Page 95 of Debt to the Mafia King

“Fuck.” Falling to his knees next to me, Ivan shook him. “Fucking wake up, Stephen, you asshole. Do not give in to this. Don’t you dare die.”

“Poitre.” Stumbling to my feet, I stared down at the bloody body of one of my men. Stephen hadn’t been my friend, but he had been loyal.

And he had lost his life trying to protect my wife and unborn child from a man whom people told me was my brother.

“Viktor,” Ivan called after me, and I hadn’t even realized I’d been walking. “Viktor, where are you going?”

“Piotre has Leah,” I said in a cold flat voice and heard him curse behind me.

He knew as well as I did that this wasn’t going to end well.

“I’ll come with you.”

“Stay with Stephen. He may still have a chance.” I lied because I knew a dead person when I saw one. Stephen was as good as dead.

So was Manda and Piotre.

If they had hurt Leah, if they had killed her, then I would make sure their deaths were long and painful.

If she had died not knowing how I felt about her, then I was going to burn the world to the ground for her.

It wasn’t fair that the world could give me her, the sweet passionate woman who made me a better man, and then snatch her away from me, her and my unborn child.

“Any news?” Ivan slipped into the seat opposite me. We were at my city penthouse, and it was dark outside. Night had fallen hours ago, which meant Leah had been in the hands of my enemy for hours and hours.

Was she scared? In pain? Crying out for me to save her? I tried not to think about it, but I couldn’t help but let my mind wander.

I had ripped the city apart. I’d spoken to every single person I had known; I’d made deals and threatened violence, and the answer was always the same.

No one knew where Piotre was.

Or they were too scared of him to tell me. If the sun rose without me finding my wife alive, then they would all be afraid of me. They should be afraid of me now.

With everything that had been happening with Leah, I’d been preoccupied, and they had forgotten who really ran this city. They would remember, though.

“Viktor?” Ivan prompted.

Falling forward, I caught my face in my hands and shook my head. My breathing came in rasps. “There’s nothing. Not even a hint of where he is or where he would have taken her. It’s like they have disappeared into thin air.”

Ivan sighed. “No one can disappear in this city unless you want them to, Viktor, and Leah is strong. She will hold on.”

Maybe that was true. But I didn’t want her to hold on. I wanted her here with me or at home, gushing over baby clothes and making plans for the future. I wanted to hear her say she loved me soI could say it back.

I couldn’t stand the thought of not saying the words now.

I groaned and straightened. I was falling apart, and I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t get Leah back safely if I did that. I had to be me, the old me. The ruthless me.

“You’ll get to tell her you love her, Viktor.”

I stood up, ignoring his words. “That’s not what I was going to say,” I lied. “I was going to ask about Stephen.”

His face grew stony. “He’s out of surgery and alive, but I don’t know anything else. It’s not looking good, even if he lives. The bullet pulverised his insides. His family is with him, but I’ve put someone with them as well. Just in case.”

I wanted to shout at him that we needed everyone looking for Leah, but I could spare one man to watch out for the man who had been shot protecting her.

“It should have been me,” I muttered.

“What?”