The new employee?” I rub my tired eyes. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“She’s disappeared into thin air,” he says, his expression unyielding. “The home address she provided us with is an empty apartment. Her neighbors say she moved out last week. There’s no trace of her in Brighton Beach, or all of Brooklyn for that matter.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I roar. “How did this happen?”
The shadows beneath his eyes tell me he’s just as troubled as I am by the turn of events. “Despite our very thorough background check, I don’t believe she is who she says she is, and it’s likely she is related to Georgia's disappearance.”
Icy fingers stroke down my spine. Nothing makes sense. My life has taken off like a runaway train and there’s nothing I can do to get it back on track. For a man who craves ultimate control, the helplessness only adds to the tension twisting up my insides.
Without me uttering a word, Yulian understands the downward spiral of my thoughts. “I promise you,bratan, we will have answers soon. We’ll work around the clock. If it was Rowan, I would tear apart the world looking for her, and I will do the same for you.”
I sag forward; the fight drained from my body. As a man in love, Yulian might be the only person close to me that understands my pain. “I know you would. I just hope that we’re not too late.”
