Page 22

She sat on a sofa back at the mansion, her foot tapping against the floor, fingers in her mouth, chewing on her nails. Her eyes were red from crying, swollen.

Fear etched on her face, cold sweat dampened her forehead, and her chest heaved rapidly. “I should've listened to you,” she said without raising her head, her voice breaking as she spoke. “I should've listened and just waited until tomorrow.” She jerked her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so anxious and—”

“Hey,” I cut her off, taking a few steps in her direction, my heart racing with fear of what would happen to those kids. However, I couldn't let her see how much this was affecting me. “It's useless blaming yourself. You had no idea this was going to happen.” I squatted in front of her and took her hand. “This isn't your fault, Ravyn.”

She sniffled, tears pouring like raindrops from the sky. “If anything happens to them—”

“Nothing will happen to them,” I interrupted, my voice confident even though, deep down, I was scared half to death. “We'll find our kids and bring them home, I promise.”

She heaved a sigh as I wiped her tears with my thumb. In my head, I found comfort in the different ways I'd make the perpetrators of this act suffer. Those bastards had messed with the wrong family—they messed with the wrong man.

For the past few hours, I'd been battling with my own guilt. I never should have chosen that damn meeting over my family. I should have been there, but I wasn't. The fact that I let my kids down when they needed me the most was killing me.

At this point, I'd do anything to reverse the hands of time and relive the day. I'd do things differently—I'd put my family first before business. I couldn't stomach the thought of anything bad happening to those children because I ignored my instincts. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if their abductors had their way.

Andrey was beating himself up at a corner. He'd apologized countless times for losing the kids, but it wasn't his fault either. Our enemies had ambushed him, and the only reason they won was because they outnumbered him.

The goal was to find my children and save them from the clutches of whoever had taken them.

That's why my younger brother, Erik Tarasov, was here. Erik, a tall, dark-haired high-ranking Bratva boss, was a genius, a fierce leader, and also a badass hacker. If anyone could find my kids, it'd be him.

He'd been seated in front of his laptop for the past hour, his sharp green eyes glued to his laptop's flickering screen. “I've found something,” he announced, raising his head to glance at me.

Ravyn sprang to her feet, her eyes widening in anticipation. Together, she and I rushed over to Erik at the dining table. Andrey did the same as well.

Erik cracked his knuckle, fingers resuming their rattling across the keyboard. “Okay, so I managed to hack into the Jensen residence's CCTVs, but it so happens that the kidnappers unfortunately wiped the footage.”

My expression darkened, and he cleared the air with immediate effect.

He raised a finger in the air as if asking me to chill. “Not to worry; they were smart but not smart enough.” A sly smirk played on his lips.

“What do you mean?” Andrey asked, his brows furrowing as a puzzled look crossed his face.

“Well, let's just say that I found a way to beat them at their own game,” Erik replied, his fingers pressing the keys with rapid precision. “I was able to recover some fragments of the footage using a combination of video enhancement software and machine learning algorithms.” He pointed at the screen where a grainy video feed flickered to life, showing a van leaving the compound.

My eyes narrowed, and I leaned forward for a closer look.

“This is the vehicle that was used to abduct the kids,” Andrey confirmed, his voice dripping with certainty and fury.

Ravyn and I exchanged glances, her chest rising and falling as fear and anxiety overwhelmed her. But the good thing was, we were getting closer to finding our kids.

Erik typed some more, his gaze shifting across the keyboard and screen. Then, he zoomed in on the vehicle's license plate, the numbers becoming clearer.

“You can track that, right?” I asked, hoping for a positive response.

“It's not as easy as Hollywood makes it look,” he said, flashing a faint grin at me. “But I'm way ahead of you, brother.” He pushed some more keys, eyes scanning his screen. “Using optical character recognition software—OCR, for shorts—I was able to enhance the license plate, which I then scanned with a custom-built API that taps into the DMV database.” The words tumbled out of him in a nerdy rush.

