Page 25

It’s been a busy afternoon, and I’m happy to be on my way back home to Sasha. We connected so well last night. I actually opened up to her about some of the things I’ve bene thinking about, and it felt good.

I know it isn’t going to be easy, but I am determined to keep my promise to her to try and let go of this hatred I have festering inside me. I don’t want my entire life to be about chasing down Balakin. Yes, I want him to pay. I want him to suffer. But because that is all I’ve been focused on for so many years, I think I’ve actually caused myself more suffering than I’ll ever be able to inflict on him.

With all the things Sasha has told me about her father, I've come to understand something. He has no heart. The way he reacted when his daughter was taken was all based on his ego. He isn’t hurting because he’s worried about her. He doesn’t feel anything.

No matter what I do to him, he won’t hurt the way I want him to hurt. Not that deep emotional torment that he has inflicted on me and my life.

He isn’t capable of emotional pain.

For him to feel any kind of torment, it has to be financial or social embarrassment.

I sigh as I pull up outside the house, switching the car off.

But whatever happens from now, even if I still want to make him pay, it shouldn’t be my entire life’s focus. I have something else to think about. I have Sasha.

She’s changed the way I see things and given me hope that my life can have meaning again. She brings out the best in me. I want to develop that. I want to make things work with her.

Climbing the steps towards my front door, I notice that one of my cars isn’t here.

Did Sasha go out? She knows not to go out without me. Where the hell would she have gone?

Panic shoots through me.

I rush into the house looking for her.

“Sasha?” I call out, but she doesn’t reply.

I run upstairs to the library, where she loves to sit.

“Sasha?” I shout louder as the panic starts running deeper.

“Mr. Dubrov,” Penny’s voice carries through the house towards me.

I turn and run towards her. “Penny, where is Sasha?” I demand.

“Don’t worry, sir. She went out, but she took the guards with her, so she’s perfectly safe.” Penny smiles warmly, ignoring the desperation on my face. “She made sure to be careful, sir.”

“Where did she go, though?”

“To town, sir.”

“Why?” I snap, feeling anxious.

“Um—I’m not supposed to tell you,” Penny grins.

“Penny,” I growl darkly. “My wife left the house without telling me. I want to know where she went.”

Penny sighs and pulls her mouth to the side. “Sir, please—she asked me to keep it a secret.”

“I’m not playing fucking games here, Penny. Tell me.”

Penny twists her hands together in front of herself and realizes I’m not letting this go.

“Please, don’t tell her I told you. She went to get you a gift. She’s gone to a jewelry store to find you a watch. Somewhere in town. I don’t know where, though.”

Sasha went to find me a watch. She snuck out to surprise me with something. My heart flips. I haven’t had someone do something thoughtful like that for me since—since my parents were alive.

“Thanks, Penny.” I breathe a sigh of relief.

I feel better knowing she has the guards with her, but I’m still uncomfortable with the idea that she is out there without me. It’s still risky with her father looking for her.

I’ll just call and get them to bring her home. I love the fact that she wanted to surprise me, but I’d rather have her safe at home than out there alone.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial one of the security guards. No one answers, which sends off an immediate alarm bell for me. The guards know they have to answer. Their entire job is to be alert and present in the moment, and if I call, they should answer.

I dial the other guard, and it rings for a few seconds before a voice I don’t know comes through the line.

“Hello?” a man says.

“Who is this?” I demand as all of my stress starts coming back.

“This is Officer Matthews. Who is this?”

A police officer.

“What are you doing with this phone? Where is the guy who it belongs to?” I snap.

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but he’s dead. I have two bodies here, both male and—"

“Is there a girl there? Blonde?”

“Just two guys. Listen, if you know these people, I need you to come—"

I hang up as nausea pushes against my throat. The bodyguards are dead? Both of them?

Immediately I dial Maxim as I pace up and down, trying to keep my thoughts in control.

“Maxim,” I say before he has a chance to say anything. “Someone took Sasha. She went out and both of the guards who were with her are dead.”

“Fuck. Where?”

“I’ll track their phones, but it was somewhere in town, I think. I don’t know if Sasha is okay. I don’t know what happened. She isn’t with them anymore. Man, I need your help. I have to find her.” The words spill out of my mouth in a panicked rush.

