Page 46 of Love to Defy You (The Dark Love #2)

Alek

The room erupts into chaos as men race forward, and many of their masks and hoods fall off in the scuffle. Some of them pounce onto Enzo to pull him off Mikhail, while a few others drag Mikhail away to safety.

The mystique of the Order of Apollo is crumbling, and I stare frozen at the chaos.

Women lie in various states of undress on the dais, some of them listless and crying while others are blacked out entirely. The latter are the lucky ones who won’t remember the horrors inflicted on them tonight.

Mikhail’s screams of agony rip me from my daze, and I rush toward him. He’s holding his face while the cloaked members surround him, and I push them aside to reach Mikhail.

I fall to my knees. “Mick, let me see.” He’s writhing in pain and won’t listen, so I grab his wrists and pull them away from his face. “Oh, shit.”

The entire right side of his face is covered in scarlet blisters. He blinks his eyes open for a split second before closing them again, but it’s long enough to show that the entire white of his right eye is crimson.

“Someone bring me water!” I shout. “And someone else call an ambulance!”

“We’ll need to carry him out,” someone says. “The medics can’t come down here.”

“Fuck off,” I snarl. “Just call them.” I tug off my suit jacket, ball it up, and place it under Mikhail’s head. “Hey, Mick, we’re going to get you help.”

Groaning, Mikhail tries to touch his face, but I pull his hands away.

“Don’t touch it.” I glance up at the crowd of people. “Where the fuck is that water?”

“Right here!” Someone pushes through the crowd and drops a bucket beside me. I yank off my silk tie, dunk it in the cool water, and press it to his face.

Mikhail howls.

“I know it hurts. We’re going to get you out of here.

” I glance up at Paul, who is standing over Mikhail with a pale complexion.

“Keep his face cool with fresh water.” I point to the guys standing next to him.

“You three, carry him out. One of you carry his legs while the other two each take an arm. Go!”

I direct them to pick him up gently and head to the courtyard to meet the ambulance. I’d rather the paramedics come down here with a stretcher for Mick’s comfort, but it will take too long, and these guys know the fastest way out.

Paul keeps dabbing Mikhail’s face with the tie while I walk with them toward the exit.

I squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry, Mick. I’m so fucking sorry. These guys are going to get you to the hospital, okay?”

When we reach the entrance of the chamber, I release his hand and watch them disappear around the corner into the tunnel.

This happened to Mikhail because he was protecting me. He finally dared to question Enzo’s authority and paid dearly for it.

I round on Enzo to charge at him, but he’s nowhere to be found. Everywhere I look, figures are rushing about in a panic, some with their hoods down while others remain shrouded. I lunge at the closest masked person and yank his hood back, but the person staring back at me has blue eyes.

“Enzo!” I bellow. “Where are you?”

I push my way through the crowd of figures, pulling on masks and hoods until I find Enzo, but even after everyone is revealed, none of them are him. He must have slipped out amidst the chaos.

“Dammit!” I slam my fist against the wall, busting open one of my knuckles. He’ll likely reach the entrance of the tunnels any moment now. I’ll never catch up to him.

“Think, think,” I mutter, pacing back and forth as I run my bloodied hand through my hair.

If I had to guess, he’ll be going to Andarusia, where Willow is—or at least, where he claims she is.

Perhaps she arrived in Andarusia for her father’s wedding, and Enzo made sure she didn’t come back.

I have no way to verify if that’s true, but it would make the most sense to hide her in the same country I’ve been exiled from.

I pause. “Wait! The necklace…”

Nobody knows this, not even Willow, but the necklace I gave her for her eighteenth birthday is more than just a pretty trinket.

It has a small tracker inside, and if I can get access to the app, I can find Willow.

I nearly forgot about it since I never needed to use it, although it would have come in handy last night when I got out of my cell and came home to an empty apartment.

I’m kicking myself for not remembering it then, but I was panicked and sleep-deprived—not exactly in my right mind to think straight.

I’m not so sure I’m in my right mind even now.

I round on one of the hooded figures milling around the dais. They’re speaking in low voices, trying to figure out what to do with the women chained up in their custody.

“You!” I rush toward the nearest figure and grab the front of his cloak to shake him. He stares at me with wide, fearful eyes as I slam him against the wall. “Not so bold now without your cult leader to hide behind, are you?”