I glanced at Andrey, who seemed to be as confused as I was. I didn’t understand a word he just said, and I was pretty sure no one else in the room did.

“Maybe just speak English next time,” I said to him, my expression blank.

“Can we please skip to the part where you tell us what you found?” Ravyn asked, a hint of frustration creeping into her tone.

“Yes. Of course. Apologies.” Erik cleared his throat and continued, “I tracked the vehicle to a spot in the city, and that's when I found something fishy.” He looked at me, the light in his eyes going dim for a moment. “Check this out.” He pointed at the screen.

We watched a sleek black car—one that looked very familiar to me—pull up alongside the kidnappers' vehicle. A woman clad in a furry overcoat and a pair of dark glasses stepped out, her face obscured by shadows.

My eyes narrowed, my heart racing with anticipation as Erik zoomed in on the woman's face, revealing her identity. My jaw tightened, and a pang of rage swelled within me. “Sophia,” I whispered, my fingers clenching into fists.

Ravyn jerked her head, squinting as her gaze lingered on me. “Who the hell is Sophia, and what has she got to do with my kids?” The fury in her voice couldn't be more obvious.

“That's not all.” Erik pointed at a man who stepped out of the kidnappers' vehicle and was talking with Sophia.

“I'll be damned,” Andrey said softly, meeting my gaze. “That’s Ilya…Arseni's brother.”

Ravyn scoffed, demonstrating with her hands. “Okay, I'm confused—who's Ilya? Who's Arseni? What's going on here?” she demanded, her eyes pinned on me like a hook to a fish.

I seethed in silence because Rayvn's biggest fear was playing out as she spoke. This was the reason she ran away with the kids in the first place: to keep them safe from the life of violence I lived.

“It makes sense that these two would join forces, considering that they both have an ax to grind with you,” Andrey said, rage seeping into his voice. “Ilya is out for vengeance since you killed his brother five years ago. Sophia, on the other hand, is mad because you called off the engagement with her.”

“Engagement?” Ravyn's brows arched in surprise.

I took a step back, rubbing my eyes, anger simmering beneath the surface. Ilya's reason was understandable; Sophia's wasn't. How dare they go after my kids? They could have attacked me directly, but they went after my children.

They'd bitten off more than they could chew, and now, they were about to choke on it. Both of them.

“Lev, what's going on?” Ravyn asked, her eyes narrowing.

“I'll explain everything later,” I replied, my expression darkening. “But for now, I need to go get our kids.” My attention drifted to my brother. “Do we know where they're holding the children?”

“We do,” he answered, pointing at the red dot blinking on the screen.

“Good,” I said, clenching my jaw. “Get the men ready. We're going to war,” I instructed Andrey, my voice dropping to a deadly whisper.

Ravyn took a step forward and looked right into my eyes, rage flickering in hers. “Do me a favor; bring our kids home.” She drew closer, her gaze turning sinister within a second. “And make those bastards suffer.”

That, I would gladly do. Messing with my kids was a mistake—an unforgivable one—and they would pay for crossing the line.

My lips curled into a deadly smirk, and I stepped away, ready to rain hell on those who chose to be my enemies.

*****

Ilya had no idea we were coming; he had no idea that I was on to him, which meant that we had the element of surprise. My men and I infiltrated his hideout, an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city.

Like ninjas, we moved stealthily in the dark, taking out his guards, one at a time, with silent yet deadly attacks. Espionage and assassination were just another Tuesday for us, and the bastard, Ilya, was clueless about the danger lurking in the shadows around him.

Necks snapped like twigs as we quietly eliminated the enemies in their own territory. Ilya's defenses were weak, as were his men, and in no time, all his guards were eliminated.

I found my way inside, Andrey and a few of my enforcers by my side while Erik and Ravyn waited in the car. I needed my brother out there for reconnaissance and tech support.