Thick fear is flooding my body. Fear I haven’t felt for a very long time. I can’t lose her. I need her. I need her .

“Leon, I’ve got this. I’m here for you, okay? We’re going to find her. Start tracking the guards' phones and send me the location of where it happened. I’m going to see what I can find out and get my brothers together.”

“Hurry.”

He hangs up and I run back out to my car. I don’t know where I’m going yet, but I’m sure as fuck not going to sit around waiting. As I drive towards town, I send Maxim the location for the guard's phone.

It’s a twenty-minute drive to where she was taken.

It feels like an eternity.

I don’t even know if there is any point in going there, but maybe, just maybe, someone saw something that can lead me in the right direction.

Before I reach the scene, Maxim calls me back.

“Leon, it was Rico. I got hold of one of the cops on my payroll. Rico took her in broad daylight. He shot the guards, and she was thrown into a white van, according to a witness.”

“Fucking Rico,” I shout, filled with rage. “I thought we sorted that issue out?”

“Another one of my guys says he thinks that after the shit that went down at the party, he switched sides. He wasn’t sure, but the rumor is that he was seen with one of Danil’s men a few days ago.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell us?”

“No one thought it meant anything.”

“It fucking means something, though, doesn’t it, and now he has Sasha and it’s obvious he’s working with Balakin. Fuck.” I’m shouting at Maxim, even though he isn’t the one I’m angry at.

“Leon. Take a breath. Balakin wants his daughter alive. He won’t hurt her. We have time to find her.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what her father has done to her over the years. He doesn’t give a shit about her. He will hurt her.”

“We’re going to find her. I promise,” Maxim says, trying to reassure me.

“How?” I ask as desperation burns inside me.

“I’ve got a hacker busy working right now to track Rico’s phone. If it’s on, we’ll have his location in a few minutes.”

“Call me as soon as you know.”

I hang up as my thoughts race in all directions. I need to keep my head on my shoulders. I’m usually so good in these situations, but this one is different. This one is close to my heart.

I’m still driving, but in no particular direction, because going to the scene of the kidnapping isn’t going to achieve anything now.

With my hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel and this thick dread pushing against my body, I realize something.

It hits me like a brick wall—the sudden understanding.

I am in love with Sasha.

I am completely and utterly in love with her.

I have been for a while, I’ve just been pushing the feeling away. Denying it. Too focused on my stupid fucking need for revenge to see the incredible thing that was happening right in front of me.

I pull off to the side of the road as I fight for air that seems too heavy and thick to breathe. What am I supposed to do? I sit in my car, my body filled with anxiety.

The phone rings again and I answer quickly.

“Okay, I’m sending you Rico’s location now. Get to my house. I’m putting a team together and we can head over there. My brothers are on the way here now with their teams."

“How long will it take to get everyone together and ready to move?”

“An hour tops.”

“That’s too long.”

“Leon, just get here. We need the teams. We need a strong force for this one. If Balakin and Rico are working together, they’re going to have a lot of men on this. We have to go in prepared.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Leon, don’t be an idiot—"

But I’ve already hung up the phone. I can’t wait. Sasha needs me right now. There’s no telling what Rico and Balakin are doing to her.

I dial my security team to tell them I’m sending them a location and they have to meet me there immediately.

I pull my gun from beneath the driver's seat and check the clip. I leave it lying on my lap as I turn the car around, following the location Maxim sent me towards Rico and hopefully Sasha.

Maxim has to understand that he can’t expect me to wait.

An hour is too long. Too many things can happen in an hour.

I just have to hope that he moves quickly and arrives with his forces before shit hits the fan.

***

I arrive outside one of Balakin’s properties, where Rico’s location confirms he is.

Further down the street I see two of my cars parked, waiting for me. I park next to them and six men climb out, armed and ready. One of them is Ivan.

“Sir, what’s the plan?” He asks, stepping towards me.

“The plan is to get Sasha back. It’s the only thing that matters. Do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

“Are we going in—just us?”

“There are more men on the way, but we can’t wait for them.”

“Okay. We’re ready.”

We all start jogging towards the side of the house.

“Fuck, Maxim, get here fast,” I mutter to myself. I switch off the safety on my gun, tuck it into my belt, and start climbing over one of the side walls with my men following me.