“W-what do you want from me?” he asks in a trembling voice.

“Give me your phone.” I hold out my hand and wait as he searches his pockets. “And make sure these women get to the hospital or I will hold you personally responsible and kill you. Am I clear?”

He gives me a shaky nod as he places his phone in my hand. Snarling, I shove him to the floor and head toward the exit. If I can catch up to Paul and the others carrying Mikhail, I can follow them out before I get lost and get somewhere with cell reception.

If I have any chance of saving Willow and making it out alive on the other side, I have to be smart. One wrong move and I die.

And if I’m gone, Willow will never be able to escape Enzo Messina.

When I reach the surface, the courtyard is lit up with red and blue flashing lights. Mikhail is already loaded onto a stretcher and being pushed along the sidewalk toward the ambulance, which is idling near the administrative building on the far end of the quad.

I dig my finger into my temple to quell the migraine. The siren and bright lights from the ambulance are overstimulating.

I watch them load Mikhail into the back of the vehicle and close the doors before they drive off.

The borrowed phone in my hand doesn’t have a phone number for Josie. Otherwise, I would contact her to meet Mikhail at the hospital. I don’t want him to be alone, but I can’t go myself. I have to find Willow, and the clock is ticking.

The longer she’s in Enzo Messina’s clutches, the more danger she’s in. Who knows what he’ll do to her?

I log in to the tracking website for her necklace. Once it loads, I take a look at the coordinates and zoom in.

The necklace is Andarusia, but the pin is hovering over her father’s house. That can’t be right.

I don’t have David Baker’s phone number memorized, but I can check my phone’s contacts on my computer at the apartment. So, I hasten my way home as fast as my aching legs will carry me.

When I finally walk through the front door of my penthouse, I close the door and slump against it, winded from my walk. It’ll take weeks to get my strength back after being held in that cell for so long.

Once I catch my breath, I head into the office and pull up my phone contacts. For the sake of doing my due diligence, I try Willow’s phone first, but I’m not surprised it’s still turned off.

Next, I try her father. David doesn’t answer, which is no surprise given it’s the middle of the night, but I keep trying. With every failed attempt, the knot of dread in my stomach grows tighter.

On the fourth try, David finally picks up, his voice groggy from sleep. “Hello?”

I skip the pleasantries. “Please tell me Willow is still in Olininburg with you.”

“Aleksandr?” David clears his throat, and when he speaks again, his voice is less raspy. “No, she went back to Zurich on Sunday night.”

Fuck, that’s what I was afraid of. That means Willow took off her necklace and left it at her father’s house. Finding Willow is going to be much more difficult than I anticipated.

“Aleksandr, what’s going on?” David asks, his voice rising with panic.

“I don’t think Willow made it back to Zurich.” I clench my hand into a fist and resist the urge to punch a hole through the wall. “I think a guy by the name of Enzo Messina abducted her.”

“Wait, did you say Enzo? But I thought they were friends? He flew her here to Olininburg on his private plane.”

Is that so? Seems like I missed quite a lot while I was locked up, and the pieces of Enzo’s master plan are starting to make more sense.

If he touched Willow, I swear to God, I will wring his neck until the light leaves his eyes.

I clench my fist so hard that the bleeding starts again from my busted knuckles. “Yes, but Enzo is not her friend. He claims she’s in Andarusia, but I don’t know where.”

A mattress creaks in the background, and I assume he’s climbing out of bed. “I need to call the police.”

My heart pounds. “Wait! Don’t do that.”

“Why the hell not?”

If the local police get involved, it will only make things worse. Enzo might put a hit out on me or, worse, take Willow to another country to hide her. I can’t let that happen because it will be next to impossible to find her at that point. As long as Willow remains in Andarusia, there’s hope.

But what am I supposed to tell her father? If I clue him in about the Order of Apollo, I break the vow of secrecy. The brotherhood will put a price on my head.

And if I fail to find Willow, I die. Either way, I’m dead, so what choice do I have?

I exhale through my teeth. “Enzo is part of a secret society called the Order of Apollo. They’re a global organization that runs the world by installing their choice of world leaders and CEOs.”

David scoffs. “Dammit, be serious, Aleksandr. This isn’t the time for Illuminati conspiracy theories.”