As we stepped into the building, my blood boiled at the sight of my kids being held at gunpoint. The coward had the effrontery to point a gun at two four-year-olds. Where was the honor in that?

Elara's eyes met with mine in a fleeting moment, fear flickering in the poor girl's gaze, her body trembling. Nik showed no sign of fear. Instead, he fumed in silence, jaw clenched, eyes blazing with fury.

“You're like your father in many ways,” Ilya said to Nik, pointing the gun at him. “Sadly, you won't grow up to take on his legacy.” Ilya cocked the gun. “I can promise you that.”

“It's unwise to make promises you cannot keep,” I said to him, my voice calm but menacing.

His body jerked immediately, and he turned around to face me, shocked by my sudden appearance. He grabbed the kids and set them in front of him, fear etched in his eyes. “Don't move, or I swear to God, I'll shoot!” he threatened, trying to sound confident.

The remainder of his men rushed out and pointed their guns at us. We were outnumbered, but I had a plan.

Ilya laughed, thinking he had the upper hand here. What an idiot!

“The idea was to kill someone you cared about just like you killed someone that I cared about.” He chuckled, his fingers massaging my boy's shoulder with the barrel of the gun pressed against his skin.

My eyes narrowed, fists balling in both hands, but as angry as I was, I knew I had to tread carefully. Ilya was a madman, it was obvious, and to beat him, patience and timing were the key elements to guarantee my victory.

“Luck has shone on me, Lev,” he added. “I don't get to just kill your offspring; I get to kill you, too.”

“I'm ready.” Erik's voice came through the bud in my ear, his fingers rattling across his keyboard.

“Do it,” I whispered, discreetly targeting Ilya's left eye as my hand reached for the dagger sheathed to my waist.

“Lights out in three…two…one.” Erik hacked into the building's power grid and shut the damned thing off.

My men and I were one with the dark, trained to fight even with our eyes closed. As the power went out, everyone in the room became a blind man. The only difference was that my men and I were deadly blind men.

I hurled the dagger in Ilya's direction, and seconds later, the sound of his wails filled the air. “My eye!”

His men, confused in the dark, opened fire, shooting in our direction, each flash revealing a glimpse of their horrified faces. Bones cracked, flesh tore, and necks snapped as we took the enemies out, swift and effortless.

Once done, Erik turned the lights back on, and the only people standing were the Tarasovs. My son was seen covering his sister like a human shield, and I couldn't be more proud of his selflessness and bravery.

A few paces away, Ilya lay on the floor, drowning in the pool of his own blood with my dagger buried in his left eye.

“Dad!” Elara exclaimed, her voice laced with joy and relief as she rushed toward me.

My lips curled into a smile as I bent over and picked her up, her tiny arms around my neck. “It's okay, you're safe now.” I smoothed her hair backward, heading toward my little hero. “Hey, buddy.” I lowered myself to his level, pride sparkling in my eyes. “You did good tonight.” I ruffled his hair.

“Thanks, Dad,” he said, a smile spreading across his face as he slipped into my arms.

I picked him up, too; my heart filled with relief and gladness. Andrey locked eyes with me and nodded as I left the building, leaving him in charge of cleaning up the mess.

Ravyn was pacing back and forth outside, waiting for our arrival.

“Mommy!” Elara called out, her adorable voice cutting through the silence of the night.

Ravyn turned in our direction, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. She spread out her arms, welcoming them into her bosom. Both kids hopped off my body and ran into their mother's embrace.

I stood by the building's entrance, watching her shower them with kisses, sobbing and chuckling at the same time.

Tonight, we came so close to losing them, but it was a good thing that we arrived when we did. I was grateful to have been able to save them, and I promised myself at that moment that I wouldn't let this repeat itself ever again. Never.

Ravyn gathered them both into her arms and raised her eyes to look at me, mouthing, “Thank you.”

As we stared at each other, an unspoken understanding brewed between us. We were in this together, whether we like it or not.