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I leap to my feet, shaking off the last of the drugs in my system. “Well, when you work out what you want, Skip, you feel free to give me a call. In the meantime, I’m going to walk you back to your apartment, then go to work. You know, the work I do in that dangerous world you want no part of.”

I glower at her until she finally stands. She pulls the sarong tightly around her and walks back to the apartment, her head down. I follow her to the door and see her safely inside, but we don’t speak again, let alone touch.

London, England

Present day

When I wake the next time, it’s midmorning and the sky outside is gray with rain. I swing myself out of bed, wincing at the stabbing pain in my skull.

Forget cigarettes for the next fucking decade.

Not to mention the memories. Not just of Abby, but of my mother as well.

It was like a dream within a dream, although in this case, it’s more like nightmares.

I don’t think I’ve thought clearly of that memory since the drug-addled night it came to my mind.

Now it seems as real as if I were still there.

I can smell the scent of that apartment, hear my mother’s terrified cries.

I shudder. As if you don’t have enough to torture yourself with, Dimitry. And in someone else’s house, no less. I hope I didn’t cry out in my sleep; I used to do that when I was young.

Way to make a fucking impression, genius.

A scorching-hot shower and a liter of water later, I’m as respectable as I’m likely to get. I come downstairs to find Leon, having clearly just returned from a fucking run , making coffee .

“You’re a machine,” I say, impressed despite myself. “I was doing well to make it downstairs, let alone out for a run.”

“I was going to wake you up, but given that you’d been up for over thirty hours by the time you went to bed, I thought I’d better give you a pass.” He hands me a steaming cup of black coffee, grinning.

“Thanks.” I sip it gratefully. “I doubt I’d have been much use as a training partner this morning.

Look,” I say, bracing myself, “not to add insult to injury with hungover postmortems, but I definitely owe you an apology. I’m sure playing relationship counselor to a drunken stranger wasn’t on your bingo card for last night. ”

“Not at all.” Leon waves me away. “Actually, I was going to thank you. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a night so much.

” His smile is so genuine I find myself smiling back.

“And when you’re back over this way, definitely give me a call, and I’ll take you up to that game reserve in Scotland I was telling you about. I’ve got a bow you can use.”

“I’d like that.”

To my surprise, I mean it. It’s been a long time since I’ve met anyone so interesting to talk to. Leon is oddly easy to be around.

“Didn’t you say your Abby is in Australia?”

“Yeah. Though I’m not too sure she’s exactly my Abby ,” I say, slightly uncomfortable.

He nods at the counter. “It’s just that your phone is ringing with a number that starts with sixty-one. Isn’t that the Australian country code?”

I snatch up the phone and answer it before he’s finished speaking. “Abby?” The room is spinning around me, Leon no more than a dim figure leaning against the counter.

“No, mate, I’m sorry.” A familiar male voice comes down the line, and I slump back onto the stool, rubbing my aching forehead tiredly .

“Luke.” I try not to sound disappointed. “How are you, brother?” I inject my words with as much care as I can muster. Luke Macarthur deserves all of my respect, Roman’s too.

Nearly a year ago, when Roman’s two goddaughters were kidnapped, Luke was one of the men who came in with us to get them back.

He stood behind me in the cell with the girls, protecting them with his own body, even when it meant taking bullets.

Perhaps more importantly, to me at least, Luke not only put his life on the line, but managed to remain calm, kind, and reassuring throughout the entire ordeal.

Ofelia and Masha adore him to this day. He even stayed around after the worst of the firestorm was over, lending a hand with the cleanup.

I won’t ever forget what he did.

And it’s not his fault he’s not Abby .

“Good to hear from you,” I lie.

“Bullshit” comes Luke’s no-nonsense Australian accent down the line. “You and I both know you wish it was someone else. But that’s why I’m calling, mate.”

I grip the phone, suddenly every nerve in my body alert. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Look, I’m sending something through now. I just saw it this morning, thought of you straight away.” My phone vibrates, and I pull it away from my ear. It’s a link to an article in an Australian newspaper.

“A car wreck?” I frown, aware of Leon still watching me as I read the name the car was registered to: Chalmers .

The first tendrils of real fear steal around my heart, cold and terrifying.

“What the fuck, Luke?”

“No sign of Abby inside it.” To his credit, he picks up on my fear immediately and addresses it. “But the car definitely belonged to her parents. According to them, Abby took it the night she went missing—three months ago. ”

What the hell?

I meet Leon’s eyes across the kitchen. He’s watching me with a concerned frown. I cover the receiver. “It’s Abby,” I explain. “They’ve found something. I can take this outside—”

“No.” He pours me more coffee. “Stay. Please.” He gestures for me to keep talking.

“Apparently Abby’s parents thought she’d done a runner in the car, so they never reported it missing.

It was found by a power line crew this week, deep in the bush, burned to pieces.

It seems the vehicle never made it out of the area where her parents’ farm is.

It was clearly set alight, and there were no human remains found. ”

I feel both sick to the bone and weirdly, inexplicably excited.

Abby’s missing. She’s missing .

Not living happily on the other side of the world with some Australian farm boy I want to murder.

She’s missing.

I don’t know whether to be relieved or fucking terrified.

“Where are you?” I put him on speaker, pulling the phone away from my face and staring at the article again. “And where the fuck is Leetham?”

“I’m in Perth, Western Australia, which means it’s your lucky day, mate. Leetham is in the same state—although it’s almost a thousand clicks from where I am.”

“I’ll book the first flight out of London.”

“Thought you’d say that. Send me the flight details, and I’ll meet you at the airport. I’ll find out what I can before you get here.”

“Thanks, Luke.”

“Yep.” He hangs up without unnecessary bullshit, one of the reasons I’ve always liked him.

“There’s a flight to Perth leaving in three hours.” Leon is already heading for the stairs. “I’ll have a shower and then give you a ride to the airport. If we leave now, you should make it in time.”

“Are you sure?” I glance at him in surprise. “I’ve taken enough of your time already, Leon.”

“Are you kidding?” He grins at me over his shoulder. “This is the most excitement I’ve had in years.”